Leonhard Moll was born in 1870 in Külsheim-Erkenbrechtshofen (now a district of Bad Windsheim in Middle Franconia) as the son of a day laborer. After completing an apprenticeship in construction trades, he initially worked as an employee for the city of Munich until he founded his own construction company in 1894.
The still-existing Leonhard Moll AG initially operated in the fields of construction execution and project development. Moll constructed residential buildings as well as public sector buildings, engaged in hydraulic engineering (such as waterways and port facilities), and built industrial structures. After World War I, he established a then-modern construction yard with workshops, warehouses, storage halls, and loading facilities. In 1926, he expanded the business to include a road construction department. In 1929, Moll also founded a concrete factory, which later developed into today’s Leonhard Moll Betonwerke GmbH & Co. KG division. In 1932, Moll participated in the construction of the Sternwald Tunnel in Freiburg as part of the realignment of the Höllental Railway. Other projects undertaken by the company included Germany’s first tar road surface in 1930, the Isar Bridge in Bad Tölz, the Ludwigsbrücke in Munich, and the Munich-Riem Airport. Starting in 1935, the concrete division developed and manufactured poles using the spun concrete process, which were used, among other purposes, as antenna supports. In 1937, Leonhard Moll filed a patent for prestressed concrete railway sleepers and began large-scale industrial production of them during World War II.
The construction contractor Leonhard Moll is considered a beneficiary of the Nazi regime, as he carried out numerous prestigious large-scale projects for it. For instance, the company was involved in the expansion of the NSDAP party district at Munich’s Königsplatz as well as the construction of the road to Hitler’s “Berghof” on the Obersalzberg. The demolition of Munich’s main synagogue in June 1938, which starkly foreshadowed the destruction of Jewish life months before the Kristallnacht pogrom, was also carried out by the Moll company. From 1939 until the end of the war, the company employed hundreds of forced laborers. Concentration camp prisoners were forced to perform slave labor for Moll during the construction of massive bunker facilities for the armament project “Ringeltaube” near Kaufering. The “Moll Kommando” was feared due to the murderous conditions that prevailed there.
Sources
Buildings
Munich (München), Germany
Moll Block