There
are many damnable acts in the chequered history of the Remington Typewriter
Company, but none so execrable as Remington’s collaboration with the Nazis in
World War II. In the First World War, it was absurd that Australian Prime
Minister Billy Hughes should briefly declare Remington an “alien company”. But
there was nothing risible about Remington’s each-way bet with the Allies and
Axis between 1941-45. Remington was at once supplying arms to the US Army while
materially assisting the German Army and Air Force.
One
American newspaper headed its article on the affair, “Hitler Aided by Remington
Rand Plant in Reich”.
I
became aware of this sordid business while following up on Richard Polt’s
August 28 post on The Typewriter Revolution blog about his Remington Torpedo (Dynacord) typewriter. To my amazement my searches led to revelations about
Remington’s secret machinations to keep its greedy hands on Torpedo’s German
typewriter factory, which had been converted to produce Nazi war equipment. Remington
had put the plant in the temporary care of three Nazi Party members, at least two of whom had
close connections to Third Reich leaders Himmler and Göring.
SS chief Himmler
The
story was broken in American newspapers on July 13, 1945, by war correspondent
and former Office of War Information operative Pat Frank (real name Harry Hart
Frank, 1908-1964). At the time Frank was
working for the Overseas News Agency, which had been set up the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency in 1940. The ONA was aligned to the British Security
Coordination, the New York outpost of MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA,
and it provided press credentials to British spies. It may have even
collaborated with the predecessor to the Russian spy agency, the KGB. The ONA
has since been accused of planting fake news in US newspapers, but in this Remington
case the story was 100 per cent true.
Pat Frank at his Smith-Corona portable typewriter.
Would he have touched a Remington?
Frank reported that “Remington Rand’s German subsidiaries
produced war materials for the Nazis throughout the hostilities, according to
evidence uncovered by [American] Military Government [AMG] officials [in
Frankfurt]. [Remington’s] factories in Germany … were producing parts for the
Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, including flak guns. Both of the [Frankfurt] plants
have been sequestered, along with their cash assets and profits, by the AMG …
Torpedowerke Aktien-gesellschaft before the war manufactured Torpedo bicycles
and typewriters. It was entirely owned by Remington.”
Frank might well have substituted the word “is” for “was”,
for it transpired that Remington had basically “lent” its controlling interest
in Torpedo to three Nazi Party members for the duration of the war. One temporary
owner had been Helmuth Roehnert of the Rheinmetall-Borsig typewriter
organisation, a director of the Dresdner Bank who was closely linked to Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), and Hermann
Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. Roehnert was a member of the
Nazi production council under Albert Speer. Roehnert died before the end of the
war. Another Torpedo part-owner was Max Wessig, also of Rheinmetall-Borsig AG and
connected with Göring. Wessig had been involved with the Nazis from the time of
the Spanish Civil War.
Hitler and Göring
At
the head of this group was Fritz Heinrich Harms, who continued to manage the
Torpedo operation throughout the war years.
In late June 1945 Harms approached the AMG’s property
control officer Lieutenant Abraham Richstein, asking that materials be provided
for the resumption of typewriter production. He also wanted to be able to resume
communications with Remington Rand in the US. But Richstein’s inquiries
unearthed that because of a deal done between Remington and Harms in 1941 (just
before Nazi Germany declared war on the US on December 11), Remington had been
able to avoid being listed by the US State Department as an American company
with assets in Germany.
Harms told Richstein this was a mere “technicality” and
that the “loan” of Remington’s majority stake in Torpedo was done “to avoid
trouble”. Harms said James Rand himself had told Harms “to play ball with the
Nazis”. Remington had retained an option to repurchase the stock at any future
time – and did indeed regain the stock. The plants were valued at $US7 million and
cash and bank deposits totalled $1.73 million, and the State Department was
left with a decision as to whether Remington was entitled to the money.
Rand
On April 10, 1946, another ONA correspondent, Robert Gary,
reported that “The persistent efforts of Remington Rand … to retain the same general manager who ran
the firm’s German subsidiary during the Nazi regime, have at last been crowned
with success. The manager, Fritz Heinrich Harms, is back in the opulent offices
[in Frankfurt] of the Torpedo Works, the German counterpart of Remington Rand,
this time with the official blessing of the American Military Government.” Gary
said the AMG had removed Harms in late November 1945, and investigated his Nazi
ties for two months.
Harms’ “unexpected” restoration, wrote Gary, “has taken
place after extraordinary transocean pressure [had been] exerted by Remington
officials here and in the United States”. An examination of Harms’ case record
had revealed “interesting data concerning Harms personally and his company’s
international manipulations during the pre-war and war years.” Harms admitted
joining the Nazi Party in 1937, claiming he did so to “protect the Torpedo
works and the majority stockholders, Remington Rand, from hostilities on the
part of the Nazis, and to secure profitable work for them [the stockholders,
that is].”
Harms, who met high-ranking Remington officials in New York
in 1939, insisted he had done nothing to assist Nazi war production. Yet, as
Gary pointed out, “Torpedo Work was up to its neck in war work, producing
engine parts and other aeronautical apparatus.” During this time Harms was paid
an annual salary of $US85,000.
Just before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, on December
7, 1941, Remington transferred $289,000 worth of its shares to Harms to ensure
Torpedo Works would not be declared an enemy concern. After Harms was removed
by the AMG from his role as Torpedo Works general manager, he was temporarily
replaced by a Remington official from the US, Donald Brown, who worked hard to
get Harms reinstated. In mid-December 1945, Remington Rand president James Rand
himself intervened, cabling the AMG special board investigating Harms that he
was “anxious” to have Harms back at work. With that urging, Brown and Harms
called on AMG deputy director Major General Clarence Alcock, and in mid-January
the AMG voted to restore Harms.
Left, 8th Air Force
bombing of military installations in Frankfurt. Right, a café in Frankfurt, 1945.
Not surprisingly, this business is not recorded in any of
Remington’s various histories, nor is it to be found in the section on Torpedo
in Leonhard Dingwerth’s Die Geschichte de
deutschen Schreibmaschien-Fabriken, Band 1 (2008). However, Dingwerth outlines
the takeover of Weilwerke AG (Torpedo) by Remington, announced in US newspapers
in mid-April 1932. He says Remington retained control until 1978, which, given what happened between 1941-46, is not - at least technically - entirely true. Nonetheless, given the arrangements Remington made with Harms and his Hitler henchmen, the reality is that Remington did still own the Rödelheim factories throughout the war.
Of the war years, Dingwerth writes, “During the Second
World War, the Weilwerke initially continued the production of typewriters.
Mainly the models Torpedo 6 and 17 were manufactured … The factory also produced other goods for the
German armaments industry. In 1942, parts of the plant were relocated to Zeist
in Holland, a small town near Utrecht, to ensure continued operations. In the
beginning, stockpiles that were mainly shipped to Holland were included in the
outsourcing in 1943, which also included parts of the machinery production. Until
the end of the war, the Dutch factory produced the Torpedo 17.
Frankfurt Cathedral amid rubble after Allied bombing, 1944.
“In 1944 the Weilwerke were hit hard by bombs. The main
plant in Rödelheim was destroyed with all facilities to about 90 per cent … After
the war, the rebuilding of the work in Rödenheim began very soon. The work was
financed by Remington, but carried out by the company itself … Soon the
typewriter production in this factory could be resumed in a modest amount at
first. Since raw materials and spare parts were in short supply, the first
machines were often assembled from components of different models.”
With breathtaking gall, at the end of the war Remington Rand accepted
British Government money and Scottish Industrial Estates Ltd help
to set up a factory west of Glasgow, on Woodside Crescent on the Hillington
Industrial Estate. Even before Remington’s pact with the Nazis, in 1940-41 the
Luftwaffe had killed thousands of Glaswegians in bombing raids, with planes
using equipment made in Remington’s factory. Conveniently – and in the very
short space of just three years - Remington’s role in colluding with the Nazis
had already been erased from collective typewriter knowledge. But this black
mark against the company’s name must now return to haunt it.
