Deutsche Luft Hansa
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (September 2019) |
Founded | 6 January 1926 |
---|---|
Commenced operations | 6 April 1926 |
Ceased operations | 22 April 1945 |
Hubs | Berlin Tempelhof Airport |
Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
Key people | Kurt Weigelt |
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. (from 1933 styled as Deutsche Lufthansa and also known as Luft Hansa, Lufthansa, or DLH) was a German airline. It served as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout Nazi Germany, when it had close links to the Nazi Party.
Although Deutsche Luft Hansa was the forerunner of modern German airline Lufthansa (founded in 1953) and both airlines share the same logo, there is no legal connection between the two. However, the new Lufthansa took over staff from the old airline[1] and claims DLH's legacy. For this reason it is controversial in the historical reappraisal to what extent the modern Lufthansa should confess to crimes committed by the old airline.[2][3][4]
History
1920s
Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin. The name of the company means "German Hansa of the Air". The Hansa or Hanseatic League dominated maritime trade in the Baltic Sea area for hundreds of years, and is well regarded in Germany to this day. The airline was created by the merger of Deutscher Aero Lloyd, formerly Deutsche Luft-Reederei (1917 to 1923), and Junkers Luftverkehr (c. 1919) in 1926.[5] The two companies, Germany's largest airlines at the time, were forced to merge by the German government, while all other airlines were shut down. This reorganization was intended to reduce the amount of financial support the government provided to the airline industry. Like many other countries, Germany subsidized the airlines, which also gave the German government control over them.
The stylised flying crane symbol predates Luft Hansa and had been used by DLR and Deutscher Aero Lloyd.
The foundation of the airline coincided with the lifting of restrictions on commercial air operations imposed on Germany by the
Over the following years, the domestic network grew to cover all the important cities and towns of Germany. More international routes were added through co-operation agreements. With the newly founded Iberia in Spain its longest scheduled route was 2,100 kilometres from Berlin to Madrid (though with several stopovers). The establishment of Syndicato Condor in Brazil served the airline's interests in South America where there were important German minorities at that time. The first east–west crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean (from
1930s
Even though the early years of the decade saw a difficult financial situation due to the
A key interest of Deutsche Luft Hansa at that time was the reduction of mail delivery times. In 1930, the
After several years of testing, a scheduled postal route between Europe and South America was inaugurated in 1934. This was the first regularly scheduled airline service across an ocean in the world. Wal flying boats were used, catapult launched for the trans-Atlantic leg
The grip on the domestic South American markets was further tightened in 1937, when the
From 1936 Deutsche Luft Hansa carried out route proving flights to carry mail across the North Atlantic. This service was intended to replace the mail planes launched by catapult from trans-Atlantic steamers. However this never materialized, as German planes were denied the right to carry mail into the country by the United States for political reasons.
On 1 April 1939, Deutsche Luft Hansa launched scheduled transatlantic flights to
During the 1930s, Luft Hansa aircraft had also been deployed on a number of experimental and survey missions, most notably for developing the best airborne crossing of the South Atlantic, and during the Third German Antarctica Expedition in 1938–39, when two Dornier Wal aircraft performed a photographic survey of 350,000 square kilometres, an area which became known as New Swabia.
During World War II
With the outbreak of the war on 1 September 1939 all civilian flight operations of Luft Hansa came to an end, and the aircraft fleet came under command of the Luftwaffe, along with most staff. The company focused on aircraft maintenance and repair. There were still scheduled passenger flights within Germany and to occupied or neutral countries, but bookings were restricted and served the demands of warfare. During the later years of the war, most passenger aircraft were converted to military freighters.
The Luft Hansa co-operations in foreign countries were gradually dismantled: Deruluft ceased to exist in March 1940, and by November of that year, the Eurasia Corporation had to be shut down following an intervention by the
The last scheduled flight of Deutsche Luft Hansa – from Berlin to Munich took place on 21 April 1945, but the aircraft crashed[12] shortly before the planned arrival. Another (non-scheduled) flight was performed the next day, from Berlin to Warnemünde, which marked the end of flight operations. Following the surrender of Germany and the ensuing Allied occupation of Germany, all aircraft in the country were seized and Deutsche Luft Hansa was dissolved. The remaining assets were liquidated on 1 January 1951.
Use of forced labor
During World War II, Deutsche Luft Hansa employed more than 10,000 forced laborers, including many children, from occupied countries; forced Jewish labor was particularly used from 1940 to 1942.[13][14][15] Forced laborers were used to install and maintain radar systems and to assemble, repair, and maintain aircraft, including military aircraft.[16][15] Forced laborers were lodged in barracks run by Luft Hansa on the Tempelhof site and elsewhere in Berlin were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by authorities with machine guns; sanitation in these camps, was poor, as was the level of medical care and nutrition.[16][15] In 2012, a team of archaeologists excavated the site of the camp run by Luft Hansa on Tempelhof airport.[16]
Legacy
Lufthansa, today's German flag carrier, acquired the name and logo of the 1926–1945 airline upon its foundation in 1953 and claims DLH's history as its own. However, there is no legal link between the two companies. Between 1955 and 1963, the newly founded East German national airline operated under the same name but, having lost a lawsuit with the West German company, it was liquidated and replaced by Interflug.
Route network
European passenger flights
From 1926 until the outbreak of
During that period, the following European destinations saw scheduled passenger flights:[17][18]
- Austria
- Graz – Thalerhof Airport
- Innsbruck – Reichenau Airport
- Klagenfurt – Annabichl Airport
- Salzburg – Maxglan Airport
- Vienna – Aspern Airport
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Czechoslovakia
- Bratislava – Vajnory Airport
- Karlsbad – Espenthor Airport
- Marienbad – Sklare Airport
- Piešťany
- Kbely Airport
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Ülemiste Airport
- Finland
- France
- Marseille – Mariagnane Airport
- Le Bourget Airport
- Toulouse
- Free City of Danzig
- Germany
- Aachen
- Baden-Baden – Baden-Oos Airport
- Borkum
- Berlin – Berlin Tempelhof Airport (main hub)
- Braunschweig
- Bremen – Neuenland Airport
- Bremerhaven
- Breslau – Gandau Airport
- Chemnitz
- Cologne – Butzweilerhof Airport (secondary hub)
- Cottbus
- Darmstadt
- Dessau
- Dortmund – Brackel Airport
- Dresden – Klotzsche Airport
- Düsseldorf – Düsseldorf Airport
- Erfurt
- Essen/Mülheim – Mülheim Airport
- Flensburg – Schäferhaus Airport
- Frankfurt – Rhein-Main Airport (secondary hub)
- Freiburg
- Friedrichshafen – Löwental Airport
- Gera
- Gleiwitz
- Görlitz
- Goslar
- Halle/Leipzig – Schkeuditz Airport(secondary hub)
- Hamburg – Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport (secondary hub)
- Hanover – Vahrenwalder Heide Airport
- Hiddensee
- Hirschberg – Hartau Airport
- Karlsruhe
- Kiel – Holtenau Airport
- Krefeld
- Königsberg – Devau Airport
- Konstanz
- Krefeld
- Langeoog
- Lübeck/Travemünde
- Magdeburg
- Mannheim – Neuostheim Airport
- Munich – Oberwiesenfeld Airport (secondary hub)
- Norderney
- Nuremberg/Fürth – Fürth Airport
- Osnabrück/Münster
- Hof-Plauen Airport
- Saarbrücken – St. Arnual Airport
- Stettin – Am Dammschen See Airport
- Stolp
- Stralsund
- Stuttgart – Böblingen Airport
- Swinemünde
- Tilsit
- Wangerooge
- Wernigerode
- Westerland – Westerland Airport
- Wyk
- Zwickau
- Greece
- Athens – Dekelea Airport
- Rhodes[19]
- Sedes Airport
- Hungary
- Italy
- Bolzano
- Milan – Taliedo Airport
- Littorio Airport
- Trento – Gardolo Airport
- Venice – San Nicolò Airport
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Kaunas – Kaunas Airport
- Klaipėda / Memel – Rumpiškės airfield (by 1927)
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Kraków- Rakowice-Czyżyny Airport
- Lwów
- Lawica Airport
- Warsaw – Okecie Airport
- Portugal
- Romania
- Bukarest – Băneasa Airport
- Soviet Union
- Spain
- Sweden
- Gothenburg – Torslanda Airport
- Bulltofta Airport
- Bromma Airport
- Switzerland
- Basel – Birsfelden Airport
- Bern – Belpmoos Airport
- Cointrin Airport
- Zürich – Dübendorf Airport
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- Yugoslavia
- Zemun Airport
- Skopje
Middle East passenger flights
- Afghanistan
- Iran
- Iraq
- Syria
During World War II
Due to the war and the de facto end of commercial air transport in Germany, Luft Hansa operated scheduled passenger flights only on some domestic trunk routes and international services on a limited number of routes to occupied or Axis-affiliated countries. These routes deteriorated during the war as Germany came closer to defeat.
As of 1940/41, the following destinations were served. At that time, interline agreements were in force with
- Bulgaria
- Denmark
- German Reich
- Berlin – Tempelhof Airport (hub)
- Gandau Airport
- Langfuhr Airport
- Königsberg – Devau Airport
- Munich – Riem Airport
- Rusin Airport
- Stuttgart – Echterdingen Airport
- Vienna – Aspern Airport
- Greece
- Athens – Dekelea Airport
- Sedes Airport
- Hungary
- Italy
- Littorio Airport
- Venice – San Nicolò Airport
- Norway
- Romania
- Arad – Arad Airport
- Bukarest – Băneasa Airport
- Portugal
- Granja do Marques Airport
- Soviet Union
- Belostok Airport
- Minsk – Minsk Airport
- Moscow – Khodynka Aerodrome
- Spain
- Barcelona – Muntadas Airport
- Barajas Airport
- Sweden
- Bromma Airport
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Yeşilköy Airport
- Yugoslavia
- Zemun Airport
Additionally, there were scheduled
Fleet
Over the years of its existence, Deutsche Luft Hansa operated the following aircraft types:
Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Arado V I | 1929 | 1929 | 1 only, cargo, lost in crash |
BFW M.20 | 1929 | 1943 | 14 |
Blohm & Voss Ha 139 | 1937 | 1939 | cargo floatplane |
Blohm & Voss Ha 142 | 1939 | 1940 | cargo |
Boeing 247 | 1935 | ||
Dornier Do 18 | 1937 | 1939 | cargo flying boat |
Dornier Do R | 1928 | 1932 | flying boat |
Dornier Komet III | 1926 | 1933 | |
Dornier Do J | 1926 | 1940 | cargo flying boat |
Douglas DC-2 | 1935 | ||
Douglas DC-3 | 1940 | 1944 | |
Focke-Wulf A 17 | 1927 | ||
Focke-Wulf A 32 | 1934 | 2 aircraft from NOBA | |
Focke-Wulf A 33 | 1937 | 1938 | 1 only |
Focke-Wulf A 38 | 1931 | 1934 | 4 aircraft |
Focke-Wulf Fw 58 | 1938 | 1943 | 5 aircraft |
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 | 1938 | 1945 | |
Fokker-Grulich F.II Fokker-Grulich F.III |
1926 | 1935 | |
Heinkel HE 12 | 1929 | 1931 | mail plane, 1 only, written off after crash |
Heinkel He 58 | 1930 | 1932 | mail plane, 1 only |
Heinkel He 70 | 1934 | 1937 | passenger, mail |
Heinkel He 111 | 1936 | 1940 | passenger |
Heinkel He 116 | 1938 | mail plane | |
Junkers F 13 | 1926 | 1938 | |
Junkers G 24 | 1926 | 1938 | |
Junkers G 31 | 1928 | 1935 | 8 aircraft |
Junkers G.38 | 1930 | 1939 | 2 only, one written off after crash in 1936. |
Junkers Ju 46 | 1933 | 1939 | mail plane |
Junkers Ju 52 | 1935 | 1945 | |
Junkers Ju 86 | 1936 | 1945 | 5 aircraft |
Junkers Ju 90 | 1938 | 1940 | |
Junkers Ju 160 | 1935 | 1941 | 21 aircraft |
Junkers Ju 290 | 1943 | 1945 | 3 examples |
Junkers W 33 Junkers W 34 |
1929 1926 |
1929 | mail plane |
Rohrbach Ro VIII | 1927 | 1936 | |
Rumpler C.I | 1926 | ||
Udet U-11 | 1929 | 1929 | 1 only, lost in crash |
Accidents and incidents
References
- ^ 6. Januar 1926 - Gründung der Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Westdeutscher Rundfunk, retrieved on 31. October 2022.
- ^ Die Lufthansa nähert sich ihrer Nazi-Geschichte. Süddeutsche Zeitung, retrieved on 31. October 2022.
- ^ Streit um Aufarbeitung der NS-Geschichte. Deutschlandfunk, retrieved on 31. October 2022.
- ^ Die Lufthansa und die Nazis. Frankfurter Allgemeine, retrieved on 31. October 2022.
- ^ "Lufthansa – Chronicle". Archived from the original on October 10, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
- ^ a b Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Why Lufthansa reduces its Nazi past to a sidenote | DW | 14.03.2016". DW.COM. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ISBN 978-0912138145.
- ^ "World War II: A Turbulent Legacy". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-647-7.
- ^ "First Transatlantic air line". Popular Science. February 1933.
- ^ "War Front: Sedta Cuts the Rates". Time. January 27, 1941. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- Aviation Safety Network.
- ^ Budrass, Lutz. The Eagle and the Crane: the History of Lufthansa from 1926 - 1955.
- ^ "World War II: A Turbulent Legacy". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
- ^ a b c St. Endlich, M. Geyler-von Bernus, B. Rossié. "Tempelhof - Forced Labourers". www.thf-berlin.de/en/. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ S2CID 154427883– via JSTOR.
- ^ "Index of /ttimages/complete/dlh27/". www.timetableimages.com.
- ^ "Index of /ttimages/complete/dlh32/". www.timetableimages.com.
- ^ http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/dlh38/dlh38-12.jpg [bare URL image file]
- ^ a b c d http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/dlh38/dlh38-03.jpg [bare URL image file]
Bibliography
- Cooksley, Peter (September–October 1996). "Celestial Coaches: Dornier's Record Breaking Komet and Merkur". Air Enthusiast (65): 20–24. ISSN 0143-5450.
- Joachim Wachtel, Günter Ott: Im Zeichen des Kranichs. Die Geschichte der Lufthansa von den Anfängen bis 1945. Piper, München 2016, ISBN 978-3-492-05788-2.
- ISBN 978-3-89667-481-4.