The close call that the Dassler family experienced wasn’t the last of it. Germany was far from a peaceful place in the period following the Second World War. The Allies were busy interrogating anyone who could have been involved with the Nazi regime and were imprisoning citizens in droves. Eventually, the Americans came to interrogate Adi. Adi also charmed the military interrogators, being sure to punch home the fact that he had equipped American athletes, such as Jesse Owens, at the Olympics. This impressed the Americans and he was released; he was a free man.
It was no longer business as usual for the Dassler brothers, as each brother wanted to be in charge and felt that there was only room for one. They then had to decide who would run the company as it re-established itself in post-war Germany. Rudolf was also interviewed by the Americans about his denazification, but his experience wouldn’t go quite as smoothly as Adi. It is important to note that Adi served the Nazi regime in the military for one year, while Rudolf had remained an active member of the Nazis until the end of the war. Rudolf’s past as a Nazi was an issue that he had to address to the interrogators and he was quickly in a fight for his factory and his future. He foolishly and boldly declared to his interrogators that he had worked for the Nazi Gestapo, but would later retract his statements. These impulsive actions showed a man frustrated by the devastating German loss in the war. He was clearly more emotionally invested in the war efforts than his brother.
Rudolf was subsequently sent to an American internment camp. It was while he was there that he began to become suspicious about how he had ended up there. An American told him that he had been denounced by someone close to him, and he suspected that Adi and/or his wife Käthe were the originators of a conspiracy. The thought of this enraged him and a lifelong grudge was born. It was a grudge that would change the Dassler family and the shoe industry forever. He had long distrusted his sister-in-law and it wasn’t a stretch for him to think that she was behind it all. Rudolf had always found her to be manipulative and desirous of too much control of the company. He had no proof of course, but that didn’t matter. He told the Americans that his internment had to be from false accusations and after a year in the camp, Rudolf was finally released and able to return home to Herzogenaurach and his family.
During the time that Rudolf was away, Adi went looking for new business opportunities. He began making baseball and basketball boots for the Americans, which allowed the Dassler Brothers to survive during those difficult post-war repair days. American sports were a major focus of the company for the first time. Adi and his wife had been running everything in Rudolf’s absence, while his wife Friedl had to sit by almost powerless, just trying all she could to protect her husband’s stake in the company. Adi managed to grow quite a lot as a craftsman and became an expert in modernising sports’ gear.
Rudolf returned to a very different landscape at home. The Dassler family villa was requisitioned for use by American soldiers, so the family was now living in the factory tower. The conditions there were close and cramped, which naturally lead to emotional clashes and fighting amongst the two families. The brothers would fight about everything from money to control. The breaking point came when Adi was interrogated for an unprecedented second time by the Americans. Coming so long after he had already been cleared, it was obvious that someone had tipped-off the authorities to issues with Adi’s denazification. Rudolf had tried to discredit his brother, badmouthing him to the authorities. The Americans would soon drop the case against Adi, seeing quickly that it was one disgruntled brother’s word against another.
It was impossible to run a business together after all the post-war drama so, in 1948, the Dassler brothers decided that they had to divide the company in half. The workforce was quickly notified and the separation began. Rudolf assembled all of the employees to tell them that the brothers were forming two different companies and that they would all need to choose which brother to follow, because once they left with one brother, they wouldn’t be welcome to work for the other. It is estimated that about two thirds of the workforce sided with Adi, which primarily consisted of the shoemakers, while most of the salesmen went with Rudolf.
The news shocked the workers and naturally rumours began to swirl about the real reason for the split. The most prevalent were rumours of an affair between Rudolf and his sister-in-law. The employees had a major decision to make: did they follow the salesman or the inventor? The brothers divided up the materials and machinery and set up competing shoe manufacturing businesses a mere 500m apart from each other. Adi started ‘Adidas’ and Rudolf founded ‘Puma’. The local population eventually got drawn into the conflict. The companies each had their own football club and the two teams were bitter rivals. Puma and Adidas employees wouldn’t even sit at the same table while drinking at their local pub. It’s hard to say whether the divide was due to extreme loyalty, or fear of being associated with the enemy and being fired.
The two brothers and their families never made-up and their bitter feud lasted until the time of their deaths. The two companies did issue a press release in 2009 to announce that Adidas and Puma would come together to participate in their first joint activity since the two companies opened back in 1948. They united to support the Peace One Day organisation for its annual non-violence day.
Chapter Five
Chaneclass="underline" Hitler’s Seductive Spy
You know, they ask me questions. Just an example: ‘What do you wear to bed? A pajama top? The bottoms of the pajamas? A nightgown?’ So I said, ‘Chanel No. 5,’ because it’s the truth… And yet, I don’t want to say ‘nude.’ But it’s the truth!
The name Coco Chanel is synonymous with fashion and haute couture. The enduring brand name has survived and thrived long after the passing of its namesake. Chanel has been regarded by some as the greatest fashion designer who ever lived, she is certainly one of the most infamous. Her name has endured, not only on clothing, but also jewellery, handbags and of course perfume. Her magnum opus, Chanel No. 5, is one of the most popular and best-selling fragrances of all-time. Coco was a powerful and ambitious businesswoman and a pioneer in many ways. She was also widely regarded as a vicious and horrible person, a Nazi sympathiser, and eventually even a Nazi spy.
Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel had a troubled early life. She was born on 19 August 1883 in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. Chanel was, literally, born in the poorhouse, specifically the Sisters of Providence charity hospital. Her mother, Eugenie Jeanne Devolle, worked in the poorhouse as a laundrywoman, and her father, Albert Chanel, was a travelling street vendor. The level of poverty that Gabrielle was born into should not be underplayed, and in fact played a large part in shaping her character throughout her life.
The French commune into which Chanel was born was very similar to a municipality in America. Saumur was a self-governed and somewhat isolated town tucked snugly between the Loire and Thouet rivers and surrounded by vineyards. The commune is located near the famous Champagne wine region and was well known for its sparkling wines. The Saumur area has been settled for thousands of years in one form or another. The ornate skyline of the town includes the impressive Chateau de Saumur castle that was constructed as a stronghold to protect the region from the advancing Normans in the tenth century. The chateau was sacked and later rebuilt by King Henry II. The town later served as a state prison under the rule of Napoleon and is famous for being the base of operations for the French military riding academy, and for its wine. During the Second World War, the German forces advanced on the town in an attempt to head-off the newly landed Allied forces in Normandy; the town was badly damaged from bombings and the German Panzer tanks rumbling through the area. Saumur would be awarded the Croix de Guerre after the war in tribute to the resistance and patriotism demonstrated by the townspeople in the face of great danger.