Erwin Komenda

Erwin Komenda (6 April 1904 - 22 August 1966) was a Porsche employee, and a lead contributor to the design of the bodies for the VW Beetle and various Porsche sports cars.

He was born in Weyer, a little village in Upper Austria near Steyr. From 1926 to 1929 he worked as a car-body designer in the Steyr factories. There he met Ferdinand Porsche in 1929 when Porsche joined Steyr as technical director. In 1929 Komenda's innovative ideas landed him the post of Chief Engineer for Daimler-Benz in Sindelfingen (Germany), a position he held until 1931. During his tenure he managed in most cases to reduce the weight of Mercedes cars through better design. During that period, Mercedes also developed a streamlined car with monocoque construction. In October 1931, Komenda resigned from his job with Mercedes and joined Ferdinand Porsche's new company, taking a step into an unknown future.

From 1931 to his death in 1966, Komenda was chief engineer and leader of the Porsche car-body construction department.

Komenda

Komenda (pronounced [kɔˈmɛːnda]; German: Commenda) is a village in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Komenda. It includes the formerly independent settlement of Kaplja Vas (Slovene: Kapla vas, German: Kaplawas).

Name

Komenda was first mentioned in written sources in 1147–54 as de sancto Petro (and as hospitale Sancti Petri in 1296, in der pharren von Sand Peter in 1322, and comendator ad S. Petrum in 1446). The name of the village is identical to the Slovene common noun komenda 'commandry', referring to a property and residence owned by the Knights Hospitaller from 1223 to 1872. The noun komenda is borrowed (probably via German Kommende) from Medieval Latin commenda 'entrusted property'. In the past the German name was Commenda.

Mass grave

Komenda is the site of a mass grave from the period immediately after the Second World War. The Svešek Alder Mass Grave (Slovene: Grobišče Sveščeva jelša) is located at the edge of the Svešek Alder Woods (Sveščeva Jelša) along a forest road northwest of Žeje pri Komendi. It contains the remains of 10 to 15 prisoners from Kamnik murdered in May and June 1945. Their nationalities and whether they were soldiers or civilians is unknown.

Komenda (disambiguation)

Komenda may refer to:

See also