Merker, Otto (Generaldirektor)

Date of birth:: June 1st, 1899 (Michelfeld/Württemberg, Germany)
Date of death:: 1966
Nationality:: German

Biography

1917: volunteered in the Air Force
1921: vehicle designer
1923: moved to his father's agricultural machinery factory in Böblingen
1927: a 15 HP caterpillar tractor designed by Merker aroused the interest of the military at the DLG exhibition in Dortmund
1929-1936: worked for the Swedish company Landsverk , where he headed the development department, which designed road tanks and artillery tractors under his direction
1936: returned to Germany, where he became technical director of the Magirus plant in Ulm , which produced fire engines
1938: moved to the parent company Deutz AG, where he became a full member of the board
1942: moved to the Reich Ministry for Armaments and War Production (RMfRuK), where Albert Speer made him head of the main committee for shipbuilding
Merker's main task was to organize the production of new submarines of the type U-Boot-Klasse XXI for the Navy . The submarine bunker Valentin was supposed to be an unfinished production facility for the submarines
1945: US POW
1946: released
1950: board member of the Hanoverian mechanical engineering company Hanomag (later Rheinstahl-Hanomag)
1952: member of the supervisory board of the new Rheinstahl-Hanomag AG
working for the Bundeswehr as a general contractor for the construction of the HS 30 armored personnel carrier and involved in the development and construction of the Marder
1956: honorary doctor of the TH Hannover
01.01.1964: retired

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Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Wehrwirtschaftsführer/Generaldirektor
Unit:: Generaldirektor bei Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG
Awarded on:: August 25th, 1944

for the “war decision-making achievement” having reduced the construction time for type U-Boot-Klasse XXI submarines from the original 11.5 months to 2 months