__NOTOC__ The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation (german: Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung) is a major German philanthropic foundation, created by and named in honor of Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, former owner and head of the

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

company and a convicted war criminal. The Krupp company, officially known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was a major steelmaker and arms manufacturer that became a key supplier of weapons and

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...

to the German government and the ''

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

'' 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The "Krupp Law" (''

Lex Krupp The Lex Krupp was a document signed into law on 12 November 1943 by Adolf Hitler that made the Krupp company a personal company with specially regulated rules of succession, in order to ensure that the Krupp family enterprise remain intact. Histo ...

''), signed into law by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

in 1943, allowed Alfried Krupp to become sole proprietor of the company. The Krupp company instituted

slave labor Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

at its factories and by the end of World War II had forcibly employed as many as 100,000 individuals, including

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

inmates, foreign civilians and children. A Krupp

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

factory (Weichsel Union Metallwerke) was constructed near the Auschwitz death camp to facilitate the employment of camp inmates. Beginning in 1947, a

United States military tribunal Military tribunals in the United States are military courts designed to judicially try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulf ...

tried Krupp and 11 co-defendants for war crimes and crimes against humanity, citing in particular the use of forced labor in their factories (the " Krupp trial"). On 31 July 1948, Krupp was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. After serving three years, he was

pardoned A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

John J. McCloy John Jay McCloy (March 31, 1895 – March 11, 1989) was an American lawyer, diplomat, banker, and a presidential advisor. He served as Assistant Secretary of War during World War II under Henry Stimson, helping deal with issues such as German sa ...

, the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, and his properties were reinstated. In 1959, the Krupp company pledged to pay individual compensations of DM5,000 ($1,190) to 2,000 slave workers (2% of all the estimated 100,000 slave workers), totalling DM10,000,000 (US$2,380,000). Adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to approximately €23.7 million or US$27.1 million in 2022. The company denied non-Jewish inmates of the concentration camps any claim to compensation. After Krupp's death in 1967, control of the Krupp company passed to the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, a

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

organisation, at Krupp's behest. Today, the foundation is the largest shareholder of the

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...

industrial conglomerate (20.9% as of 2018) and largely controls the board of the company. The foundation is also tasked with preserving the "unity" of ThyssenKrupp. The foundation provides grants in the fields of health, athletics, education, science and culture.

Other institutions named after the Alfried Krupp

* , Essen *

Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Study The Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Study in Greifswald (in German: ''Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald'') is an institute for advanced study named after Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. On 20 June 2000, this institute was fou ...

, Greifswald, Germany * Alfried Krupp PhD Grant * * Alfried Krupp Street, Essen, Germany

References

External links

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach FoundationKrupp Armaments at Auschwitz
{{Authority control Companies involved in the Holocaust Crimes against humanity Foundations based in Germany International criminal law Krupp ThyssenKrupp Torture War crimes

Other institutions named after the Alfried Krupp

See also

References

External links