The Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (VSt or Vestag, ''United Steelworks'') was a German industrial conglomerate producing

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

, and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

in the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Founded in 1926, economic pressures (decreasing prices and excess capacities) led to the union of several companies, including Thyssen AG, , Rheinische Stahlwerke, Rhein-Elbe-Union GmbH, , , and . This group united of most German iron, steel and coal producers but did not include Hoesch AG, Krupp AG, Klöckner-Werke, , and

Mannesmann Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...

.http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=249411005252667 The company was headquartered in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

. During the 1930s, VSt was one of the biggest German companies and, at times, also the largest steel producer in Europe. With up to about 250,000 workers, it produced about 40% of the steel and 20% of the coal produced in Germany. Chief executive officer (chief of the Vorstand) was initially

Albert Vögler Albert Vögler (8 February 1877 – 14 April 1945) was a German politician, industrialist and entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of the German People's Party, and an important executive in the munitions industry during the Second World War. ...

, until 1935. He was succeeded (1935−1943) as CEO by Ernst Poensgen, descendant of the Rhenish industrial family Poensgen and cofounder of the "Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG" in 1926. Fritz Thyssen was chairman of the board ( Aufsichtsrat). In 1932, as a result of the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, part of the company was nationalized to prevent

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

. The Weimar government bought stock valued at 25 million Reichsmark (RM) for 99 million RM. This transaction like the similar Gelsenberg affair led to a public outcry. According to

Heinrich Brüning Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932. A political scienti ...

the company then went on to support the Nazi party with 500,000 RM for the 1932 elections.Heinrich Brüning, Memoiren 1918–1934, DVA, Stuttgart 1970, S. 531 The Nazi government re-privatized the stocks four years later so that the Vst achieved a net win of 33 million RM. The Vst became a major contributor in supplying materiel and munitions to the war effort. However, as the Vst was unable to fulfill the demands of the Nazi government, another steelworks, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring, was founded in

Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' of Lower ...

. During World War II, most of the production facilities were destroyed by bombing, and after the war, the company was dismantled. From the residuals several companies were founded in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

after 1951, including ,

August Thyssen-Hütte AG ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and ...

, , and .

References

* The start of this article is based on the corresponding article of the German Wikipedia, accessed 2/13/2008.

Bibliography

* Alexander Donges: Die Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG im Nationalsozialismus. Konzernpolitik zwischen Marktwirtschaft und Staatswirtschaft. Reihe: Familie – Unternehmen – Öffentlichkeit: Thyssen im 20. Jahrhundert, Bd. 1. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2014, . * Alfred Reckendrees: ''Das "Stahltrust"-Projekt. Die Gründung der Vereinigte Stahlwerke A.G. und ihre Unternehmensentwicklung 1926-1933/34.'' Schriftenreihe zur Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, 5. München: C. H. Beck Verlag, 2000. .

External links

* {{Authority control Conglomerate companies established in 1926 Manufacturing companies based in Düsseldorf Defunct companies of Germany Mining companies of Germany Steel companies of Germany Conglomerate companies disestablished in 1948 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1926 Manufacturing companies established in 1926 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1948 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1948 German companies established in 1926 1948 disestablishments in Germany Companies of Prussia