Friedrich Mandl

Who was Friedrich Mandl?

Friedrich Mandl 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 than to Nazism. In the 1930s he became close to Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, the commander of the Austrian fascist private army leader, whom he furnished with weapons and ammunition.

From 1933 to 1937, Mandl was married to Jewish actress Hedwig "Hedy" Kiesler, who would later become known as Hedy Lamarr in Hollywood. Hedy Lamarr was of Jewish ethnicity but was a Roman Catholic. It is understandable considering the times that she lived in that she kept her ethnicity a secret. The couple were rumored to have very intimate contacts with the very highest levels of the people controlling Germany. In her autobiography she indicates that she attended a convent school for girls. When she went to Hollywood her connections with very wealthy people were obviously helpful to her career. Her first "serious" film was Algiers for which she was highly acclaimed at the time. Mandl is rumoured to have attempted to bring a halt to her acting career in Germany and to purchase all copies of her infamous film Ecstasy, in which she appeared nude.