Krupp - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Krupp family a prominent 400-year-old German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

dynasty

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

from Essen

Essen

- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

, have become famous for their steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

production and for their manufacture of ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

and armaments. The family business

Family business

A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....

, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1999 it merged with Thyssen AG

Thyssen AG

Thyssen was a major German steel producer founded by August Thyssen. After over 100 years of existence the company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form ThyssenKrupp in 1999.-History:...

to form ThyssenKrupp AG

ThyssenKrupp

ThyssenKrupp AG is a German multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Duisburg Essen, Germany. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. While ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers, the company also provides components and systems for the automotive...

, a large industrial conglomerate

Conglomerate (company)

A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...

Overview

Friedrich Krupp

Friedrich Krupp was a German steel manufacturer and founder of the Krupp family commercial empire that is now subsumed into ThyssenKrupp AG. He launched the family's metal-based activities, building a small steel-foundry in Essen in 1811. He was the father of the arms manufacturer Alfred Krupp....

(1787–1826) launched the family's metal-based activities, building a pioneering steel

Steel

foundry

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...

in Essen in 1810. His son Alfred (1812–87), known as "the Cannon King" or as "Alfred the Great", invested heavily in new technology to become a significant manufacturer of steel rollers (used to make eating utensils) and railway tyres. He also invested in fluidized hotbed technologies (notably the Bessemer process

Bessemer process

The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...

) and acquired many mines in Germany and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Unusually for the era, he provided social services for his workers, including subsidized housing and health and retirement benefits.
The company began to make steel cannons in the 1840s—especially for the Russian, Turkish, and Prussian armies. Low non-military demand and government subsidies meant that the company specialized more and more in weapons: by the late 1880s the manufacture of armaments represented around 50% of Krupp's total output. When Alfred started with the firm, it had five employees. At his death twenty thousand people worked for Krupp—making it the world's largest industrial company and the largest private company in the German empire.

In the 20th century the company was headed by Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Gustav Georg Friedrich Maria Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, "Taffi", ran the German Friedrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941...

(1870–1950), who assumed the surname of Krupp when he married the Krupp heiress, Bertha Krupp

Bertha Krupp

Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , born Bertha Krupp and commonly known by this name outside Germany, was a member of the Krupp family, Germany's leading industrial dynasty of the 19th and 20th centuries...

. After Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

came to power in Germany in 1933, the Krupp works became the center for German rearmament. In 1943, by a special order from Hitler, the company reverted to a sole-proprietorship, with Gustav and Bertha's eldest son Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , often referred to as Alfried Krupp, was a convicted war criminal, an industrialist, a competitor in Olympic yacht races and a member of the Krupp family, which has been prominent in Germany since the early 19th century.The family company, known...

(1907–67) as proprietor. After Germany's defeat, Gustav was senile and incapable of standing trial, and the Nuremberg Military Tribunal convicted Alfried as a war criminal in the Krupp Trial

Krupp Trial

The Krupp Trial was the tenth of twelve trials for war crimes that U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone at Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II....

for "plunder" and for his company's use of slave labor

Forced labor in Germany during World War II

The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied...

. It sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to sell 75% of his holdings. In 1951, as the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

developed and no buyer came forward, the authorities released him, and in 1953 he resumed control of the firm.

In 1968, the company became a corporation

Corporation

A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...

. In 1999, the Krupp Group merged with its largest competitor, Thyssen AG

Thyssen AG

; the combined company—ThyssenKrupp AG, became Germany's fifth-largest firm and one of the largest steel producers in the world.

Early history

The Krupp family first appeared in the historical record in 1587, when Arndt Krupp joined the merchants' guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

in Essen. Arndt, a trader, arrived in town just before an epidemic of the Black Death plague

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

and became one of the city's wealthiest men by purchasing the property of families who fled the epidemic. After he died in 1624, his son Anton took over the family business; Anton oversaw a gunsmith

Gunsmith

A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...

ing operation during the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

(1618–48), which was the first instance of the family's long association with arms manufacturing.

For the next century the Krupps continued to acquire property and became involved in municipal politics in Essen. By the mid-18th-century, Friedrich Jodocus Krupp, Arndt's great-great-grandson, headed the Krupp family. In 1751, he married Helene Amalie Ascherfeld (another of Arndt's great-great-grandchildren); Jodocus died six years later, which left his widow to run the business: a family first. The Widow Krupp greatly expanded the family's holdings over the decades, acquiring a fulling

Fulling

Fulling or tucking or walking is a step in woolen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of cloth to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. The worker who does the job is a fuller, tucker, or walker...

mill, shares in four coal mines, and (in 1800) an iron forge

Finery forge

Iron tapped from the blast furnace is pig iron, and contains significant amounts of carbon and silicon. To produce malleable wrought iron, it needs to undergo a further process. In the early modern period, this was carried out in a finery forge....

located on a stream near Essen.

Friedrich's era

In 1807 the progenitor of the modern Krupp firm, Friedrich Krupp

Friedrich Krupp

, began his commercial career at age 19 when the Widow Krupp appointed him manager of the forge. Friedrich's father, the widow's son, had died 11 years previously; since that time, the widow had tutored the boy in the ways of commerce, as he seemed the logical family heir. Unfortunately, Friedrich proved too ambitious for his own good, and quickly ran the formerly profitable forge into the ground. The widow soon had to sell it away.

In 1810, the widow died, and in what would prove a disastrous move, left virtually all the Krupp fortune and property to Friedrich. Newly enriched, Friedrich decided to discover the secret of cast (crucible) steel. Benjamin Huntsman

Benjamin Huntsman

Benjamin Huntsman was an English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel.-Biography:Huntsman was born the third son of a Quaker farmer in Epworth, Lincolnshire. His parents were Germans who had emigrated only a few years before his birth.Huntsman started business as a clock, lock and...

, a clockmaker from Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, had pioneered a process to make crucible steel

Crucible steel

Crucible steel describes a number of different techniques for making steel in a crucible. Its manufacture is essentially a refining process which is dependent on preexisting furnace products...

in 1740, but the British had managed to keep it secret, forcing others to import steel. When Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

began his blockade of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

(see Continental System

Continental System

The Continental System or Continental Blockade was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a large-scale embargo against British trade, which began on November 21, 1806...

), British steel became unavailable, and Napoleon offered a prize of four thousand francs to anyone who could replicate the British process. This prize piqued Friedrich's interest.

Thus, in 1811 Friedrich founded the Krupp Gusstahlfabrik (Cast Steel Works). He realized he would need a large facility with a power source

Power (physics)

In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...

for success, and so he built a mill

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

and foundry

Foundry

on the Ruhr River, which unfortunately proved an unreliable stream. Friedrich spent a significant amount of time and money in the small, waterwheel-powered facility, neglecting other Krupp business, but in 1816 he was able to produce smelted

Smelting

Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...

steel. He died in Essen, 8 October 1826 age 39.

Alfred's era

Alfred Krupp (born Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp), son of Friedrich Carl, was born in Essen in 1812. His father's death forced him to leave school at the age of fourteen and take on responsibility for the steel works. Prospects were daunting: his father had spent a considerable fortune in the attempt to cast steel in large ingots, and to keep the works going the widow and family lived in extreme frugality. The young director laboured alongside the workmen by day and carried on his father's experiments at night, when not touring Europe trying to make sales. It was during a stay in England that young Alfried became enamored of the country and adopted the English spelling of his name.

For years, the works made barely enough money to cover the workmen's wages. Then, in 1841, Alfred's brother Hermann invented the spoon-roller, which Alfred patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

ed, bringing in enough money to enlarge the factory and cast steel blocks. In 1847 Krupp made his first cannon

Cannon

A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

of cast steel. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, he exhibited a 6 pounder made entirely from cast steel, and a solid flawless ingot

Ingot

An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. Non-metallic and semiconductor materials prepared in bulk form may also be referred to as ingots, particularly when cast by mold based methods.-Uses:...

of steel weighing 4300 pounds (1,950.4 kg), more than twice as much as any previously cast. He surpassed this with a 100000 pounds (45,359.2 kg) ingot for the Paris Exposition

Exposition Universelle (1855)

The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...

in 1855. Krupp's exhibits caused a sensation in the engineering world, and the Essen works became famous.

In 1851, another successful innovation, no-weld railway tyres

Railway tires

-Installation:The steel wheels of steam locomotives and other older types of rolling stock were usually fitted with steel tires or tyres to provide a replaceable wearing element on a costly wheel....

, began the company's primary revenue stream, from sales to railways in the United States. Alfred enlarged the factory and fulfilled his long-cherished scheme to construct a breech-loading cannon of cast steel. Alfred strongly believed in the superiority of breech-loaders, on account of improved accuracy and speed, but this view did not win general acceptance among military officers, who remained loyal to tried-and-true muzzle-loaded

Muzzleloader

A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun . This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms...

bronze cannon.

Indeed, unable to sell his steel cannon, Krupp gave it to the King of Prussia

Frederick William IV of Prussia

|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...

, who used it as a decorative piece. The king's brother Wilhelm, however, realized the significance of the innovation. After he became regent in 1859, Prussia bought its first 312 steel cannon from Krupp, which became the main arms manufacturer for the Prussian military.

The French high command refused to purchase Krupp guns despite Napoleon III's support. The Franco-Prussian war

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

was in part a contest of "Kruppstahl" versus bronze cannon. The success of German artillery spurred the first international arms race

Arms race

The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation...

, against Schneider

Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...

in France and Armstrong

Armstrong Whitworth

Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...

in England. Krupp was able to sell, alternately, improved artillery and improved steel shielding to countries from Russia to Chile to Siam.

In the Panic of 1873

Panic of 1873

The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...

, Alfred continued to expand, including the purchase of Spanish mines and Dutch shipping, making Krupp the biggest company in Europe but nearly bankrupting it. He was bailed out with a 30 million Mark loan from a consortium of banks arranged by the Prussian State Bank.

In 1878 and 1879 Krupp held Völkerschiessen, which were firing demonstrations of cannon for international buyers. These were held in Meppen

Meppen, Germany

Meppen is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund-Ems canal...

, at the largest proving ground

Proving ground

A proving ground is the US name for a military installation or reservation where weapons or other military technology are experimented or tested, or where military tactics are tested...

in the world; privately owned by Krupp. He took on 46 nations as customers. At the time of his death in 1887, he had 75,000 employees, including 20,200 in Essen. In his lifetime, Krupp manufactured a total of 24,576 guns; 10,666 for the German government and 13,910 for export.

Krupp established the Generalregulativ as the firm’s basic constitution. The company was a sole proprietorship

Sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship, also known as the sole trader or simply a proprietorship, is a type of business entity that is owned and run by one individual and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business. The owner receives all profits and has unlimited responsibility for...

, inherited by primogeniture

Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...

, with strict control of workers. Krupp demanded a loyalty oath, required workers to obtain written permission from their foremen when they needed to use the toilet, and issued proclamations telling his workers not to concern themselves with national politics. In return, Krupp provided social services that were unusually liberal for the era, including "colonies" with parks, schools and recreation grounds - while the widows' and orphans' and other benefit scheme

Employee benefit

Employee benefits and benefits in kind are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries...

s insured the men and their families in case of illness or death. Essen became a large company town

Company town

A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...

, and Krupp became a de facto state within a state

State within a state

State within a state is a political situation in a country when an internal organ, generally from the armed forces, intelligence agencies or police, does not respond to the civilian leadership....

, with "Kruppianer" as loyal to the company and the Krupp family as to the nation and the Hohenzollern family

House of Hohenzollern

The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...

. Krupp’s paternalist

Paternalism

Paternalism refers to attitudes or states of affairs that exemplify a traditional relationship between father and child. Two conditions of paternalism are usually identified: interference with liberty and a beneficent intention towards those whose liberty is interfered with...

strategy was adoped by Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

as government policy, as a preventative against the Social Democratics

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

.

Krupp was also held in high esteem by the kaiser, who dismissed Julius von Verdy du Vernois

Julius von Verdy du Vernois

Julius von Verdy du Vernois was a German general and staff officer, chiefly noted both for his military writings and his service on Graf Moltke's staff during the Franco-Prussian War.- Biography :...

and his successor Hans von Kaltenborn

Hans von Kaltenborn-Stachau

Hans Karl Georg von Kaltenborn-Stachau was a Prussian General of the Infantry and Minister of War....

for rejecting Krupp's design of the C-96 field gun

7.7 cm FK 96

The 7.7 cm Feldkanone 96 was a field gun used by Germany before World War I. It was a thoroughly conventional gun, being a modernized version of Krupp's FK 73 gun, but failed to incorporate any recoil system other than a partially effective spade brake. Thus it was rendered obsolete when the...

, quipping, “I’ve canned three War Ministers because of Krupp, and still they don’t catch on!”.

Krupp proclaimed he wished to have "a man come and start a counter-revolution" against Jews, socialists and liberals. In some of his odder moods, he considered taking the role himself. According to historian William Manchester

William Manchester

William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...

, his great grandson Alfried Krupp would interpret these outbursts as a prophecy fulfilled by the coming of Hitler.

Krupp's marriage was not a happy one. His wife Bertha (not to be confused with their granddaughter

Bertha Krupp

), was unwilling to remain in polluted Essen in Villa Hügel

Villa Hügel

150px|right|thumb|[[The Industrial Heritage Trail|Ruhr Industrial Heritage Trail]]The Villa Hügel is a mansion in Bredeney in Germany. It belonged to the Krupp family of industrialists and was built by Alfred Krupp during 1873 as a residence...

, the ungainly but fireproof castle which Krupp designed. She spent most of their married years in resorts and spas, with their only child, a son.

Friedrich Alfred's Era

After Krupp's death in 1887, his only son, Friedrich Alfred

Friedrich Alfred Krupp

Friedrich Alfred Krupp was a German steel manufacturer of the company Krupp.- Biography :Krupp was born in Essen, Germany. His father was Alfred Krupp. In 1887, Friedrich took over the leadership of his father's company. He married Margarethe Krupp...

, carried on the work. The father had been a hard man, known as "Herr Krupp" since his early teens. Friedrich Alfred was called "Fritz" all his life, and was strikingly dissimilar to his father in appearance and personality. He was a philanthropist, a rarity amongst Ruhr industrial leaders. Part of his philanthropy supported the study of eugenics

Eugenics

Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...

, part of progressive thought at the time.

Fritz was a skilled businessman, though of a different sort from his father. Fritz was a master of the subtle sell, and cultivated a close rapport with the Kaiser, Wilhelm II. Under Fritz's management, the firm's business blossomed further and further afield, spreading across the globe. He focused on arms manufacturing, as the US railroad market purchased from its own growing steel industry.

Fritz Krupp authorized many new products that would do much to change history. In 1890 Krupp developed nickel steel, which was hard enough to allow thin battleship armor and cannon using Nobel’s improved gunpowder

Ballistite

Ballistite is a smokeless propellant made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel in the late 19th century.-The development of smokeless powders:...

. In 1892, Krupp bought Gruson in a hostile takeover

Takeover

In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...

. It became Krupp-Panzer, and manufactured armor plate and ships’ turrets. In 1893 Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Diesel

Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...

brought his new engine to Krupp to construct. In 1896 Krupp bought Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II.-History:The company was founded in 1867 by Lloyd Foster, as...

in Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, which became Germany’s main warship builder, and built the first German U-Boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

in 1906.

Fritz married Magda, and they had two daughters: Bertha

Bertha Krupp

(1886–1957) and Barbara (1887–1972). (The latter married Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky, (1878–1966) in 1907).

Gustav's Era

Upon Fritz's death, his teenage daughter Bertha

Bertha Krupp

inherited the firm, which was made legally a joint stock company

Joint stock company

A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...

, but Bertha owned all but four shares. Kaiser Wilhelm II arranged for Bertha to marry Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach

Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Gustav Georg Friedrich Maria Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, "Taffi", ran the German Friedrich Krupp AG heavy industry conglomerate from 1909 until 1941...

, a courtier and career diplomat, and grandson of an American Civil War General Henry Bohlen

Henry Bohlen

Henry Bohlen was an American Civil War Union Brigadier General. Before becoming the first foreign-born Union general in the Civil War, he fought in the Mexican-American War Henry Bohlen (October 22, 1810 – August 22, 1862) was an American Civil War Union Brigadier General. Before becoming...

. By imperial proclamation at the wedding, Gustav was given the additional surname "Krupp," which was to be inherited by primogeniture

Primogeniture

along with the company.

In 1911, Gustav bought Hamm Wireworks to manufacture barbed wire. In 1912, Krupp began manufacturing stainless steel. At this time 50% of Krupp’s armaments were sold to Germany, and the rest to 52 other nations. The company had invested worldwide, including in cartels with other international companies. Essen

Essen

was the company headquarters. In 1913 Germany jailed a number of military officers for selling secrets to Krupp, in what was known as the “Kornwalzer scandal.” Gustav was not himself penalized and fired only a single director, Otto Eccius.

After Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...

was assassinated in 1914, Krupp bought his villa Blühnbach, in Werfen

Werfen

Werfen is a market town in the St. Johann im Pongau district, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is located in the Pongau region, on the southern rim of the Berchtesgaden Alps in the valley of the Salzach river, about south of the city of Salzburg...

in the Austrian Alps, and which was a former residence of the Archbishops of Salzburg

Archbishopric of Salzburg

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....

Gustav led the firm through World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, concentrating almost entirely on artillery manufacturing, particularly following the loss of overseas markets as a result of the Allied blockade. Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...

of England naturally suspended royalty payments

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

during the war (Krupp held the patent on shell fuses

Fuse (explosives)

In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...

, but back-payment was made in 1926).

In 1916, the German government seized Belgian industry and conscripted Belgian civilians for forced labor in the Ruhr. These were novelties in modern warfare and in violation of the Hague Conventions

Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)

The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...

, to which Germany was a signatory. During the war, Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

produced 84 U-boats for the German navy, as well as the Deutschland submarine freighter, intended to ship raw material to Germany despite the blockade. In 1918 the Allies named Gustav a war criminal, but the trials never proceeded.

After the war, the firm was forced to renounce arms manufacturing. Gustav attempted to reorient to consumer products, under the slogan "Wir machen alles!" (we make everything!), but operated at a loss for years. The company laid off seventy thousand workers but was able to stave off Socialist unrest by continuing severance pay and its famous social services for workers. The company opened a dental hospital to provide steel teeth and jaws for wounded veterans. It received its first contract from the Prussian State railroad, and manufactured its first locomotive.

In 1920 the Ruhr Uprising occurred in reaction to the Kapp Putsch

Kapp Putsch

The Kapp Putsch — or more accurately the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch — was a 1920 coup attempt during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 aimed at overthrowing the Weimar Republic...

. The Ruhr Red Army

Ruhr Red Army

Red Ruhr Army was an army of between 50,000 and 80,000 left wing workers from the Communist Party of Germany, the Communist Workers' Party of Germany, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Free Workers Union of Germany, formed on March 13, 1920 as a reaction to the Kapp Putsch...

, or Rote Soldatenbund, took over much of the demilitarized Rhineland

Rhineland

Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

unopposed. Krupp’s factory in Essen

Essen

was occupied, and independent republics were declared, but the German Reichswehr

Reichswehr

The Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ....

invaded from Westphalia

Westphalia

Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...

and quickly restored order. Later in the year, Britain oversaw the dismantling of much of Krupp’s factory, reducing capacity by half and shipping industrial equipment to France as war reparations

War reparations

War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...

.

In the hyperinflation of 1923

Inflation in the Weimar Republic

The hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic was a three year period of hyperinflation in Germany between June 1921 and July 1924.- Analysis :...

, the firm printed Kruppmarks for use in Essen, which was the only stable currency there. France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr

Occupation of the Ruhr

The Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925, by troops from France and Belgium, was a response to the failure of the German Weimar Republic under Chancellor Cuno to pay reparations in the aftermath of World War I.-Background:...

and established martial law. French soldiers inspecting Krupp’s factory in Essen were cornered by workers in a garage, opened fire with a machine gun, and killed thirteen. This incident spurred reprisal killings and sabotage across the Rhineland, and when Krupp held a large, public funeral for the workers, he was fined and jailed by the French. This made him a national hero, and he was amnestied by the French after seven months.

During the Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

, Krupp was deeply involved with the Reichswehr

Reichswehr

The Reichswehr formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was renamed the Wehrmacht ....

's evasion of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

, and secretly engaged in arms design and manufacture. In 1921 Krupp bought Bofors

Bofors

The name Bofors has been associated with the iron industry for more than 350 years.Located in Karlskoga, Sweden, the company originates from the hammer mill "Boofors" founded 1646. The modern corporate structure was created in 1873 with the foundation of Aktiebolaget Bofors-Gullspång...

in Sweden as a front company

Front organization

A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...

and sold arms to neutral nations including the Netherlands and Denmark. In 1922, Krupp established Suderius AG in the Netherlands, as a front company for shipbuilding, and sold submarine designs to neutrals including the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Finland, and Japan. German Chancellor Wirth

Joseph Wirth

Karl Joseph Wirth, known as Joseph Wirth, was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1921 to 1922.-Biography:...

arranged for Krupp to secretly continue designing artillery and tanks, coordinating with army chief Von Seeckt

Hans von Seeckt

Johannes Friedrich "Hans" von Seeckt was a German military officer noted for his organization of the German Army during the Weimar Republic.-Early life:...

and navy chief Paul Behncke. Krupp was able to hide this activity from Allied inspectors for five years, and kept up his engineers’ skills by hiring them out to Eastern European governments including Russia.

In 1924 the Raw Steel Association (Rohstahlgemeinschaft) was established in Luxembourg, as a quota-fixing cartel for coal and steel, by France, Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany. Germany, however, chose to violate quotas and pay fines, in order to monopolize the Ruhr’s output and continue making high-grade steel. In 1926 Krupp began the manufacture of Widia

Cemented carbide

Cemented carbide, also called tungsten carbide, hardmetal, or widia, is a hard material used in machining tough materials such as carbon steel or stainless steel, as well as in situations where other tools would wear away, such as high-quantity production runs. Most of the time, carbide will leave...

(“Wie Diamant”) cobalt-tungsten carbide. In 1928, German industry under Krupp leadership put down a general strike, locking out 250,000 workers, and encouraging the government to cut wages 15%. In 1929, the Chrysler Building was capped with Krupp steel.

Gustav and especially Bertha were initially skeptical of Hitler, who was not of their class. Gustav’s conversion took place in 1932, when Hitler dropped plans to nationalize business, the Communists gained seats in the November 6 elections, and Chancellor Schleicher

Kurt von Schleicher

Kurt von Schleicher was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. Seventeen months after his resignation, he was assassinated by order of his successor, Adolf Hitler, in the Night of the Long Knives....

suggested a planned economy with price controls. Gustav soon became enamoured with the party (Fritz Thyssen

Fritz Thyssen

Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen was a German businessman born into one of Germany's leading industrial families.-Youth:Thyssen was born in Mülheim in the Ruhr area...

described him as "a super-Nazi"), to a degree his wife and subordinates found bizarre.

In 1933, Hitler made Gustav chairman of the Reich Federation of German Industry. Gustav ousted Jews from the organization and disbanded the board, establishing himself as the sole-decision maker. Hitler visited Gustav just before the Röhm purge in 1934, which among other things eliminated marxist leanings from the Nazi movement. Gustav supported the "Adolf Hitler Endowment Fund of German Industry", administrated by Bormann

Martin Bormann

Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...

, who used it to collect millions of Marks from German businessmen. As part of Hitler’s secret rearmament program, Krupp expanded from 35,000 to 112,000 employees.

Gustav was alarmed at Hitler's aggressive foreign policy after the Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement

The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...

but by then he was fast succumbing to senility and was effectively displaced by his son Alfried. He was indicted at the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

but never tried, due to his advanced dementia. He was thus the only German to be named as a war criminal after both world wars. He was nursed by his wife in a roadside inn near Blühnbach until his death in 1950, and then cremated and interred quietly, since his adopted name was at that time one of the most notorious in the American Zone.

Alfried's era

As the eldest son of Bertha Krupp

Bertha Krupp

, Alfried was destined by family tradition to become the sole heir of the Krupp concern. An amateur photographer and Olympic sailor, he was an early supporter of Nazism among German industrialists, joining the SS in 1931, and never disavowing his allegiance to Hitler.

His father’s health declined starting in 1939, and after a stroke in 1941, Alfried took over full control of the firm, continuing its role as main arms supplier to Germany at war. In 1943, Hitler decreed the Lex Krupp

Lex Krupp

The Lex Krupp was a document signed into federal law on November 12, 1943 by Adolf Hitler that made the Krupp company a personal company with specially regulated rules of succession, in order to ensure that the Krupp family enterprise remain intact.-History:...

, authorizing the transfer of all Bertha’s shares to Alfried, giving him the name “Krupp” and dispossessing his siblings.

During the war, Krupp was allowed to take over many industries in occupied nations, including Arthur Krupp steel works in Berndorf, Austria

Berndorf, Lower Austria

Berndorf is a town in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria. Because of its historic development in the 19th century it is also referred to as the Krupp town.-Districts:The town consists of 4 districts:* Berndorf-Stadt* St...

, the Alsacian Corporation for Mechanical Construction (Elsaessische Maschinenfabrik AG, or ELMAG), Robert Rothschild's tractor factory in France, Škoda Works

Škoda Works

Škoda Works was the largest industrial enterprise in Austro-Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia, one of its successor states. It was also one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Europe in the 20th century...

in Czechoslovakia, and Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG (Deschimag) in Bremen. This activity became the basis for the charge of “plunder” at the war crimes trial of Krupp executives after the war.

As another war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

, Krupp used slave labor, both POWs and civilians from occupied countries, and Krupp representatives were sent to concentration camps to select laborers. Treatment of Slavic and Jewish slaves was particularly harsh, since they were considered sub-human in Nazi Germany

Racial policy of Nazi Germany

The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the "Aryan race", and based on a specific racist doctrine which claimed scientific legitimacy...

, and Jews were targeted for "extermination through labor". The number of slaves cannot be calculated due to constant fluctuation but is estimated at 100,000, at a time when the free employees of Krupp numbered 278,000. The highest number of Jewish slave laborers at any one time was about 25,000 in January 1943.

In 1942-1943, Krupp built the Berthawerk factory (named for his mother), near the Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

, for production of artillery fuses

Fuse (explosives)

In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...

. Jewish women were used as slave labor there, leased them from the SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

for 4 Marks a head per day. Later in 1943 it was taken over by Union Werke.

In 1942, although Russia in retreat relocated many factories to the Urals, steel factories were simply too large to move. Krupp took over production, including at the Molotov steel works near Kharkov

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

and Kramatorsk

Kramatorsk

Kramatorsk is a city in the eastern Ukraine within Donetsk Oblast. Its population is about 200,000 people, including surrounding settlements under Kramatorsk City Council government....

in eastern Ukraine, and at mines supplying the iron, manganese, and chrome vital for steel production.

The battle of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

in 1942 convinced Krupp that Germany would lose the war, and he secretly began liquidating 200 million Marks in government bonds. This allowed him to retain much of his fortune and hide it overseas.

Beginning in 1943, Allied bombers targeted the main German industrial district

Strategic bombing during World War II

Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...

in the Ruhr

Ruhr

The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...

. Most damage at Krupp’s works was actually to the slave labor camps, and German tank production continued to increase from 1,000 to 1,800 per month. However by the end of the war, with a manpower shortage preventing repairs, the main factories were out of commission.

After the war, the Ruhr became part of the British Zone of occupation. The British dismantled Krupp’s factories, sending machinery all over Europe as war reparations

War reparations

. The Russians seized Krupp’s Grusonwerk in Magdeburg, including the formula for tungsten steel

Tungsten carbide

Tungsten carbide is an inorganic chemical compound containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. Colloquially, tungsten carbide is often simply called carbide. In its most basic form, it is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes for use in industrial machinery,...

. Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

in Kiel was dismantled, and Krupp’s role as an arms manufacturer came to an end. Allied High Commission

Allied High Commission

The Allied High Commission was established by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France after the 1948 breakdown of the Allied Control Council to regulate and supervise the development of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany The Allied High Commission (also known...

Law 27, in 1950, mandated the decartelization

Decartelization

Decartelization is the transition of a national economy from monopoly control by groups of large businesses, known as cartels, to a free market economy...

of German industry.

Meanwhile, Alfried was held in Landsberg prison

Landsberg Prison

Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west of Munich and south of Augsburg....

, where Hitler had been imprisoned in 1924. At the Krupp Trial

Krupp Trial

The Krupp Trial was the tenth of twelve trials for war crimes that U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone at Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II....

, held in 1947-1948 in Nuremberg following the main Nuremberg trials

Nuremberg Trials

, Alfried and most of his co-defendants were convicted of crimes against humanity (plunder and slave labor), while being acquitted of crimes against peace, and conspiracy. Alfried was condemned to 12 years in prison and the “forfeiture of all [his] property both real and personal,” making him a pauper. Two years later, on January 31, 1951, John J. McCloy

John J. McCloy

John Jay McCloy was a lawyer and banker who served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II, president of the World Bank and U.S. High Commissioner for Germany...

, High Commissioner of the American zone of occupation, issued an amnesty to the Krupp defendants. Much of Alfried’s industrial empire was restored, but he was forced to transfer some of his fortune to his siblings, and he renounced arms manufacturing.

By this time, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

’s Wirtschaftswunder

Wirtschaftswunder

The term describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II . The expression was used by The Times in 1950...

had begun, and the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

had shifted the United States’s priority from denazification

Denazification

Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...

to anti-Communism

Anti-communism

Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

. German industry was seen as integral to western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

’s economic recovery, the limit on steel production was lifted, and the reputation of Hitler-era firms and industrialists was rehabilitated.

In 1953 Krupp negotiated the Mehlem agreement with the governments of the US, Great Britain and France. Hitler’s Lex Krupp

Lex Krupp

was upheld, reestablishing Alfried as sole-proprietor, but Krupp mining and steel businesses were sequestered and pledged to be divested by 1959. There is scant evidence that Alfried intended to fulfill his side of the bargain, and he continued to receive royalties from the sequestered industries.
Despite having only 16,000 employees and 16,000 pensioners, Alfried refused to cut pensions. He ended unprofitable businesses including shipbuilding, railroad tyres, and farm equipment. He hired Berthold Beitz, an insurance executive, as the face of the company, and began a public relations campaign to promote Krupp worldwide, omitting references to Nazism or arms manufacturing. Beginning with Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...

, he established personal diplomacy with heads of state, making both open and secret deals to sell equipment and engineering expertise. Expansion was significant in the former colonies

Decolonization of Africa

The decolonization of Africa followed World War II as colonized peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from Africa.-Background:...

of Great Britain and behind the Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain

The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

, in countries eager to industrialize but suspicious of NATO. Krupp built rolling mills in Mexico, paper mills in Egypt, foundries in Iran, refineries in Greece, a vegetable oil processing plant in Sudan, and its own steel plant in Brazil. In India, Krupp rebuilt Rourkela

Rourkela

Rourkela is located in the northwestern tip of the Indian state of Orissa at the heart of a rich mineral belt. It is situated about north of state capital Bhubaneswar.It is surrounded by a range of hills and encircled by rivers. One of the largest steel plants of the Steel Authority of India...

in Orissa as company town similar to his own Essen. In West Germany, Krupp made jet fighters in Bremen, as a joint venture with United Aircraft

United Technologies Corporation

United Technologies Corporation is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut...

, and built an atomic reactor

AVR reactor

The AVR reactor was a prototype pebble bed reactor at Jülich Research Centre in West Germany. Construction began in 1960, first grid connection was in 1967 and operation ceased in 1988....

in Jülich, partly funded by the government. The company expanded to 125,000 employees worldwide, and in 1959 Krupp was the fourth largest in Europe (after Royal Dutch

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

, Unilever

Unilever

Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....

, and Mannesmann

Mannesmann

Mannesmann AG was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues of €23.27 billion.Over time, Mannesmann...

), and the 12th largest in the world.

1959 was also Krupp’s deadline to sell his sequestered industries, but he was supported by other Ruhr industrialists, who refused to place bids. Krupp not only took back control of those companies in 1960, he used a shell company in Sweden to buy the Bochumer Verein für Gussstahlfabrikation AG, in his opinion the best remaining steel manufacturer in West Germany. The Common Market

European Economic Community

The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...

allowed these moves, effectively ending the Allied policy of decartelization

Decartelization

Decartelization is the transition of a national economy from monopoly control by groups of large businesses, known as cartels, to a free market economy...

. Alfried was the richest man in Europe, and among the world’s handful of billionaires

Wealthiest Americans (1957)

In 1957 Fortune magazine developed a list of the seventy-six wealthiest Americans; the list was republished in many American newspapers. The primary source of wealth was indicated as being inherited or stemming from a particular business or industry...

.

The treatment of Jews during the war had remained an issue. In 1951, Adenauer acknowledged that "unspeakable crimes were perpetrated in the name of the German people, which impose upon them the obligation to make moral and material amends." Negotiations with the Claims Conference

Claims Conference

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs...

resulted in the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany

Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany

The Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany was signed on September 10, 1952, and entered in force on March 27, 1953...

. IG Farben

IG Farben

I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I...

, Siemens

Siemens

Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

, Krupp, AEG

AEG

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....

, Telefunken

Telefunken

Telefunken is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft...

, and Rheinmetall

Rheinmetall

Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...

separately provided compensation to Jewish slave laborers, but Alfried refused to consider compensation to non-Jewish slave laborers.

In the mid-1960s, a series of blows ended the special status of Krupp. A recession in 1966 exposed the company’s overextended credit and turned Alfried’s cherished mining and steel companies into loss-leaders. In 1967, the West German Federal Tax Court

Judiciary of Germany

The Judiciary of Germany is based on the concept of the , in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by law. Federal law delineates the structure of the judiciary, but the administration of most courts is regulated by the states of Germany which are responsible for the lower levels...

ended sales tax exemptions for private companies, of which Krupp was the largest, and voided the Hitler-era exemption of the company from inheritance tax. Alfried's only son, Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach

Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach

Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach was a German entrepreneur and the last member of the Krupp dynasty.- Biography :...

(1938–1986), would not develop an interest in the family business and was willing to renounce his inheritance. Alfried arranged for the firm to be reorganized as a corporation

Corporation

and a foundation for scientific research, with a generous pension for Arndt. Arndt actually married but was childless; he died in 1986, 399 years after Arndt Krupp arrived in Essen.

From Fried. Krupp to ThyssenKrupp

Alfried had married twice, both ending in divorce, and by family tradition he had excluded his siblings from company management. He died in Essen in 1967, and the company’s transformation was completed the next year, capitalized at 500 million DM, with Beitz in charge of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation

The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation is a major German philanthropic foundation, created by and named in honour of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, former owner and head of the Krupp company, once the largest company in Europe....

and chairman of the corporation’s board until 1989. Between 1968 and 1990 the foundation awarded grants totaling around 360 million DM. In 1969, the coal mines were transferred to Ruhrkohle AG

RAG Aktiengesellschaft

RAG AG, formerly Ruhrkohle AG, is the largest German coal mining corporation. The company headquarters are in Herne in the Ruhr area. The company was founded on 27 November 1968, consolidating several coalmining corporations into the Ruhrkohle AG....

. Stahlwerke Südwestfalen was bought for stainless steel, and Polysius AG

Polysius AG

Polysius AG is a German company and subsidiary company of ThyssenKrupp Technologies, that manufactures cement plants and builds cement mills, cement kilns, cement factory automation systems and ore grinding facilities...

and Heinrich Koppers for engineering and the construction of industrial plants.

In 1974, the Iranian monarchy

Pahlavi dynasty

The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of two Iranian/Persian monarchs, father and son Reza Shah Pahlavi (reg. 1925–1941) and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi The Pahlavi dynasty ...

bought 25.04% of the steel subsidiary Fried. Krupp Hüttenwerke AG, and in 1976 it bought 25.01% of Fried. Krupp GmbH, whose capital stock was increased to 700 million DM by the summer of 1978. Following the Iranian Revolution

Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...

, these ownership interests were held by the Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

In early 1980s, the company spun off all its operating activities and was restructured as a holding company. VDM Nickel-Technologie was bought in 1989, for high-performance materials, mechanical engineering and electronics. That year, Gerhard Cromme became chairman and chief executive of Krupp. After its hostile takeover of rival steelmaker Hoesch AG

Hoesch AG

The Hoesch AG was an important steel and mining company with locations in the Ruhr area and Siegen.Hoesch was taken over by Krupp in 1991.-Nazi involvement:...

in 1990-1991, the companies were merged in 1992 as “Fried. Krupp AG Hoesch Krupp,” under Cromme. After closing one main steel plant and laying off 20,000 employees, the company had a steelmaking capacity of around eight million metric tons and sales of about 28 billion DM (US$18.9 billion). The new Krupp had six divisions: steel, engineering, plant construction, automotive supplies, trade, and services. After two years of heavy losses, a modest net profit of 40 million DM (US$29.2 million) followed in 1994.

In 1993 Krupp became a publicly traded company for the first time in its long history, though as late as 1998 the foundation still held 50.47% and the Iranian government 22.92%. In 1994, Italian stainless steelmaker Acciai Speciali Terni was acquired, and in 1995 these operations were merged with those of Thyssen in the Krupp-Thyssen Nirosta joint venture (60% owned by Krupp and 40% owned by Thyssen).

In 1997 Krupp attempted a hostile takeover of the larger Thyssen, but the bid was abandoned after resistance from Thyssen management and protests by its workers. Nevertheless, Thyssen agreed to merge of firms’ flat steel operations, and Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG was created in 1997 as a jointly-owned subsidiary (60% by Thyssen and 40% by Krupp). About 6,300 workers were laid off. Later that year, Krupp and Thyssen announced a full merger, which was completed in 1999 with the formation of ThyssenKrupp

ThyssenKrupp

AG. Cromme and Ekkehard Schulz were named co-chief executives of the new company, operating worldwide in three main business areas: steel, capital goods (elevators and industrial equipment), and services (specialty materials, environmental services, mechanical engineering, and scaffolding services).

The Franco-Prussian War

The unexpected victory of Prussia over France demonstrated the superiority of breech-loaded steel cannon over muzzle-loaded brass. Krupp artillery was a significant factor at the battles of Wissembourg and Gravelotte, and was used during the siege of Paris. Krupp's anti-balloon guns were the first anti-aircraft guns. Prussia fortified the major North German ports with batteries that could hit French ships from a distance of 4,000 yards, inhibiting invasion.

World War I

Krupp produced most of the artillery of the Imperial German Army, including its heavy siege guns: The 1914 420 mm Big Bertha

Big Bertha (Howitzer)

Big Bertha Bertha") is the name of a type of super-heavy howitzer developed by the famous armaments manufacturer Krupp in Germany on the eve of World War I...

, the 1916 Lange Max, and the seven Paris Gun

Paris Gun

The Paris Gun was a German long-range siege gun used to bombard Paris during World War I. It was in service from March-August 1918. When it was first employed, Parisians believed they'd been bombed by a new type of high-altitude zeppelin, as neither the sound of an airplane nor a gun could be heard...

s in 1917 and 1918. In addition, Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

built German warships and submarines in Kiel.

World War II

Krupp received its first order for 135 Panzer I

Panzer I

The Panzer I was a light tank produced in Germany in the 1930s. The name is short for the German ' , abbreviated . The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was SdKfz 101 .Design of the Panzer I began in 1932 and mass production in 1934...

tanks in 1933, and during WWII made tanks

Panzer IV

The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...

, artillery, naval guns, armor plate, munitions and other armaments for the German military. Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

shipyard launched the German cruiser Prinz Eugen

German cruiser Prinz Eugen

Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...

, as well as many of Germany's U-boat

U-boat

s (130 between 1934 and 1945) using preassembled parts supplied by other Krupp factories in a process similar to the construction of the US liberty ship

Liberty ship

Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...

s.

In the 1930s, Krupp developed two 800 mm railway gun

Railway gun

A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval ordnance, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World...

s, the Schwerer Gustav

Schwerer Gustav

Schwerer Gustav and Dora were the names of two massive World War II German 80 cm K railway siege guns. They were developed in the late 1930s by Krupp for the express purpose of destroying heavy fortifications, specifically those in the French Maginot Line...

and the Dora. These guns were the largest artillery pieces ever fielded by an army during wartime, and weighed almost 1,344 tons. They could fire a 7-ton shell over a distance of 37 kilometers. More crucial to the operations of the German military was Krupp's development of the famed 88 mm

88 mm gun

The 88 mm gun was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognizable German weapons of the war...

anti-aircraft cannon which found use as a notoriously effective anti-tank gun.

In an address to the Hitler Youth

Hitler Youth

The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...

, Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

stated "In our eyes, the German boy of the future must be slim and slender, as fast as a greyhound, tough as leather and hard as Krupp steel" („... der deutsche Junge der Zukunft muß schlank und rank sein, flink wie Windhunde, zäh wie Leder und hart wie Kruppstahl.")

Krupp Industries employed workers conscripted by the Nazi regime from across Europe. These workers were initially paid, but as Nazi fortunes declined they were kept as slave workers. They were abused, beaten, and starved by the thousands, as detailed in the book The Arms of Krupp
The Arms of Krupp
The Arms of Krupp is William Manchester's history of the Krupp dynasty, which owned and ran a dominant armaments manufacturing company in Germany. The company was based in Essen...

.

Post-World War II

Krupp Steel Works of Essen, Germany, manufactured the spherical pressure chamber of the dive vessel Trieste
Bathyscaphe Trieste
The Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe with a crew of two, which reached a record maximum depth of about , in the deepest known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, on January 23, 1960, crewed by Jacques Piccard ...

, the only ship to take humans to the deepest known point

Challenger Deep

The Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the oceans, with a depth of to by direct measurement from submersibles, and slightly more by sonar bathymetry . It is located at the southern end of the Mariana Trench near the Mariana Islands group...

in the oceans, accomplished in 1960. This was a heavy duty replacement for the original pressure sphere (made in Italy by Acciaierie Terni) and was manufactured in three finely-machined sections: an equatorial ring and two hemispherical caps. The sphere weighed 13 metric tons in air (eight metric tons in water) with walls that were 12.7 centimetres (5.0 in) thick.

Pronunciation

A British documentary on the Krupp family and firm included footage of German-speakers of the 1930s who would have had speaking contact with the family, which attests the long [uː], thus ˈkʁuːp or [ˈkɾuːp] rather than what would be the logical German spelling pronunciation

Spelling pronunciation

A spelling pronunciation is a pronunciation that, instead of reflecting the way the word was pronounced by previous generations of speakers, is a rendering in sound of the word's spelling.-Examples of English words with common spelling pronunciations:...

, [ˈkʁʊp] or [ˈkɾʊp]. The documentary's narration used the English long-[uː] equivalent, ˈkruːp. This would seem to indicate that the more prevalent pronunciations used in English, /ˈkrʊp/ or /ˈkrʌp/, are spelling pronunciations, but regardless, they are more established than /kɹuːp/.

External links

Official site Thyssenkrupp Essen

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