Friedrich Minoux (21 March 1877 – 16 October 1945) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

industrialist and financier who is best known for being one of the owners of the Wannsee House, where the namesake conference that would decide the fate of millions at the hands of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

during

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 ...

was held in early 1942.

Early life

Born in the

Pfalz Pfalz, Pfälzer, or Pfälzisch are German words referring to Palatinate (disambiguation), Palatinate. They may refer to: Places *Pfalz, the Palatinate (region) of Germany **Nordpfalz, the North Palatinate **Vorderpfalz, the Anterior Palatinat ...

region to Michael and Margaretha (''née'' Reffert) Minoux, Friedrich Minoux attended Gymnasien in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

and

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

as was customary for boys at the time. After fulfilling his military obligations in 1893, he married Maria Karoline Hente, and took a job at the

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Gas and Water Works company, where he would rise to the position of financial vice president. In 1912, Minoux became an employee of Hugo Stinnes, a prominent German industrialist of the time. Minoux achieved considerable financial success while working for Stinnes, at one point earning as much as 350,000 gold marks per year — a substantial sum at the time. In 1919 Minoux became a member of the board of the ''United Citizens of Berlin Coal Dealers AG'', and began to diversify his business interests to paper production, automobile manufacturing and coal and steel production.Lehrer, p. 19 In 1923 Minoux left the Stinnes conglomerate to build his own industrial empire. In 1926 he acquired half of the shares of the ''German-Romanian Petroleum Company AG'' (Derupag). His main source of income at the time became ''The Friedrich Minoux Society for Trade and Industry'', which was a coal wholesale business. Minoux was also one of the founders of the ''Citizens of Berlin Urban Power Stations AG'', an electric company. By 1938, in his last major business deal, Minoux purchased the Jewish-owned ''Offenheimer Cellulose and Paper Works'' company for less than 1 million

reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s. The actual value was more than RM12 million, but by that time Nazi actions against Jewish businesses had intensified, and the owner of the mill was forced to sell to Minoux for a pittance. Throughout those years, Minoux and his wife became notable figures in German political and social circles.

Wannsee House and political ambitions

Minoux opposed the

Weimar Republic 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 ...

and maintained contacts with right-wing extremists, military federations, and politicians. In 1931 he became a member of the Society for the Study of Fascism, and two years later he would be elected into the Academy for German Law. In 1921, Minoux purchased the Wannsee House (also called ''Wannsee Villa''), which was originally built in the outskirts of Berlin by Ernst Marlier.

Fritz Thyssen Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen (9 November 1873 – 8 February 1951) was a German businessman, born into one of Germany's leading industrial families. He was an early supporter and financial backer of the Nazi Party but later broke with it. He was ar ...

wrote in his memoirs ''I Paid Hitler'' that Minoux had already financed the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

from 1923. In 1923, during the height of the economic crisis that would eventually cause the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, Minoux offered his assistance to the German Army High Command in exchange for a cabinet-level position in the coming government. His ambitions would not come to fruition. That same year, the army abandoned plans for a putsch against the government, and talks between Minoux and the Nazis eventually collapsed. On 15 August 1941 Minoux was convicted of defrauding the Berlin Gasworks. At the time this was considered the largest business swindle of the Nazi era.Lehrer, p 18 He was sentenced to five years imprisonment and hefty fines. From his jail cell in Berlin, Minoux sold Wannsee House to the Stiftung Nordhav, a foundation controlled by

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

. Subsequently, the property became an important center of operations for the SS Security Service and the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...

. It was there that the Wannsee Conference would eventually be held on 20 January 1942. Today the villa is a museum dedicated to the remembrance of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Minoux died of starvation a few months after the Allies liberated him from Brandenburg prison in 1945. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the Alter Friedhof on Lindenstraße in

Wannsee Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger '' Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee) and the '' Kleiner Wannse ...

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Introduction to Wannsee House and the Holocaust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minoux, Friedrich 1877 births 1945 deaths People from Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis People of the Holocaust Businesspeople from Berlin People from the German Empire People from the Weimar Republic People from Nazi Germany German fascists German fraudsters Deaths by starvation People convicted of fraud People from the Palatinate (region) Prisoners and detainees of Germany