Sosthenes Behn (January 30, 1884 – June 6, 1957) was an American businessman, and the founder of ITT. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.

Biography

Early years

Sosthenes Behn was born in the island of St. Thomas, then part of the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...

. His ancestry was Danish on his paternal side, and French on his maternal side. Behn served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and was commissioned a captain, Signal Corps, on June 19, 1917. He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, having served with distinction during World War I. Behn served with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France until February 1919. He was given command of the 232nd Field Signal Battalion,

Château-Thierry Château-Thierry () is a French commune situated in the department of the Aisne, in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, and in the historic Province of Champagne. The origin of the name of the town is unknown. The local tradition att ...

Saint-Mihiel Saint-Mihiel () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography Saint-Mihiel lies on the banks of the river Meuse. History A Benedictine abbey was established here in 708 or 709 by Count Wulfoalde and his wif ...

, Argonne. In recognition of his meritorious service during the war he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

(DSM).

Puerto Rico Telephone Company and ITT

After his return from military service, Colonel Behn co-founded the

Puerto Rico Telephone Company Claro Puerto Rico is one of the largest telecommunications services company in Puerto Rico. It is headquartered in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and has operated for almost a century offering voice, data, long distance, broadband, directory publishing ...

which eventually spawned ITT. Under his direction ITT was granted the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

of telephone service in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

( Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España) in 1924, and purchased the international division of

Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

, including a factory in Antwerp (the

International Bell Telephone Company The International Bell Telephone Company (IBTC) of Brussels, Belgium, was created in 1879 by the Bell Telephone Company of Boston, Massachusetts, a precursor entity to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), initially to sell imported t ...

) which manufactured the Rotary telephone system. According to Anthony Sampson's book ''

The Sovereign State of ITT ''The Sovereign State: The Secret History of International Telephone and Telegraph'' is a non-fiction book by Anthony Sampson published on July 1, 1973, by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. The book focuses on the history of ITT Corporation to make a broa ...

'', one of the first American businessmen Hitler received after taking power in 1933 was Sosthenes Behn, then the CEO of ITT, and his German representative, Henry Mann.

Antony C. Sutton Antony Cyril Sutton (February 14, 1925 – June 17, 2002) was a British-American writer, researcher, economist, and professor. Early life and education Antony C. Sutton was born in London on February 14, 1925 to Edward Ceril Sutton and Marjorie ...

, in his book ''Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler'', makes the claim that ITT subsidiaries made cash payments to SS leader

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

. ITT, through its subsidiary

C. Lorenz AG C. Lorenz AG (1880–1958) was a German electrical and electronics firm primarily located in Berlin. It innovated, developed, and marketed products for electric lighting, telegraphy, telephony, radar, and radio. It was acquired by ITT in 1930 and ...

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 ...

, owned 25% of

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

, the German aircraft manufacturer, builder of some of the most successful

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. In addition, Sutton's book uncovers that ITT owned Dr. Erich F. Huth GmbH (Signalbau Huth, Berlin), which made

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

parts that were used in equipment going 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 ...

. Behn, along with his brother, Hernan, built the ''Two Brothers Bridge'' —''

Puente Dos Hermanos The Dos Hermanos Bridge is a bridge in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It connects the sector of Condado with the entrance to Old San Juan, crossing over the Condado Lagoon. It was designed and built by brothers Hernan and Sosthenes Behn, and opened in Ju ...

'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

— in San Juan. The bridge links the districts of Condado and

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the Isleta de San Juan, islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, Catedral, Ma ...

. Colonel Behn and

Ludwig Roselius Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported arti ...

, founder of the company

Café HAG Café HAG is a worldwide brand of decaffeinated coffee currently owned by JDE Peet's. History Café HAG was founded in Bremen in 1906 as ''Kaffee-Handels-Aktiengesellschaft'' (Coffee Trading Limited). The company's founder was Ludwig Roseliu ...

, owned 74% of German aircraft manufacturer Focke-Wulf after the company reconstitution in 1936.

Barbara Goette Barbara Goette (26 July 1908 – 23 October 1997) was a German academic. She lived in Germany and then Australia. From 1935 to 1943, she was the private secretary of Ludwig Roselius, creator of Böttcherstraße and Café HAG, and financier of Fo ...

referred to Colonel Behn as a huge global player but never trusted him as he was involved with Hitler. Sosthenes Behn met with Hitler on 3/8/1933 and in 1936 there was a high-level meeting in Berlin where it was proposed that Behn through ITT gain 50% of

and oust

completely, but after Barbara Goette intervened with Hitler, Ludwig Roselius' life was spared and he became majority shareholder in Focke-Wulf with 46% and a massive capital injection occurred. During the war, all of ITT's German holdings were put under Nazi control. These included a minority share in airplane manufacturer Focke-Wulf, which ITT had acquired through its contacts with German financier

Kurt Baron von Schröder Kurt Freiherr von Schröder (24 November 1889 in Hamburg, Germany – 4 November 1966) was a German nobleman, financier and SS-Brigadeführer. He is most famous for hosting the negotiations between members of Paul von Hindenburg's camarilla, Fra ...

. After the end of the war, the US authorities returned these assets to their rightful US owner. Behn appointed Gerhard Westrick to the board of Focke-Wulf after the reconstitution in 1936. He was ITT's corporation chairman in Germany. After Pearl Harbour, at meetings with Baron Kurt von Schröder and Behn in Switzerland, Westrick nervously admitted he had run into a problem. Wilhelm Ohnesorge, the elderly minister in charge of post offices, who was one of the first fifty Nazi party members, was strongly opposed to ITT's German companies continuing to function under New York management in time of war. Behn told Westrick to use Schröder and the protection of the Gestapo against Ohnesorge. In return, Behn guaranteed that ITT would substantially increase its payments to the Gestapo through the Circle of Friends. A special board of trustees was set up by the Nazis to cooperate with Behn and his thirty thousand staff in Occupied Europe. Ohnesorge savagely fought these arrangements and tried to obtain the support of Himmler. However, Schröder had Himmler's ear, and so, of course did his close friend and associate Walter Schellenberg. Ohnesorge appealed directly to Hitler and condemned Westrick as an American sympathiser. However, Hitler realized the importance of ITT to the German economy and proved supportive of Behn. In 1943, ITT became majority shareholder of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH with 29% due to Ludwig Roselius' Kaffee HAG share falling to 27% after he died on May 15.

Death

Behn died on 6 June 1957. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

.Behn, Sosthenes
ANC Explorer

References

External links