100 Years of Schmalz: National Socialism (1930 - 1940)

03.04.2010

In the 1930s, Johannes Schmalz began to increase advertising for his products. A designer from Tübingen conceived an advertising campaign for three different razor blades (for 5, 10 and 15 pfennig). It featured promotional letters, advertisements, samples for shop window designs as well as sandwich boards. In 1938, the razor blade brand Glattis was finally “born” in Glatten; Schmalz registered the term as a brand name for his razor blades.

Johannes Schmalz was a socially responsible employer. As a matter of course, he provided financial support to diaconal institutions for the ill and socially deprived, including the Stetten Institution in Remstal, Baden-Württemberg and in particular Friedrich von Bodelschwingh’s Bethel Institution in Bielefeld.

After the National Socialists gained power, trust in the economy grew again. Schmalz also felt the economic upturn. The longer the National Socialists were in power, the more Nazi institutions began to interfere with the company.

Johannes Schmalz was not a member of the National Socialist Party (“NSDAP”), and his relationship with the party was not free of tension. Johannes Schmalz was frequently invited to join the NSDAP subdistrict leadership in Freudenstadt. Schmalz also resisted becoming a member of the German Labour Front, a type of NSDAP “trade union” for a long time. Yet over the years, the regime continued to try and impose its ideology upon the company.

Ultimately, ideological resistance was much less of a struggle for the company than the lack of materials during the Third Reich, as this was managed by Nazi bureaucrats. Even under these circumstances, the businessman proved his ability to overcome difficult situations, not least by drawing on friendly connections; he shared ration coupons for cast metal with his cousin in Aistaig, for example.

To maintain a close contact with customers, Johannes Schmalz hired the the first field representative. For him, a field service vehicle was acquired with which he was traveling through Germany and visited customer on site. Unfortunately, he sold the vehicle to a trusting clergyman in Bremen and vanished with the money, never to be seen again.

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