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

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 and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

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

Brauchitsch Brauchitsch is the surname of a Prussian noble family, first documented in the 13th century at the Silesian village of Chrustenik. Members of the family have been noted as statesmen and high military officers in Germany. Notable members of the fami ...

family is a

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

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

Bad Tölz Bad Tölz (; Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Däiz'') is a Town#Germany, 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 Tö ...

, 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 S ...

.Eberhard von Brauchitsch beging Selbstmord

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...

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 ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

in 1944. After

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 ...

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 (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...

and political sciences at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. He also studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

and in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. In the 1950s Brauchitsch worked for

Deutsche Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

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 German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and ''Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...

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 __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

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 regionalis ...

received about 15 million DM, the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

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 served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

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

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

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 from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

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 cultivat ...

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). Early life and education Lambsdorff was bo ...

and

Hans Friderichs Hans Friderichs (born 16 October 1931) is a German politician who served as the minister of economy in the period 1972–1977. He is also a jurist and businessman. Early life and education Friderichs was born in Wittlich in 1931. He received a ...

, 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 as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

stocks valuing 1.9 billion DM.Ein Mann kaufte die Republik

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. 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 (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(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