Baron Johannes Emanuel Viktor Maria (Hans/Hanuš)
von Ringhoffer
Male
Austria
1885-01-03
Prag-Smichov, Bohemia
1946-09-30
Mühlberg, Speziallager Nr. 1, Germany
Translated from the Wikipedia article in German, which can be accessed here:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Ringhoffer
Baron Johannes Emanuel Viktor Maria Freiherr von Ringhoffer was a German-Bohemian industrialist and the last managing director of the Ringhoffer works in Czechoslovakia.
The Ringhoffers came from Müllendorf in Burgenland, in the former Kingdom of Hungary, and worked as coppersmiths there. An ancestor, Franz Ringhoffer, moved to Prague in 1771, acquired citizenship there and opened a workshop in Prague’s old town that specialized in the production of brewery equipment. Franz Ringhoffer’s grandson, Franz Ringhoffer II (1817-73) built the F. Ringhoffer wagon and tender factory in 1852 in the town of Smichow, southwest of Prague, where he began producing railway wagons in 1854.
Franz II had a very good reputation. He was a member of the Bohemian state parliament and in 1873 was raised to hereditary baron status by Emperor Franz Joseph I. He was also the recipient of several high orders including the Franz Joseph Order (1861) and the Order of the Iron Crown (1873).
During the second half of the 19th century, Ringhoffer-Werke developed into one of the most important industrial companies in Austria. The Ringhoffer works produced all types of railway carriages, both for the Royal and Imperial State railways, as well as for private railway companies. Amongst other things, luxuriously equipped saloon cars were manufactured for the Austrian imperial family as well as for the higher and wealthy nobility.
Baron Hans von Ringhoffer was the youngest of Baron Franz von Ringhoffer III’s four children. The other three children of Baron Franz von Ringhoffer III(1844-1909) and his wife Franziska Klein von Wiesenberg (1853-1940) were Franz IV (1874-1940; ∞ Leopoldine Freifrau von Ringhoffer), Leopoldine (1879-1945; ∞ with Erwin Nádherný from Borutin) and Alfred (1880-1938; ∞ with Maria Anna Countess Nostitz-Rieneck).
After a sheltered childhood and his schooling, which ended when he obtained his high school diploma, Baron Hans von Ringhoffer studied law at the German Charles University/Karlsuniversität in Prague. He was the first family member to receive a doctorate in jurisprudence. In 1909, after his father’s death, he joined the family business as a partner together with his two brothers. During this time, the company was converted into a stock corporation.
After wagon construction had declined significantly in the newly-founded Czechoslovakia after 1918, a merger with a competitor from the automobile industry was sought. In 1923, the Ringhoffer works merged with the Nesseldorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft, a wagon manufacturing company located in Nesselsdorf. Hans Ringhoffer became managing director of this newly founded group, which was called Ringhoffer-Tatra-Werke AG. The development of Tatra automobiles within the group was the responsibility of the important automobile designer Hans Ledwinka.
In addition to his work as general director of Ringhoffer-Werke, Ringhoffer was also managing director of the group’s beer brewery in Groß-Popowitz. From 1926, he was a member of the board of the Czechoslovakian National Bank. He was even entitled to put his signature on banknotes of the country’s currency. Hans Ringhoffer also carried out diplomatic work; for a time he was honorary consul of Norway in what was then Czechoslovakia.
After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the establishment of the ‘Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia’ in March 1939, Ringhoffer accepted German citizenship. In April 1939 he also (formally) joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party/Nazi Party. However, his membership was soon revoked when it became known that he was working in diplomatic service for the Czechoslovakian Republic at the time and that he continued to maintain good relations with important Czechs of the time. He also used his contacts with the Czech elite to achieve his business goals.
In 1939, he joined the board of directors of the Škoda Works. The National Socialists/Nazis tried to incorporate the Ringhoffer-Tatra Group into the Hermann Göring Reichswerke, an industrial conglomerate, but Ringhoffer was able to prevent this.
In May 1945, Hans Ringhoffer was arrested for collaborating with the Nazis during the Third Reich and was initially placed under house arrest in his apartment in Prague-Smichov. He was then sent to the Modrany camp south of Prague, which was then under Soviet administration. From there he was taken to Dresden in circumstances that are unclear.
On 15 August 1946, he was transported from Dresden to Special Camp No. 1 in Mühlberg, which was run by the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs/NKVD. Hans Ringhoffer died there on 31 December (?) 1946 in inhumane circumstances, presumably as a result of dysentery. The bodies of those who died in the camp, including Ringhoffer, were thrown into mass graves outside the camp and temporarily filled up; their relatives were never notified of their death.
Hans Ringhoffer was not married and had no descendants of his own. In addition to his native German, like many German-Bohemians, he also spoke Czech at a native level. The Ringhoffer works were nationalized in March 1946 in accordance with the Beneš Decrees and the Ringhoffer family was expropriated and expelled from Czechoslovakia.
1904 - 1927
0
12
5
Round 2
Fritz Felix Pipes 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-1
8-6
Round 1
Georg Demasius 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-1
6-2
Round 2
Georg Demasius 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-2
6-0
Round 2
R. Stanger 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
?
Round 1
Hans von Ringhoffer 1 *
Karl Robětín
6-2
7-5
Round 2
Hans von Ringhoffer 1 *
Carl Bertrand
w.o.
Round 3
Hans von Ringhoffer 1 *
Prince Re de Rohan
6-4
6-3
Quarterfinals
Ladislav Zemla 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-4
6-4
Round 1
Major Josiah George Ritchie 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-2
6-2
Round 2
Hans von Ringhoffer 1 *
F. Schick
6-3
6-1
Round 3
Hans von Ringhoffer 1 *
Otto Von Muller
2-6
7-5
6-4
Quarterfinals
Herbert Roper Barrett 1 *
Hans von Ringhoffer
6-4
6-1