Krupp AG

Krupp AG, former German corporation that was one of the world’s principal steelmakers and arms manufacturers until the end of World War II. For the rest of the 20th century it was an important manufacturer of industrial machinery and materials. It became a limited-liability company in 1968 when its assets were transferred from the private ownership of the Krupp family to the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation. The corporation merged with Thyssen AG in 1999, creating ThyssenKrupp AG, a leading global manufacturer of steel, construction materials, automotive parts and assemblies, and industrial and mechanical services.

The history of the Krupp industrial empire is essentially the history of the Krupp family through much of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1811 Friedrich Krupp and two partners founded in Essen a plant to produce English cast steel and related products, called a Gussstahlfabrik (cast-steel factory). Under his eldest son, Alfred Krupp, the company gained a worldwide reputation during the 19th century. It was the first to introduce the Bessemer and open-hearth steelmaking processes on the European continent. Alfred was best known, however, as the “Cannon King,” producing in 1851 a cast-steel cannon that was the sensation of London’s Great Exhibition. In the course of his career, he manufactured field guns and other armaments for countries around the world.

Under the direction of Alfred’s son, Friedrich Alfred Krupp (1854–1902), the business experienced enormous expansion resulting from the rise of the German navy and the demand for armour plate. Krupp acquired the Germania shipbuilding yards at Kiel in 1902. By that time the firm employed more than 40,000 people. Friedrich Alfred was succeeded by his elder daughter, Bertha Krupp (1886–1957); in 1906 she married Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach, and he was authorized by the emperor William II to add the name Krupp to his own (see Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Gustav). Meanwhile (in 1903), the family concerns were incorporated under the umbrella name Fried. Krupp Grusonwerk AG.

During World War I the firm gained special international significance by the manufacture of heavy guns such as the 16.5-inch (420-mm) howitzer “Big Bertha” and the long-range gun that in the spring of 1918 bombarded Paris from a distance of about 75 miles (120 km). After the war, parts of the works had to be dismantled and the labour force reduced.

Adolf Hitler’s policy of military conquest switched the Krupp combine back to armament products. During World War II the aged Gustav was succeeded by his eldest son, Alfried von Bohlen und Halbach, who, by the Lex Krupp (Krupp Law) of 1943, assumed the name Krupp and became the sole owner of his mother’s vast holdings. Even before 1939, the extent of these holdings had become staggering. Within Germany, the Krupp concern had wholly owned 87 industrial complexes, held a controlling interest in 110 firms, and possessed substantial investments in 142 other German corporations. Abroad, Krupp works existed in almost every continental country; the family owned more than 50 percent of the stock in 41 foreign plants and large blocks of shares in another 25. There had been thousands of Krupp ore pits and coal mines, a chain of Krupp hotels, a group of Krupp banks, a Krupp cement works, and a score of private estates.

During the war, the Krupp combine manufactured submarines, trucks, locomotives, and warships, in addition to artillery and munitions. After World War II, Alfried Krupp was convicted of war crimes at Nürnberg, specifically for employment of slave labour, but the company had also been guilty of plundering property and plants in all the occupied countries. Under the terms of an Allied decree of March 4, 1953, Krupp was ordered to sell about 75 percent of the value of the concern. There were ultimately no buyers, however, and by the early 1960s, Alfried had restored the prosperity of the firm, its value exceeding $1 billion. Under his management, Krupp became one of the largest companies in West Germany (now Germany) and a major manufacturer of steel, heavy machinery, transportation equipment, and industrial plants.

Krupp stock had never been traded on the stock exchanges until credit problems emerged in 1966–67. At the same time, Alfried’s only son, Arndt, decided that he did not wish to take over the family business. In exchange for renouncing his succession rights, Arndt was granted $500,000 a year until his death (on May 12, 1986). Alfried died in Essen on July 31, 1967, and the following January the firm became a corporation wholly owned by a foundation called Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung.

Upon acquiring the rival German steelmaker Hoesch AG in 1992, the Krupp firm was converted from a limited-liability company to a stock corporation and adopted the name Fried. Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp. Following its merger in 1999 with rival firm Thyssen AG, headquarters were established in Düsseldorf, Germany. While ThyssenKrupp is known to produce amusement and sports items such as sparklers (fireworks), bobsleds, and protective glass (polycarbonate) panels for ice hockey rinks, the firm’s main business sectors involve metal fabrication, mechanical engineering, the production of elevator systems, the manufacture of automotive parts, and trading and services.