Ambi-Budd Presswerk G.m.b.H
Part of collection: Budd Company legal documents (2557)
Dates
- From the Collection: Creation: 1926-1965
Scope and Contents
This small series of the collection concerns its German joint venture Ambi-Budd Presswerk G.m.b.H. In addition to the firms organization papers and original contracts, there is a file, tantalizingly incomplete, describing negotiations to increase the capital of the firm and to exercise a purchase option on its plant site, which was on leased land, in the year before World War II began. Depression-wracked Budd was leery of pumping more capital, especially British hard currency, into Germany, while the German partners were equally determined to get it by any means. To complicate matters, the owner of the plant site, a Frau Mueller, was Jewish and desperate to get out of Germany with a minimum of money to live on, while the German partners were clearly eager to grab Jewish property for a song before further crackdowns made even such deals illegal. It is also not clear if Budd realized the plant was being used for German military production, and interesting to note that both sides were projecting installment payments running from 1942 to 1946. Unfortunately, the files tell nothing of the ultimate fate of Frau Mueller, but the Nazi government eventually expropriated Budd's interest. However, Paul Pleiss, a party in the negotiations, did manage to smuggle the design secrets of the Ambi-built fuel can used by the panzers out of Germany later in 1939.
Extent
From the Collection: 1.25 Linear Feet
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository