After his return from World War I, Adolf Dassler, Rudolf's younger brother, started to produce sports shoes in his mother's kitchen. His father, Christoph, who worked in a shoe factory, and the brothers Zehlein, who produced the handmade spikes for track shoes in their blacksmith's shop, supported Adolf in starting his own business. In 1924, Rudolf joined the business, which became the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory). With the rise of
Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, both Dassler brothers joined the
Nazi Party, with Rudolf reputed as being the more ardent Nazi. During the war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in 1943 when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were already in: "The dirty bastards are back again," Adi said, apparently referring to the Allied warplanes, but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family. Rudolf, upon his capture by American troops, was suspected of being a member of the SS, information Rudolf assumed was allegedly supplied by Adolf. Under his direction,
Puma remained a small provincial company. Only under the direction of his son,
Armin Dassler, did it become the worldwide known company it remains today. ==Death==