Sosthenes Behn (January 30, 1884 – June 6, 1957) was an American businessman, and the founder of ITT. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.

Biography

Early years

Sosthenes Behn was born in the island of St. Thomas, then part of the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

. His ancestry was Danish on his paternal side, and part French on his maternal side. His maternal grandfather was

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

. Behn served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and was commissioned a captain, Signal Corps, on June 19, 1917. He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, having served with distinction during World War I. Behn served with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France until February 1919. He was given command of the 232nd Field Signal Battalion,

Château-Thierry Château-Thierry (; Picard: ''Catieu-Thierry'') is a French commune situated in the department of the Aisne, in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, and in the historic Province of Champagne. The origin of the name of the town is u ...

, Saint-Mihiel, Argonne. In recognition of his meritorious service during the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM).

Puerto Rico Telephone Company and ITT

After his return from military service, Colonel Behn co-founded the Puerto Rico Telephone Company, which eventually spawned ITT. Under his direction ITT was granted the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

of telephone service in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

( Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España) in 1924, and purchased the international division of

Western Electric Western Electric Co., Inc. was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, ...

, including a factory in Antwerp (the International Bell Telephone Company) which manufactured the Rotary telephone system. According to Anthony Sampson's book '' The Sovereign State of ITT'', one of the first American businessmen Hitler received after taking power in 1933 was Sosthenes Behn, then the CEO of ITT, and his German representative, Henry Mann. Antony C. Sutton, in his book ''Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler'', makes the claim that ITT subsidiaries made cash payments to SS leader

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

. ITT, through its subsidiary C. Lorenz AG of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, owned 25% of

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

, the German aircraft manufacturer, builder of some of the most successful

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

. In addition, Sutton's book uncovers that ITT owned Dr. Erich F. Huth GmbH (Signalbau Huth, Berlin), which made

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

parts that were used in equipment going to the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. Behn, along with his brother, Hernan, built the ''Two Brothers Bridge'' —'' Puente Dos Hermanos'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

— in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

. The bridge links the districts of Condado and

Old San Juan Old San Juan () is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the San Juan Islet, islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, ...

. Colonel Behn and

Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported ar ...

, founder of the company

Café HAG Café HAG is a worldwide brand of Decaffeination, decaffeinated coffee currently owned by JDE Peet's. History Café HAG was founded in Bremen in 1906 as ''Kaffee-Handels-Aktiengesellschaft'' (Coffee Trading Limited). The company's founder wa ...

, owned 74% of German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf after the company reconstitution in 1936.

Barbara Goette Barbara Goette (26 July 1908 – 23 October 1997) was a German academic. She lived in Germany and then Australia. From 1935 to 1943, she was the private secretary of Ludwig Roselius, creator of Böttcherstraße and Café HAG, and financier of Foc ...

referred to Colonel Behn as a huge global player but never trusted him as he was involved with Hitler. Sosthenes Behn met with Hitler on August 3, 1933, and in 1936 there was a high-level meeting in Berlin, where it was proposed that Behn through ITT gain 50% of

and oust

completely; however, after

intervened with Hitler, Ludwig Roselius's life was spared, he became the largest shareholder in Focke-Wulf with 46%, and a massive capital injection occurred. During the war, all of ITT's German holdings were put under Nazi control. These included a minority share in airplane manufacturer Focke-Wulf, which ITT had acquired through its contacts with German financier Kurt Baron von Schröder. After the end of the war, the U.S. authorities returned these assets to their rightful U.S. owner. Behn appointed Gerhard Westrick to the board of Focke-Wulf after the reconstitution in 1936. He was ITT's corporation chairman in Germany. After Pearl Harbor, at meetings with Baron Kurt von Schröder and Behn in Switzerland, Westrick nervously admitted he had run into a problem. Wilhelm Ohnesorge, the elderly minister in charge of post offices, who was one of the first fifty Nazi Party members, was strongly opposed to ITT's German companies continuing to function under New York management in time of war. Behn told Westrick to use Schröder and the protection of the Gestapo against Ohnesorge. In return, Behn guaranteed that ITT would substantially increase its payments to the Gestapo through the Circle of Friends. A special board of trustees was set up by the Nazis to cooperate with Behn and his staff of 30,000 in Occupied Europe. Ohnesorge savagely fought these arrangements and tried to obtain the support of Himmler. However, Schröder had Himmler's ear, and so, of course did his close friend and associate

Walter Schellenberg Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German Schutzstaffel, SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) and ...

. Ohnesorge appealed directly to Hitler and condemned Westrick as an American sympathiser. However, Hitler realized the importance of ITT to the German economy and proved supportive of Behn. In 1943, ITT became the largest shareholder of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH with 29% due to Ludwig Roselius's Kaffee HAG share falling to 27% after he died on May 15.

Contributions to heritage, preservation and infrastructures

Behn, along with his brother, Hernan, built the ''Two Brothers Bridge'' —'' Puente Dos Hermanos'' in

— in

. The bridge links the districts of Condado and

. In 1928, following the advice of Paul Janet, a physicist and member of the French Academy of Sciences, he, together with his brother Hernand, acquired the former property of

André-Marie Ampère André-Marie Ampère (, ; ; 20 January 177510 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who was one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as ''electrodynamics''. He is also the inventor of ...

in Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or near Lyon, which had just been put up for sale. The Behn brothers donated this property to the French Society of Electricians to ensure the scientist’s memory could be preserved through the establishment of a museum, the

Ampère Museum The Ampère Museum is a museum of the history of electricity dedicated to André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836). The museum is located in Poleymieux-au-Mont-d'Or at approximately from Lyon by road and is housed in the house where André-Marie Ampè ...

, which is managed by the Society of Friends of André-Marie Ampère. Sosthene and Hernand Behn were honorary members of SAAMA until their passing.

Death

Behn died on June 6, 1957. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

.Behn, Sosthenes
ANC Explorer

References

External links

Sosthenes Behn Sosthenes Behn: Brief Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Behn, Sosthenes 1884 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Puerto Rican businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople American people of Puerto Rican descent People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands United States Army personnel of World War I Burials at Arlington National Cemetery ITT Inc. people United States Army colonels American collaborators with Nazi Germany American people of Danish descent Puerto Rican people of Danish descent American people of French descent Puerto Rican people of French descent