Claude Dornier
Toronto Daily Star, March 8 1929
Despite his French-sounding name, Claude Dornier (1884-1969) was actually from Germany, not Switzerland: he was born in Bavaria, the son of a German mother and a French father. As a young engineer, he joined Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, which, as you might guess, manufactured zeppelins. His abilities attracted the attention of none other than Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who made Dornier his personal scientific adviser.
In 1940, Dornier gave in to political pressure and joined the Nazi Party; his firm manufactured aircraft for the Luftwaffe. After the war, he was classified for denazification purposes as Category 4, which was a Follower (Mitläufer). People in this category were loosely, and somewhat controversially, defined as those who did not participate in war crimes but were involved with the Nazi regime.
After the war, Dornier went back to making aircraft for Germans who were not Nazis. He was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame in 1987.
Created September 18, 2025.