Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation
Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Stiftung
FormationJanuary 1, 1968; 56 years ago (1968-01-01)
FounderAlfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
TypeNonprofit
PurposePhilanthropy
HeadquartersEssen, Germany
Key people
Ursula Gather
(Managing Director)
Volker Troche
(Speaker of Executive Board)
Michaela Muylkens
Endowment€ 1.2 billion (2021)
Websitewww.krupp-stiftung.de (in German)

The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation (German: Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung) is a major German philanthropic foundation, created by and named in honor of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, former owner and head of the Krupp company[1] and a convicted war criminal.[2][3][4][5][6]

Organization

Board of Trustees

Executive Board

  • Ursula Gather (managing director)
    • Volker Troche (speaker and member)
    • Michaela Muylkens (member)

History

The Krupp company, officially known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was a major steelmaker and arms manufacturer that became a key supplier of weapons and materiel to the German government and the Wehrmacht during World War II. The "Krupp Law" (Lex Krupp), signed into law by Adolf Hitler in 1943, allowed Alfried Krupp to become sole proprietor of the company.[4] The Krupp company instituted slave labor at its factories[3] and by the end of World War II had forcibly employed as many as 100,000 individuals, including concentration camp inmates, foreign civilians and children.[2] A Krupp munitions factory (Weichsel Union Metallwerke) was constructed near the Auschwitz death camp to facilitate the employment of camp inmates.[7]

Beginning in 1947, a United States military tribunal tried Krupp and 11 co-defendants for war crimes and crimes against humanity, citing in particular the use of forced labor in their factories (the "Krupp trial"). On 31 July 1948, Krupp was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.[3] After serving three years, he was pardoned[8] by John J. McCloy, the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, and his properties were reinstated.[9]

In 1959, the Krupp company pledged to pay individual compensations of DM5,000 ($1,190) to 2,000 slave workers (2% of all the estimated 100,000 slave workers), totalling DM10,000,000 (US$2,380,000). Adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to approximately €23.7 million or US$27.1 million in 2022.[10] The company denied non-Jewish inmates of the concentration camps any claim to compensation.[11]

After Krupp's death in 1967, control of the Krupp company passed to the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, a philanthropic organisation, at Krupp's behest.[12] Today, the foundation is the largest shareholder of the ThyssenKrupp industrial conglomerate (20.9% as of 2018) and largely controls the board of the company. The foundation is also tasked with preserving the "unity" of ThyssenKrupp.[13]

The foundation provides grants in the fields of health, athletics, education, science and culture.[14]

Other institutions named after Alfried Krupp

See also

References

  1. ^ "Krupp AG | German company | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  2. ^ a b "Slave Labor | Nürnberg Krupp Trial Papers of Judge Hu C. Anderson". krupp.library.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  3. ^ a b c "Nurnberg military tribunals indictments [cases 1–12]". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  4. ^ a b "Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach | German industrialist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  5. ^ Nuernberg trials records register cards for the NI document series, 1946–1949. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 1986.
  6. ^ "Alfried Krupp, Last Sole Ruler Of German Steel Empire, Dies; Hitler's Arms Supplier, Jailed for War Crimes, Rebuilt Concern on New Lines". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  7. ^ Index of /judentum-aktenlage
  8. ^ "Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach". thyssenkrupp. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  9. ^ "Krupp Trial | Nürnberg Krupp Trial Papers of Judge Hu C. Anderson". krupp.library.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  10. ^ Theodore Shabad. 1959. Krupp Will Pay Slave Laborers: Jews Forced to Work in His Plants in World War II to Get $1,190 Each (p 1). The New York Times. 24 Dec.
  11. ^ Herbert, Ulrich (2000). "Forced Laborers in the Third Reich: An Overview". International Labor and Working-Class History. 58 (58): 192–218. doi:10.1017/S0147547900003677 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN 0147-5479. JSTOR 27672680. S2CID 145344942.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  12. ^ "Historie – Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung". Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  13. ^ Tom Kaeckenhoff, Arno Schuetze and Edward Taylor (July 17, 2018), Thyssenkrupp's foundation to steer conglomerate in leadership crisis Reuters.
  14. ^ "Home". Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung (in German). Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  15. ^ "Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach PhD Grant "Historical and Tradition-Based African Art" 2019 | H-Announce | H-Net". networks.h-net.org. Retrieved 2019-08-03.
  16. ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2019-08-03.