'Aschenbach' sounds conspicuously like 'Essenbeck'. Also, 'Aschenbach' is the name of the principal character (played by Bogarde) in Visconti's 'Death in Venice', filmed just after 'The Damned' (though the character had been so named by Thomas Mann some sixty years before). What's going on here?
I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken.
Yes, because Aschenbach is a cousin of the Essenbecks - hence the similarities in names. (As I've known Saunders/Sanders, Johnson/Johnstons, etc. to be related.) I assume the name Essenbeck is a pun on the Krupp family originating from Essen, but that's just a semi-educated guess.
I'm afraid that you underestimate the number of subjects in which I take an interest!
I had similar thoughts. I'd suggest that Visconti already had the name 'Aschenbach' in mind because of his reading of (and, very likely, preparation for filming) 'Death in Venice' and then (akin to your idea) the thought association was 'Krupp - Essen - Aschenbach - Essenbeck...'
I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken.