Michael Stoschek (born 1947/1948) is a German

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, chairman of

Brose Fahrzeugteile Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG is an automotive supplier. The family-owned company has its headquarters in Coburg, Germany. In 2018, the Brose Group developed and produced mechatronic components and systems for vehicle doors, seats and bod ...

, the German car parts company founded by his grandfather Max Brose, a

Wehrwirtschaftsführer ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' (WeWiFü) were, during the time of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), executives of companies or big factories called ''rüstungswichtiger Betrieb'' (company important for the production of war materials). ''Wehrwirtschaft ...

in Nazi Germany.

Early life

Michael Stoschek was born in Germany. He was educated at

Casimirianum Coburg The Casimirianum, known to the students as the "Casi", is a '' Gymnasium'' in Coburg, Bavaria. It was founded in 1605 by Johann Casimir, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg (15641633), and named after him. Today the Casimirianum is a linguistic and humanist ...

Career

Stoschek took charge of

in 1971 aged only 23 and grew the company into an international company. As of November 2015, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' estimated his net worth at US$2.4 billion.

Max Brose Controversy

Stochek's grandfather Max Brose employed prisoners-of-war as slave laborers in his factory during World War II. At the end of the war he was tried and convicted as a

Mitläufer A (plural , German for " fellow traveller") is a person (the German term has the male grammatical gender; to specifically indicate a female the -in suffix has to be added) believed to be tied to or passively sympathising of certain social movemen ...

. Stoschek has been criticized for his attempt to rehabilitate Brose's image. In 2008 Stoschek used company money to hire the historian Gregor Schöllgen to write an unsubstantiated biography on Brose's life and the history of the firm, downplaying his association with the Nazi Party. Stoschek also withheld funds from the Christian Social Union, a political party in Coburg, until they agreed to name a street after Brose. Laws written in the denazifaction process prohibit streets from being named after Nazis.

Personal life

He is married with two children. His daughter

Julia Stoschek Julia Stoschek (born 1975) is a German socialite and art collector. Career Julia Stoschek was born in 1975, the daughter of Michael Stoschek, the German billionaire businessman and chairman of Brose Fahrzeugteile. Stoschek first began buyi ...

is an art collector, specializing time-based media art, and runs the Julia Stoschek Collection in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

, which opened in 2007, and has two floors of exhibition space, over 2500 m2. He has a son Maximilian Stoschek.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoschek, Michael 1948 births Living people German billionaires Businesspeople from Bavaria 20th-century German businesspeople 21st-century German businesspeople People from Coburg