Eberhard von Brauchitsch (28 November 1926 – 7 September 2010) was a German industrial manager. In his work for Flick KG, he was responsible for the donation of about 26 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

to all the major German political parties and their associated foundations between 1969 and 1981. As a result of this scandal, he was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on probation and 550,000 DM financial penalty for tax evasion. In 1982 he became a lawyer and management consultant.

Biography

Brauchitsch was born in

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 ...

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

to Konrad von Brauchitsch and Edith, née de la Barre.Biography
at munzinger.de The

Brauchitsch The Brauchitsch family is the name of an old German nobility, Prussian noble family, first documented in the 13th century at the Silesian village of Brauchitschdorf, nowadays Chróstnik, Chrustenik. Members of the family have been noted as statesme ...

family is a

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

n noble family originating from Brauchitschdorf, Silesia (modern Chróstnik, Poland). Brauchitsch attended school in Berlin and

Bad Tölz Bad Tölz (; Bavarian: ''Däiz'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany and the administrative center of the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district. History Archaeology has shown continuous occupation of the site of Bad Tölz since the retreat of the gla ...

, where he was a classmate of

Friedrich Karl Flick Friedrich Karl Flick (3 February 1927 – 5 October 2006) was a German-Austrian industrialist and billionaire. Early life He was born in Berlin, the youngest son of Friedrich Flick, an industrialist and convicted Nazi war criminal, and Marie ...

.Eberhard von Brauchitsch beging Selbstmord

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

11 September 2010 He was conscripted as a

Flakhelfer A ''Luftwaffenhelfer'', also commonly known as a ''Flakhelfer'', was any member of the auxiliary staff of the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Such terms often implied students conscripted as child soldiers. Establishment ''Luftwaff ...

in 1943 and 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 ...

in 1944. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he passed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1946 and studied law at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

and political sciences at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. He also studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. In the 1950s Brauchitsch worked for

Deutsche Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks second in Europe by ...

and became the first chief executive of the Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH. In 1960 he became the personal consultant of Friedrich Karl Flick and executive partner of the Flick KG in 1965. From 1971 to 1973 he was the chief representative of the

Axel Springer AG Axel Springer SE () is a European multinational mass and online media company, based in Berlin, Germany. The company offers printing and publishing of advertisements, digital classifieds portfolio, marketing models and related services. Axel S ...

but returned to the Flick KG after the death of Friedrich Flick (senior). He was responsible for the donation of about 26 million DM to all major German political parties and their associated foundations between 1969 and 1981. The

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

and the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionali ...

received about 15 million DM, the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

about 6.5 million and the Liberals about 4.3 million. Sums between 40,000 and 250,000 DM were directly paid to politicians like

Franz Josef Strauss Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

and CDU bursar Walther Leisler Kiep.Eberhard von Brauchitsch, ein Stück Bonner Republik

Die Welt (, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...

11 September 2010

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

received in total 565,000 DM. Brauchitsch called this practise "cultivating the political scene". These donations led to the

Flick affair The Flick affair was a West German political scandal of the early 1980s relating to donations by the Flick company, a major German conglomerate, to various political parties, according to Flick manager Eberhard von Brauchitsch, "for the cultiva ...

and the demission of

Otto Graf Lambsdorff Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff (20 December 1926 – 5 December 2009), was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He was the German Federal Minister of Econom ...

and Hans Friderichs, who had granted tax advantages to Friedrich Karl Flick after he had realized his 40 percent share of

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

stocks valuing 1.9 billion DM.Ein Mann kaufte die Republik

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

6 October 2006 Brauchitsch was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on probation and 550,000 DM financial penalty for tax evasion. He left the Flick KG in 1982 and worked as a lawyer and management consultant. Brauchitsch was married to Helga née Hempe since 1952, they had three daughters and one son. After both had suffered from long and severe illnesses, Brauchitsch and his wife committed suicide together in Zürich, aided by the Swiss pro-euthanasia group EXIT.

Awards

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

(1st class)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brauchitsch, Eberhard Von 1926 births 2010 suicides 2010 deaths Businesspeople from Berlin German aerospace businesspeople Luftwaffenhelfer Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni University of Amsterdam alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Suicides in Germany Joint suicides Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German untitled nobility Lufthansa people German military personnel of World War II