On 4 September 1891, Fritz Todt was born in Pforzheim, Germany. A civil engineer by training, Todt became a central figure in the development of Germany's motorway network after Adolf Hitler appointed him Inspector General for German Roadways in July 1933.
Todt did not invent the Autobahn. Plans for high-speed motorways had already been developed during the Weimar Republic, and the Cologne–Bonn motorway opened in 1932. Under Todt, however, the Nazi regime greatly expanded the programme, turning it into a major infrastructure and propaganda project.
Construction of the Reichsautobahnen began in earnest in 1933, with Todt responsible for coordinating their planning and execution. The Frankfurt–Darmstadt section, opened in 1935, became one of the early showcase-stretches of the network. By the end of 1941, about 3,860 kilometres of German Autobahn had been completed.
Todt later headed Organisation Todt, the large Nazi engineering and construction organisation, and became Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions in 1940. His career therefore sits at the intersection of engineering, infrastructure and the Nazi state's military-industrial ambitions. He died in a plane crash on 8 February 1942.
