Porsche’s Betweeners — Branitzki and Bohn

It all began with a decision that Ferry Porsche would long regret. Beginning in 1970, the familial tensions described by Ferdinand Piëch were: “In our family there’s a kind of unspoken law: Porsche is Stuttgart and Piëch is Salzburg.” Porsches were taking the top jobs in Zuffenhausen and some Piëchs were heading there as well. In 1971 a new management board convened that included members of both sides of the family. Created on April 1, 1971, Ferry Porsche was its chairman. Ferdinand Piëch was a member as was Butzi Porsche. Michael Piëch was added to the management board in charge of administration. The fifth man was to be a neutral party, neither a Porsche nor a Piëch—Heinrich “Heinz” Branitzki.

On his 75th birthday in 1984 Ferry Porsche, center, was presented with a one-off four-passenger 928 Porsche. On his left was mustachioed finance head Heinz Branitzki and on his right engineering chief Helmuth Bott.

Then 41, Branitzki had a mustache, a thinning forelock and a degree in marketing. Born in Upper Silesia in 1930, Heinz earned a Masters in Business in Berlin. He worked for the Carl Zeiss optical firm until he learned of an opportunity at Porsche. The car maker was seeking a successor to Hans Kern, who had been with Porsche since 1933 and had managed the firm’s finances since 1942. Branitzki came to Zuffenhausen in 1965 as an understudy to Kern. By 1970 Hans Kern had retired and Heinz Branitzki had taken charge of the KG’s financial affairs.