Todt, Adolf

Businessman

Born: 29.03.1886 in Oestrich

died: 10.08.1960 in Wiesbaden

Adolf Todt had lived in Wiesbaden since 1892 and attended elementary school there until 1895. From 1895 to 1901, he attended high school, from which he graduated with a middle school diploma. Todt then worked as an apprentice and sales representative at Gottfried Glaser, a Wiesbaden-based chemical and pharmaceutical wholesaler. Starting in 1906, Todt was employed as a sales clerk at the Wiesbaden-based chemical company Kalle and rose to become head of an export division.

The transfer of the license to manufacture cellophane from Farbwerke Hoechst to Kalle in the 1920s had a major impact on his career. The further development, marketing, and sale of cellophane became Todt’s primary responsibility at Kalle. He was largely responsible for establishing the company’s “Cellophan” and “Artificial Casings” departments. Thanks to Todt, the cellophan produced by Kalle became a commercial success both domestically and abroad.

In 1923, he was granted power of attorney. During the Weimar Republic, Todt was a member of the national-liberal German People’s Party (DVP) and represented the party before 1926 as a city councilman in Biebrich, which at that time was not yet part of Wiesbaden.
In 1934, he became commercial director and head of the “Cellophan” division at Kalle. Todt joined the National Socialist People’s Welfare Organization and the German Labor Front in 1937 and applied for membership in the NSDAP on March 29, 1939, at a time when the admission freeze had been lifted. According to the NSDAP Central Registry, he was admitted to the party on January 1, 1940. In addition to Todt, the directors Anderhub and Schmidt also joined the party in 1941 and 1942, respectively. However, not all of the company’s top managers were party members.

During the Nazi era, Todt owned several houses in Wiesbaden. He purchased one of them in 1936 from the Jewish merchant Josef Sender. There is no evidence that this or any of the other properties were subject to “Aryanization.” Todt used the house on Wielandstraße as a rental property. Two Jewish tenants lived in this house: the psychiatrist Erich Friedländer and the merchant Karl Daniel. After the war, Todt testified that he had protected them and had maintained a friendly relationship with them until their emigration in 1939. Both families emigrated in 1939 and had been living in the house on Wielandstraße until that time. No details regarding the nature of their friendship or the circumstances of their emigration have been recorded.

During World War II, a large number of forced laborers were employed at the Kalle company: in addition to at least 105 French prisoners of war, workers from other occupied territories were also forced to work. Thus, the number of so-called “Eastern workers” at the Kalle company was at least 609.

Adolf Todt was fully aware of the use of these forced laborers and himself employed forced laborers in his department. In a report from 1941, he emphasized the strategic importance of cellophane for the high-quality preservation of food at the front.

He also explained that during a so-called “screening commission,” Todt’s area of responsibility had been reviewed and cellophane had been classified as “crucial to the war effort,” following which he had been promised the necessary labor to support his operations.

However, Todt used the forced laborers under his command not only for operational purposes but also for personal use. For example, he told the Wiesbaden Denazification Chamber after the war that French prisoners of war—who had been made available to him by Kalle for cleanup work following a bombing raid—had been working at his home. He further stated that the forced laborers had been treated well. They had been well cared for, and the staff had eaten meals with them.

For his work at the Kalle company, Todt was awarded the War Merit Cross, Second Class, in 1941.

After the end of World War II and the occupation of Wiesbaden, Todt was dismissed from Kalle on the orders of the American occupying forces due to his party membership. In the months that followed, he prepared for his denazification proceedings and submitted numerous affidavits intended to confirm his integrity during the “Third Reich.” He explained his party membership, for example, by citing the collective decision of the entire executive board to join the party with the intention of protecting the company from danger.

The denazification tribunal accepted the arguments presented by Todt and his attorney and classified Todt in Group 5 (“Exonerated”). The proceedings against him were dismissed. By 1946, Todt had already returned to Kalle as an employee and a member of the executive board.

In 1952, he was promoted to the company’s executive board and later served as a member of the supervisory board. In addition to his work at Kalle, Todt served as chairman of the Employers’ Association of the Chemical and Related Industries for the State of Hesse e. V. and as a member of the extended executive board of the Association of the Chemical Industry of Hesse e. V. In 1953, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. The University of Mainz awarded Todt an honorary doctorate in 1956. For six years, he served on the board of trustees of the Wiesbaden Eye Hospital (opens in a new tab).

Following a resolution by the City Council on May 25, 1972, a street in the Biebrich district was named after the commercial director of the Kalle company. This street was extended in 1974 to include Adolfsplatz. In memory of her husband, Helene Todt established the Adolf Todt Foundation at the University of Mainz in 1973, which awards scholarships for outstanding scientific achievements to doctoral students in chemistry and pharmacy.

The Historical Expert Commission, appointed by a resolution of the City Council in 2020 to review traffic areas, buildings, and facilities in the state capital of Wiesbaden named after individuals, recommended renaming Adolf-Todt-Straße due to Todt’s membership in various National Socialist organizations (NSDAP, NSV, DAF, RKB). As head of the cellophane division at Kalle—a division critical to the war effort—Adolf Todt was also involved in the use of forced labor. In total, the company employed at least 105 French prisoners of war and 609 so-called “Eastern workers.” Adolf Todt also deployed an unknown number of French prisoners of war to perform cleanup work at his private home. As a result, he was complicit in the deliberate harm inflicted on individuals between 1933 and 1945.

At its meeting on June 4, 2025, the responsible Wiesbaden-Biebrich Local Council decided to provide contextual information regarding Adolf-Todt-Straße, thereby not following the recommendation of the Historical Expert Commission. This decision was implemented by a resolution of the municipal administration on March 24, 2026.

[This text was written in 2012 by Dr. Rolf Faber for the print edition of the Wiesbaden City Encyclopedia and supplemented in 2024 by Dr. Katherine Lukat.]