Friedrich Alexander Maria "Fritz" Mandl (9 February 1900 – 8 September 1977) was chairman of Hirtenberger Patronen-Fabrik, a leading Austrian armaments firm founded by his father, Alexander Mandl. A prominent fascist, Mandl was attached to the Austrofascism and Italian varieties and an opponent of Nazism. In the 1930s he became close to Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, the commander of the Austrian nationalist militia ("Heimwehr"), which he furnished with weapons and ammunition. He inherited the weapons factory from his father, Alexander Mandl, which was used to help equip Hitler's Germany. Until 1940, Mandl tried to maintain contact with Hermann Göring's office in order to supply Germany with iron.

Private life

Mandl was born on 9 February 1900, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, the son of a Jewish father, Alexander Mandl (1861–1943) and a Roman Catholic mother, Maria ( Mohr; 1873–1924) Mandl. He had a younger sister, Renata Renée Mandl (later Ferro). Fritz Mandl was married five times. His wives were:

Business affairs

Lamarr later wrote in Ecstasy and Me, that both Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and German dictator Adolf Hitler attended Mandl's parties. However, Mandl had a personal quarrel with the Nazi minister Hermann Göring which, as well as his Jewish descent, led to the expropriation of his property in Europe. After the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938, Mandl transferred as many of his assets as he could to Swiss ownership, resigned as director-general of the munitions company and fled to Switzerland. He was forced to sell his business for £170,000 and 1.24 million Sperrmark to the German Wilhelm Gustloff Stiftung. The remaining property was seized.

In exile

Some time in the mid-1940s, Mandl moved to Brazil and then to Argentina. He arrived in Argentina as a "refugee", with his Rolls-Royce automobile, a court of maintainers, and a ton of gold bullion. He became a citizen and remarried in 1951. In Argentina, he opened factories and companies during Peronism. He served as an advisor to Juan Perón and attempted a new role as film producer. He founded a new airplane manufacturing firm, Industria Metalúrgica y Plástica Argentina. Mandl became a leading member of Argentina's social circles. He acquired a home in Mar del Plata, a castle in Córdoba and a small hotel in Buenos Aires. He worked closely with French designer Jean-Michel Frank, who was then artistic director of Comte S.A., who produced most of Mandl's furnishings.

Return to Austria

Mandl had to close his businesses in Argentina when Americans harassed him on suspicion of his being a Nazi. In 1955 after the fall of peronism in Argentina, he left for Austria where he resumed running the factory at Hirtenberg. He died in Vienna in 1977. After his death, a dispute broke out over his inheritance that took years to resolve.

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