Gustav Georg Friedrich Maria Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (born Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach; 7 August 1870 – 16 January 1950) was a German diplomat and industrialist. From 1909 to 1945, he headed Friedrich Krupp AG, a

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

conglomerate, and led the company through two world wars along with his son Alfried, providing significant weapons and materials for the German war effort. Born 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 ...

into a German family with a long history in diplomatic service, Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach was the Prussian consul at the Vatican when he married Bertha Krupp, the heiress of the Krupp family, at the behest of Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

. He was allowed to add the Krupp name to his own and subsequently became chairman of the company. Under Krupp, the company had a near monopoly in heavy arms manufacture in Germany at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and was responsible for the production of Big Bertha, the Paris Gun and the

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

. Krupp took part in the

German rearmament German rearmament (''Aufrüstung'', ) was a policy and practice of rearmament carried out by Germany from 1918 to 1939 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which required German disarmament after World War I to prevent it from starting an ...

in secret shortly after the signature of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. An avowed monarchist, he was initially opposed to the Nazis, but eventually became a fervent supporter of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and offered significant financial support for 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 the late 1930s on he was gradually reduced to a figurehead of the company due to deteriorating health, and in 1943 he was formally succeeded by his son. At the end of

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 ...

, plans to prosecute him as a

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

at the

Nuremberg trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

were dropped as he was bedridden, senile and deemed medically unfit to stand trial. Krupp died in Austria in 1950.

Early life

Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was born 7 August 1870 in The Hague, Netherlands, to American-born Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach, and Sophie (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bohlen). His paternal grandfather, Arnold Halbach, served as Prussian consul in Philadelphia from 1828 to 1838. He was a grandson of

Henry Bohlen Henry Bohlen (October 22, 1810 – August 22, 1862) was a German-American Union Army, Union Brigadier general (United States), Brigadier General of the American Civil War. Before becoming the first foreign-born Union general in the Civil War, he f ...

and related to Charles E. Bohlen and Karoline of Wartensleben on his mother's side. He married Bertha Krupp in October 1906. Bertha had inherited her family's company in 1902 at age 16 after the death of her father, Friedrich Alfred Krupp. German Emperor Kaiser William II personally led a search for a suitable spouse for Bertha, as the Krupp empire could not be headed by a woman. Gustav was picked from his previous post at the Vatican. The Kaiser announced at the wedding that Gustav would be allowed to add the Krupp name to his own. Gustav became company chairman in 1909. After 1910, the Krupp company became a member and major funder of the

Pan-German League The Pan-German League () was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German question of the time, it held positions on German imperia ...

(Alldeutscher Verband) which mobilised popular support in favour of two army bills, in 1912 and 1913, to raise Germany's standing army to 738,000 men.

World War I

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the company had a near

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 ...

in heavy arms manufacture in Germany. At the start of the war, the company lost access to most of its overseas markets, but this was more than offset by increased demand for weapons by Germany and her allies (

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

). In 1902, before Krupp's marriage, the company leased a fuse patent to

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Among the company's products was a 94-ton

howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

named Big Bertha, after Krupp's wife, and the Paris Gun. Gustav also won the lucrative contract for Germany's

s, which were built at the family's shipyard in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

. Krupp's estate, the Villa Hügel, had a suite of rooms for Wilhelm II whenever he came to visit.

Interwar years

During the

occupation of the Ruhr The occupation of the Ruhr () was the period from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925 when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region of Weimar Republic Germany. The occupation of the heavily industrialized Ruhr district came in respons ...

in 1923, the directorate of the Krupp works ordered its employees to cease work, in line with the German policy of

passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...

to the occupation. A French military court sentenced Gustav Krupp to 15 years forced labour, though he was released on parole after six months once the German government abandoned its passive resistance strategy. The

Versailles Treaty The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactl ...

prevented Germany from making armaments and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s, forcing Krupp to significantly reduce his labour force. His company diversified to agricultural equipment, vehicles and consumer goods. However, using the profits from the Vickers patent deal and subsidies from the Weimar government, Krupp secretly began the rearming of Germany with the ink barely dry on the treaty of Versailles. It secretly continued to work on

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

through subsidiaries in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and built submarine pens in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In the 1930s, it restarted manufacture of

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s such as the

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in North African Campaign, Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent German heavy tank battalion, heavy tank battalions. It g ...

and other war materials, again using foreign subsidiaries. Krupp was a member of the

Prussian State Council The Prussian State Council ( German: ''Preußischer Staatsrat'') was the second chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Free State of Prussia between 1921 and 1933; the first chamber was the Prussian Landtag (). The members of the State Cou ...

from 1921 to 1933. While Krupp was an avowed

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

, his first loyalty was to whoever held power. He once left a business meeting in disgust when another industrialist, who was the one hosting the meeting, referred to the late President

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until ...

as "that saddlemaker" ''(Der Sattelhersteller)''. Krupp initially opposed 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 ...

. However, after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, at the secret meeting with Adolf Hitler and leading German industrialists on February 20, 1933, he contributed one 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 ...

to the Nazi party's fund for the March 1933 election, which enabled Hitler to take control of the government. After Hitler won power, Krupp became, as

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 ...

later put it, "a super Nazi", and contributed to the Adolf Hitler Fund of German Trade and Industry which was established in June 1933 to support the Nazis. As president of the ''Reichsverband'' of German industry he led the effort to expel its Jewish members. Like many German nationalists, Krupp believed that the Nazis could be used to end the Republic, and then be pushed aside to restore the Kaiser and the old elites. When all parties were abolished and civil liberties suspended following the Reichstag fire and Hitler's grab for absolute power, Krupp found that he and the rest of the old elites were firmly in the grip of the Nazis; the movement they had hoped to ride back into power upon had instead emasculated them. Despite this, Krupp was always flexible, and cooperated with Hitler's dictatorship. Hitler had tried to gain entry to the Krupp factories in 1929, but was rebuffed because Krupp felt he would see some of the secret armament work there and reveal it to the world. Bertha Krupp never liked Hitler even though she never complained when the company's bottom line rose through the armaments contracts and production. She referred to him as "that certain gentleman" ''(Dieser gewisse Herr)'' and pleaded illness when Hitler came on an official tour in 1934. Her daughter Irmgard acted as hostess.Manchester, William. ''The Arms of Krupp''. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1968.

World War II

Krupp suffered failing health from 1939 onwards, and a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

left him partially paralysed in 1941. He became a figurehead until he formally handed over the running of the business to his son Alfried in 1943. Krupp industries, under both his leadership and later that of his son, was offered facilities in eastern Europe and made extensive use of forced labor during the war. On 25 July 1943 the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

attacked the Krupp Works with 627 heavy bombers, dropping 2,032 long tons of bombs in an

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

-marked attack. Upon his arrival at the works the next morning, Krupp suffered a fit from which he never recovered.

Nuremberg Trials

Following the Allied victory, plans to prosecute Gustav Krupp as a

at the 1945

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

were dropped because by then he was bedridden and senile. Despite his personal absence from the prisoners' dock, however, Krupp remained technically still under indictment and liable to prosecution in subsequent proceedings.

Death

Krupp died at his residence near Werfen,

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 16 January 1950. His widow died in 1957. He had eight children including Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (1907–1967), the last owner of Krupp (succeeded by his

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation __NOTOC__ The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation is a major German philanthropic non-profit Foundation under civil law. It was founded by Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. With his death on 30 July 1967, his entire private fortun ...

). His grandson Eckbert Georg Klaus von Bohlen und Halbach (born 1956) married Princess Désirée of Hohenzollern (born 1963), daughter of Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krupp Von Bohlen Und Halbach, Gustav 1870 births 1950 deaths Anti-Masonry Businesspeople from The Hague Gustav Antisemitism in Germany German anti-communists German steel industry businesspeople German industrialists German untitled nobility German monarchists German nationalists German people of World War II German prisoners and detainees Members of the Prussian House of Lords Recipients of the Order of St. Sava Heidelberg University alumni Nazi Party members Nazi war criminals People declared mentally unfit for court German people imprisoned in France Civilians who were court-martialed People convicted by French military courts