Felix Mandl (born 16 December 1898; died 1993) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n businessman and entrepreneur.

Early life, background and education

Mandl was born in

Wien Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

as the fourth child of a wealthy

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family. He studied agriculture and philosophy in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

Career

Mandl's grandfather founded a cement plant in 1867, which had a branch plant in Podsused, district of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. Later that plant was turned from craft into a corporation with headquarters in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Mandl was supposed to move to Zurich, but with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's rise to power, he changed his mind. Plant in Podsused was named ''"Croatia"''. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he moved to Zagreb from where he guided the plant in Podsused. Soon he became a victim of political regimes. When the Ustashe came to power in Croatia, they began to threaten him with murder because he was a Jew. His plant was taken away from him by

NDH The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, after the invasion by the Axis powers. Its territory cons ...

regime. Mandl ended up in jail due to listening the

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

program, which was banned at the time. He was also arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, but was released after five days due to "economic reasons", while other prisoners that were with Mandl in detention were sent to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

. After the war Mandl was tried by the communist regime of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

for alleged collaboration with the fascist government, which was never proven. He was sentenced to ten years of forced labor. Mandl was taken to

Lepoglava prison Lepoglava Penitentiary (), also referred to in English as Lepoglava prison, is a maximum security prison in northern Croatia administed by the Croatian Ministry of Justice. It is located in, and named after, the town of Lepoglava, Varaždin Cou ...

, from which he was released after two years when it was discovered that during the war he helped a

Partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

fighters. In the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

by the communist regime, Mandl was left without any factory, except the one in Podsused, which was later renamed to ''"Sloboda"'', but was soon afterwards destroyed. In Kenya in 1951 Mandl founded Bamburi Cement, one of largest cement companies in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Personal life

Mandl was married to Ana Bing from 1931. During World War II he had sent his wife to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, out of a fear that Zagreb was no longer safe for her. Mandl's wife returned to Zagreb after a month, although the threat still existed. While in prison in Lepoglava, Mandl had regularly visits from his wife. On 5 December 1950 Mandl and his wife emigrated to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. Mandl wrote the book ''"Usprkos svemu ostaju sjećanja (In spite of all the memories remain)"'', in which he described his life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandl, Felix 1898 births Year of death missing Businesspeople from Zagreb Croatian Jews Jews from Austria-Hungary Croatian Austro-Hungarians Croatian people of Austrian-Jewish descent University of Göttingen alumni Croatian emigrants to Kenya