Krupps

[jimbotosome]

Does anyone know anything about the Krupps family/empire in Germany and their relationship to Hitler and building his war machine?

[Herroberst]

Jim.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp

[lancesergeant]

I know that they were members of the Nazi party and the head of the firm was imprisoned for using slave labour in the war, at the Nuremburg war trials. That's about it really.

[jimbotosome]

Good info. Does anyone know if the company still exists to this day?

[plant-pilot]

Originally Posted by jimbotosome

Good info. Does anyone know if the company still exists to this day?

Krupps manufacture all sorts of engineering from heavy to houshold appliances (my kettle is a Krupps kettle and very good it is too).

Probably of a little more interest is that in the 80s I used to watch train loads of Leopard 2 Tanks leaving the Krupps factory in Kiel, in the north of Germany. So they were quite big in weapons manufacture even as late as that.

[Harry Ree]

Krupps was

[spidge]

After 1933 the Krupp works became the center of German rearmament. In 1943, by a special order from Hitler, the company was again converted into a family holding and Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach,. 1907–67, son of Gustav and Bertha, took over the management. After Germany's defeat, he was tried as a war criminal and sentenced (1948) to imprisonment for 12 years. In 1951 he was released, and in 1953 he resumed control of the firm with the stipulation that he sell his major interests in iron, steel, and coal. The condition was not fulfilled, however. Shortly before his death in July, 1967, the firm's indebtedness caused Alfried to announce that the Krupp concern would become a public corporation. His son Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach,. 1938–86, relinquished his inheritance rights as well as the Krupp name, and in 1968 the Krupp family ceased to control the firm. In 1999 the Krupp Group merged with its largest competitor, Thyssen AG; the combined company is one of the largest steel producers in the world.

A greater cross reference of this conglomerate is here:

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0828281.html

[Herroberst]

Originally Posted by spidge

Thyssen AG; the combined company is one of the largest steel producers in the world.

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems bought out Blohm und Voss, the makers of der Unterseebooten in WWII.

[Harry Ree]

Originally Posted by jimbotosome

Does anyone know anything about the Krupps family/empire in Germany and their relationship to Hitler and building his war machine?

The Krupps industrial empire was one of many which were favoured by the Hitler regime and in turn they had backed Hitler and the Nazi Party on the road to gaining power in 1933. In February 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power one of the first meetings he had was with the leading industrialists who were told that Hitler intended not to disarm and that Hitler would oppose democratic elections.From then on Gustav Krupps,the family owner of Krupps,from being an anti Nazi became a devoted supporter of Hitler and was one of the leading financial backers of the regime.The company's background was that it was associated with the rise of Prussian militarism under Bismark and was the anvil on which the German armanent industry prospered and provided the means to wage war.

Krupps came to the Allies' attention for this reason at the post war war criminal trials.There was an attempt to treat Gustav Krupp von Bohlen,the head of Krupps as a war criminal for his association with Hitler and Nazi aggression but this failed due to the fact that Krupps by this time had become senile.In 1948,however his son,Alfred Krupps took the dock as a war criminal accused of the use ofconcentration camp slave labour and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment of which he served 3 years.

One of the major Allied policies post war was to dismantle German war industry by selling it off into small lots.This was attempted and failed in Krupp's case because there were no internal bidders and Krupps survived an enforced breakup.On his release, Alfred took control of the company again and the company quickly became the leading player in Europe's steel production.

There is a good example of a very large Krupps manufactured naval gun still to be seen in Northern France.It is a formidable weapon of which 25 were built from 1941 and only two are accounted for,the one in France and one at the Aberdeen test firing range in the US.I think the Germans used one to take Sevastapol in the Crimea.

[Trincomalee]

Have you read William Manchester "The Arms of Krupp , 1587 - 1968" ?

I can't think what to say about this book - just - read it ! I doubt whether there are any more complete accounts .

Incidentally , William Manchester also wrote an account of his service in the Pacific war , called "Goodbye Darkness - A Memoir of the Pacific War"