Wilhelm Zangen (born 30 September 1891 in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

– died 25 November 1971 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 ...

) was a German industrialist and supporter of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. Zangen had a strong business brain and by his late 30s he was one of the leading figures in the German business world.Wistrich (2001), p. 183 In December 1934 he became chairman of Mannesmann mills in

, a role he held until 1957. In this position Zangen oversaw the use of slave labour in the company's tube rolling mills. He joined the Nazi Party and SS in 1937 and was awarded the title ''

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 ...

''. Other positions he filled under the Nazis included head of the German Industry Association, vice-president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Düsseldorf and deputy chair of the Berlin-based Reich Economic Chamber, as well as directorships of a number of companies. After the war Zangen was briefly imprisoned for his use of slave labor and his involvement in arming the Nazi regime. He served only four months of his sentence.S. Jonathan Wiesen, ''West German Industry and the Challenge of the Nazi Past, 1945-1955'', UNC Press Books, 2004, p. 28 He continued with his role at Mannesmann, serving as overall company chairman from 1957 to 1966.

Bibliography

References

External links

* 1891 births 1971 deaths Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia Officials of Nazi Germany People from Duisburg Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross {{nazi-stub