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After the end of the First World War, the number of employees at Zeppelin collapsed. The construction of airships was prohibited, and the remaining ships had to be handed over to the Allies. Many airship hangars had to be dismantled. During this time, a variety of household items were made of aluminum, such as vases.

In 1919, another airship was built. The smallest Zeppelin LZ 120 Bodensee built at this time took off for the first time in August 1919. After one season, he, like her sister ship LZ 121 Nordstern, had to be given up as reparations.

Aero-Union AG was founded in 1921. Shareholders were AEG and Hapag 40 percent each, as well as Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH with 20 percent.

From 1922 to 1923, it was possible to obtain an order for a large rigid airship. LZ 126 was built for the U.S. Navy and in the following years became the most successful U.S. rigid airship in the U.S. under the designation ZR-3 USS Los Angeles. With this construction, the existence of the shipyard was initially secured, and the basis for a revival of the airship idea in Germany was created.

After the restrictions on airship construction fell, LZ 127 was built. Christened in the name of the company founder, the "Graf Zeppelin" became the most successful German airship and pioneer of transatlantic air traffic for DELAG. It was both the last airship that DELAG took over from Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, and the last zeppelin with engines from Maybach.

In 1928, the Good Year Zeppelin Corporation, in which the German Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH held a two-thirds stake, was awarded the contract to build two large airships, the USS Akron and USS Macon, worth eight million dollars. Both airships were used by the U.S. Navy as flying aircraft carriers.

The Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei was founded in 1935 with the state participation of the German Reich. It was to operate LZ 129 Hindenburg.

With the sister ship of the Hindenburg, the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II, Zeppelin produced the last manned rigid airship to date in 1938. With a volume of 200,000m³ each, these two zeppelins were the largest airships ever built. The construction of LZ 131 with a planned volume of 223,000m³ was still started, but stopped after the start of the war. [2]

Second World War
During the Second World War, Friedrichshafen was one of the major armaments centres of the German Reich. Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH manufactured, among other things, radar systems, direction finders, parachutes and parts for aircraft and rocket construction (including A4 and V2 parts). It was assigned a separate subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp, the Friedrichshafen subcamp, which housed forced laborers for the Zeppelin works. The Saulgau subcamp, which was located between 14 August 1943 and 22 April 1945 at Saulgau railway station next to the production site of Josef Bautz AG, was also operated by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH.

In 1944, halls in Friedrichshafen were bombed by the Allies.