Krupps

Discussion in 'Germany' started by jimbotosome, Feb 16, 2006.

  1. jimbotosome

    jimbotosome Discharged

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

    Herroberst Senior Member

  3. lancesergeant

    lancesergeant Senior Member

    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.
     
  4. jimbotosome

    jimbotosome Discharged

    Good info. Does anyone know if the company still exists to this day?
     
  5. plant-pilot

    plant-pilot Senior Member

    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.
     
  6. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Krupps was
     
  7. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    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
     
  8. Herroberst

    Herroberst Senior Member

    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.
     
  9. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    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.
     
  10. Trincomalee

    Trincomalee Senior Member

    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"
     
  11. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Not yet... but having come across it in a charity shop today along with a vague recollection of your mention on here, I bought it.
    Looks fascinating.

    Cheers!
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    [​IMG]
    Devastated Krupp Works in Essen

    This aerial photo, taken from an artillery observation plane of Ninth U.S. Army's 79th Division, shows to the damage wrought to the Krupp steel plant at Essen, Germany, which was pounded by Allied air attacks and artillery of the Ninth Army before the city fell April 10, 1945, to troops of the 17th U.S. Airborne Division. Krupp was especially important to the enemy because so many other German armaments factories were dependent on it for parts, such as armoured plates and crankshafts. US soldiers met little enemy resistence in the city, which had a peacetime population of 670,000. Essen is situated in the midst of one of the world's richest hard coal deposits and has been called the arsenal of Germany. U.S. Signal Corps Photo ETO-HQ-45-31874. Serviced by London OWI to list B certified as passed by SHAEF censor.

    More Krupps related photographs here:

    Krupps Photographs
     
  13. Pike

    Pike Senior Member

    Echoing a previous post......The Arms of Krupp by William Manchester is excellent,

    Also in Airey Neaves book Nuremberg,theres a chapter on the investigation at Krupps in Essen searching for evidence to be used at Nuremberg in the industrialists trials.
     
  14. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Original Photos from my collection of the Krupps [ Essen ?] works at end of the war, other photos i have in my collection are of the big pressing machines.
    Keith
    krups works.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2023
  15. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Two photos of the machines at Krupps works? Look at the size of the press with the guy next to it. Original Photos from my collection

    Keith
    Krupps works Essen size of man.jpg Krupps works Essen size of man back of photo.jpg Krupps works Essen bomb jpg.jpg Krupps works Essen bomb back of photo jpg.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2023
  16. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  17. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    belasar likes this.
  18. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Both Krupps now and Daimler in the past have experienced deep losses when investing overseas.

    Chrysler..... even the layman could have told Daimler its capital would be lost and it would end in tears when it went into an alliance with Chrysler.Now Krupps follows suit into an enterprise which the Germans again lost control of oversea events.

    As regards steel, Tata of India have taken over what is left of British Steel which had transformed itself into Corus as a Anglo/Dutch consortium. Tata are struggling in a poor thriving British steel industry......shutdown Redcar but offered to keep it open if the Government would subsidise the operation.

    It seems tome that whatever working practices are adopted in the West,we cannot compete with Asian steel making and associated shipbuilding....as regards raw material,Australia holds the key to their success in supplying iron ore from its vast reserves
     
  19. Kuno

    Kuno Very Senior Member

    Krupp - those with the steel (the plural of "Krupp" is "die Krupps"
    Krups - the stuff for your kitchen

    Not the same :pipe:

    Or in other words - if you want to order a submarine you should not call Krups but better Krupp else you may get a coffee-machine.
     
    Owen likes this.
  20. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day jimbotosome,m,16feb,2006.12:41am.re:krupps,what do you know.i have been reading this old thread.i find it most interesting,you ask what do you know.i was in London during the war until I went off in the navy.but after the war(in Europe)the allies were talking of giving the enemy a lot of financial help.it did not make people happy after winning the war,we were kept on rations,to help the enemy with food supply's.and to put the boot in they gave the krupps works 250 million pounds to rebuild while britich industry had to use there clapt out machinery.its the old saying the germans lost the war and won the peace.regards bernard85
     

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