11 replies to this topic

[Paul Taylor]

Like the chap who started THIS thread, I have also always been fascinated by the obscure local German entrants in the 1952 and 1953 German Grand Prix. Uechtel's currently providing bios on each one of these drivers as we speak. Names like Ludwig Fischer, Willi Krakau and Harry Merkel were once just unknown figures listed on a webpage, now we have personal data, biographies and even photographs.
 
However, Theo Fitzau is the one that has always interested me the most, primarily because I hadn't seen a sausage written about him in all these years, nor seen a photo. Some further biographies have appeared on him lately - namely listing him as the son of a soap maker and pointing out that he defected to West Germany and so likely never saw his home again.
 
Wanting more, I ended up in the archives for the East German press where I stumbled upon an extended interview with him from 1951   In this interview, he talks about his early racing career, how he got started in motorsport and some of his general racing experiences. 
 
I have done my best to translate it to English and have posted it across five short pages, along with a load of photos here: 
http://www.the-fastl...-his-own-words/
 
I'm looking forward to Uechtel's bio of him, but in the meantime, if anyone has anything more to post, particularly any visual media, please feel free to do so!

Edited by Paul Taylor, 10 August 2017 - 05:41.

[Richard Jenkins]

Excellent find, well done. I look forward to reading it fully.

[uechtel]

Great thing!     Puh, and reading it I was sweating that I would have to re-write the short bio of him which I had prepared in the meantime... 

 

Just one little correction to his text, according to this he was not fifth but tenth at the Nürburgring, one lap down to the winners.

[Paul Taylor]

Great thing!     Puh, and reading it I was sweating that I would have to re-write the short bio of him which I had prepared in the meantime... 

 

Just one little correction to his text, according to this he was not fifth but tenth at the Nürburgring, one lap down to the winners.

 

Not at all! The only thing I would correct in your bio is that he was the second son of the Chairman of the company, but I'm not so sure he was involved in the business himself. His father (also Theo) ran the company until his death in 1963. 

 

Interestingly, this DDR newspaper refers to Theo Fitzau as a 'Unionsfreud' (or friend of the CDU / Christian Democratic Union, which is what the DDR called itself). I'm sure Theo wasn't thinking of politics when he went racing in the West, but the newspaper certainly tries to use him as a propaganda tool. A representative of the Union who was 'selected' to race at the Nürburgring.

 

I don't know if you have this, but Michael Schramme wrote a history of the Fitzau family of Köthen and it's available on Amazon for €10.00. Unfortunately I don't speak German, but perhaps it would be useful for you to buy a copy if you want to know more:

https://www.amazon.d...ensieder fitzau

 

Soap manufactured by the Fitzaus:

 

[uechtel]

As there was only one copy left, I ordered the book. So let´s see what we will learn from it

 

 

Not at all! The only thing I would correct in your bio is that he was the second son of the Chairman of the company, but I'm not so sure he was involved in the business himself. His father (also Theo) ran the company until his death in 1963. 

 

Interestingly, this DDR newspaper refers to Theo Fitzau as a 'Unionsfreud' (or friend of the CDU / Christian Democratic Union, which is what the DDR called itself). I'm sure Theo wasn't thinking of politics when he went racing in the West, but the newspaper certainly tries to use him as a propaganda tool. A representative of the Union who was 'selected' to race at the Nürburgring.

 

 

 

Well, I think nobody could claim to be 'unpolitical', certainly in those days. Being from an industrialist family and racer, leaving the 'state of the workers and peasants' could be regarded as sympathies with the CDU (which by the way did exist in the GDR as well all the time...).

 

Quote from https://www.ddr-duft...-fitzau-köthen/

 

1953  [...]Schon zu dieser Zeit wurde angefangen privat geführte Betrieb zu verstaatlichen. Mitte der 1950er Jahre wird die Belegschaft reduziert auf 15 bis 20 Mitarbeiter.

 

Translates freely as "already by that time the adminsitration had begun to transfer privately-owned companies into state-ownership. In the middle of the 1950 the number of workers was reduced from 20 to 15"

 

Indeed is was GDR policy to bring everything under control of the state. This did not happen always by "direct force", but they could have increased pressure on the 'capitalists', for example by giving them less raw materials, increasing taxes, bureaucracy, making workers to leave etc. So I don´t think the Fitzau familiy had been really a supporter of the East German Socialist Party.

Edited by uechtel, 11 August 2017 - 09:56.

[nexfast]

Like the chap who started THIS thread, I have also always been fascinated by the obscure local German entrants in the 1952 and 1953 German Grand Prix. Uechtel's currently providing bios on each one of these drivers as we speak. Names like Ludwig Fischer, Willi Krakau and Harry Merkel were once just unknown figures listed on a webpage, now we have personal data, biographies and even photographs.
 
However, Theo Fitzau is the one that has always interested me the most, primarily because I hadn't seen a sausage written about him in all these years, nor seen a photo. Some further biographies have appeared on him lately - namely listing him as the son of a soap maker and pointing out that he defected to West Germany and so likely never saw his home again.
 
Wanting more, I ended up in the archives for the East German press where I stumbled upon an extended interview with him from 1951   In this interview, he talks about his early racing career, how he got started in motorsport and some of his general racing experiences. 
 
I have done my best to translate it to English and have posted it across five short pages, along with a load of photos here: 
http://www.the-fastl...-his-own-words/
 
I'm looking forward to Uechtel's bio of him, but in the meantime, if anyone has anything more to post, particularly any visual media, please feel free to do so!

 

 

Very interesting, fascinating reading. Thanks for posting. Hope you will forgive some form of pedantry but I think that the mention that is birthplace was in the German Democratic Republic, which of course was non-existent in 1923, should be corrected. 

[Paul Taylor]

As there was only one copy left, I ordered the book. So let´s see what we will learn from it

 

Well, I think nobody could claim to be 'unpolitical', certainly in those days. Being from an industrialist family and racer, leaving the 'state of the workers and peasants' could be regarded as sympathies with the CDU (which by the way did exist in the GDR as well all the time...).

 

Quote from https://www.ddr-duft...-fitzau-köthen/

 

1953  [...]Schon zu dieser Zeit wurde angefangen privat geführte Betrieb zu verstaatlichen. Mitte der 1950er Jahre wird die Belegschaft reduziert auf 15 bis 20 Mitarbeiter.

 

Translates freely as "already by that time the adminsitration had begun to transfer privately-owned companies into state-ownership. In the middle of the 1950 the number of workers was reduced from 20 to 15"

 

Indeed is was GDR policy to bring everything under control of the state. This did not happen always by "direct force", but they could have increased pressure on the 'capitalists', for example by giving them less raw materials, increasing taxes, bureaucracy, making workers to leave etc. So I don´t think the Fitzau familiy had been really a supporter of the East German Socialist Party.

 

Excellent! I'm hoping at the very least that it has a decent photo of Theo and perhaps some info on what he did after he defected to the West.

 

It couldn't have impacted business too much, the company was still going into the 1970s.

 

 

Very interesting, fascinating reading. Thanks for posting. Hope you will forgive some form of pedantry but I think that the mention that is birthplace was in the German Democratic Republic, which of course was non-existent in 1923, should be corrected. 

 

That is true. If we're calling it precisely what it was named at the time, then his birthplace was Cöthen, Deutsches Reich. (The spelling was officially changed to a 'K' in 1927). 

Edited by Paul Taylor, 11 August 2017 - 17:37.

[Paul Taylor]

For the first time, I can reveal a decent quality photograph of Theo Fitzau. He was pallbearer at Paul Greifzu's funeral, along with fellow Grand Prix entrants Rudi Krause, Ernst Klodwig and Edgar Barth (who I believe is the chap standing behind Theo)

 

 

 

 

With thanks to 'sebbbl'.

[Gabrci]

Thanks, does look like Barth in the background. 

[eukie]

According to Oliver Steinmetz' book about his father Klaus, around 1970 Theo Fitzau was a staff member of the "Opel Sportbetreuung", working together with Peter Preikschat and Gert Hinterthan. The book even contains a photo of him, waving away Achim Warmbold at the start of the Opel-Rallye at Rüsselsheim in 1970.

[Paul Taylor]

According to Oliver Steinmetz' book about his father Klaus, around 1970 Theo Fitzau was a staff member of the "Opel Sportbetreuung", working together with Peter Preikschat and Gert Hinterthan. The book even contains a photo of him, waving away Achim Warmbold at the start of the Opel-Rallye at Rüsselsheim in 1970.

 

Could you please share this photo along with the ones we already have? See here (page 1 and page 5): http://www.the-fastl...-his-own-words/

 

EDIT: Is this the photo?

 

Edited by Paul Taylor, 06 September 2017 - 03:02.

[eukie]

Yes, it is.