Der Erfinder

Zeitstrahl

• 1917 Maier is a pilot
• 1918 study construction machinery in Karlsruhe
• 1923 Degree with above-average marks, Maier is from now on graduate engineer for machine construction; after the study got Maier a job by Junkers.
• 1923 / 24 Maier traveled to Columbia for Junkers and was the youngest Flugwerftleiter, he stayed 3 years in columbia.
• 1926 / 27 Return to Germany. Maier worked at first by Junkers in Dessau; He then traveled to Moscow for Junkers. He worked as development manager for Junkers-airplane. ( from 1922 to 1926 were over 200 airplanes and engines in a state-owned Joint-Venture company with Hugo Junkers produced).
• 1928 - 1931 Mr. Maier went to the Albatros aircraft factories in Berlin Johannisthal and was from now on company manager. he had a good relationship with Walter Micron in Prague. There were motors for light aircraft developed and produced.
• 1930 Maier belonged to the upper class society. He met his first wife and married on the first of may 1930. The marriage lasted 5 years.
• 1931 Maier founded the company `Leichtbau Maier` in Berlin and applied for a patent on the monocoque, closed carbody.
• 1933 Adolf Hitler started the announcement for a vehicle for the masses. A munich company paid Maier 300.000 Reichsmark for the development of that so-called `Volkswagen; After the first patent application, Maier applied for a patent for the monocoque closed all-steel bodywork, just after the publishing of his first patent application.
• 1933 - 34 Maiers` prototype construction on the Sömmeringstreet 30, Maiers` new company ground. It is a Limousine with 20 PS-DKW-rear engine.
• 1934 Citroen presented the 7CV, later 11CV, a mass-produceable vehicle with a monocoque closed all-steel bodywork.
• 1935 He got divorced from his first wife because of difficulties with the NS-regime. Leichtbau Maiers` completion with the official title LM 0501/35, the name is probably the completion date, the fitth of january 1935. His patent application for the monocoque closed all-steel bodywork was on the 25th of october 1935 in Germany published. The complete english version of that patent application was on the 17th of october 1936 in America published. The vehicle were denied because of dissension with the government. Maier was obliged, to be quiet about his project. That is the reason why there aren`t photos. Nevertheless the car was announced. On the number plate were the chief constables` stamp Berlin 1935 and the imperial eagle. Later, the patent applications were confiscated and partly destroyed. His patent application of the monocoque closed all-steel bodywork can not be found anymore by the patent office. One year later were the prototype of the VW-beetle-bodywork, model V3, published. The company ground on the Sömmeringstreet was till 1943 from the Wehrmacht occupied. Maier was forced to repair vehicles from the Wehrmacht.
• 1935 Citroen 11CV and Opel Olympia were the first cars, which were produced with a monocoque all-steel bodywork.
• 1939 Maier got a Peugeot 202 from Peugeot as a gift. He met his second (future) wife in Berlin. She was a danish ballet dancer.
• 1943 His plot of land and the car were badly damaged by a bomb attack over Berlin-Charlottenburg; His daughter was born: Maier bought the plot of land, which will be remodel into a sports field.
• 1944 Wife and daughter left Berlin and traveled to Denmark; a further badly bomb attack over Berlin destroyed his workshop, some outbuilding, many sketches and developments.
• 1945 Russians` Invasion, Maier was taken as a valuable prisoner of war away, but he could escape during the transport.
• 1947 Return from his girlfriend and daughter, he married her. The family lived in the ruins of his workshop.
• 1954 Wife and daughter left F.E. Maier. The marriage was divorced. He let 2 patent applications from the pre-war period new authenticate. The sales were immediately took away, because the chemical company sued Maier for damages. Maier could not managed to get financial compensation for old patent applications, despite having legal adviser. Mr. Maier moved into the Darwin-Garages on the Quitzowstreet and lived on the workshop ground till 1959.
• 1959 Maier moved to the Gierkeplatz in Berlin, a backyard will be his last home. The prototype was stored at the cowshed behind the main house.
• 60es Maier fight furthermore for the recognition for his patent applications. He started just after the war with that. His inventions, e. g. the monocoque all-steel bodywork and the full-adjustable drivers` seat, are now basics in the car manufacture worldwide. all car manufacturer use that inventions, without ever paid something. Mr. Maier isolated himself more and more from the society. The investing companies` litigation because of compensatory damages against Maier was still go on. The contact to his daughter suffered.
• 70es Mr. Maier had a friendship with Grit Böttchers` boyfriend. A contact to the film industry developed. The car appeared there unrestored.
• 1974 / 75 Maiers` prototype appeared in the movie `Tadellöser und Wolff`, which was published in 1975.
• 1976 Friedrich Eugen Maier died impoverished and lonely in Berlin in the spring. His body was found by his daughter only a few weeks after his death (15.03.-23.06.1976); His daughter sold the prototype and a Peugeot 202, the only vehicle, which her father after the war owned and drove, to a movie-equipment company; All documents and life works were `disposed`. They are useless because of the smell of the decomposition.