Friedrich (Fritz) Thyssen (November 9, 1873, Mülheim an der Ruhr – February 8, 1951, Martínez, San Isidro Partido, Greater Buenos Aires) was a German businessman born into one of Germany's leading industrial families. is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Mülheim an der Ruhr is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. ... is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Martínez is a city in San Isidro Partido, Buenos Aires Province. ... San Isidro in Greater Buenos Aires San Isidro is a partido of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina found in the north of Greater Buenos Aires. ... Gran Buenos Aires or Greater Buenos Aires is the metropolitan area next to the city of Buenos Aires and comprises the following 24 partidos (administrative subdivisions) of the Province of Buenos Aires. ... The Thyssen family has notable members who are descendants of Friedrich Thyssen and established steel works, industrial conglomerates, banks, and art collections. ...

Biography

Youth

Thyssen was born in Mülheim in the Ruhr area. His father, August Thyssen (1842-1926), was head of the Thyssen mining and steelmaking company, which had been founded by his father Friedrich Thyssen and was based in the Ruhr city of Duisburg. Thyssen studied mining and metallurgy in London, Liège, and Berlin, and after a short period of service in the German Army he joined the family business. On January 18, 1900 at Düsseldorf he married Amelie Zurhelle (Mülheim am Rhein, December 11, 1877 – Puchdorf bei Straubing, August 25, 1865), daughter of a factory owner. Their only child, Anita, (later Anita Gräfin Zichy-Thyssen), was born in 1909. Thyssen again joined the army in 1914, but was soon discharged with a lung condition. Mülheim an der Ruhr, that calls itself City on the River, is a small to medium-sized city in [North Rhine-Westphalia]] in Germany. ... Ruhr Area within Germany Map of the Ruhr Area The Ruhr Area, also called simply Ruhr, (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquial Ruhrpott or Kohlenpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large formerly industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to... August Thyssen was a German industrialist. ... Duisburg is a German city and port in the western part of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet) in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Liege or Liège has several meanings: A liege is the person or entity to which one has pledged allegiance. ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ... The German Army (German: [1], [IPA: heɐ]  ) is the land component of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Forces) of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ... The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Duesseldorf. ... Mülheim am Rhein is a former city in Germany. ... is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Weimar Germany

Thyssen was a political conservative and a German nationalist. In 1923, when France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr to punish Germany for not meeting its reparations payments in full, he took part in the nationalist resistance against the occupiers, leading the Ruhr steelmakers in refusing to co-operate in producing coal and steel for them. He was arrested, imprisoned and received a large fine for his activities, which made him a national hero. Through the 1920s the Thyssen companies continued to expand. Thyssen took over the Thyssen companies on his father's death in 1926, and in 1928 he formed United Steelworks (Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG), controlling more that 75 per cent of Germany's iron ore reserves and employing 200,000 people. He played a prominent role in German commercial life, as head of the German Iron and Steel Industry Association and the Reich Association of German Industry, and as a board member of the Reichsbank. World War I reparations refers to the payments and transfers of property and equipment that the German state was forced to make following its defeat during World War I. Article 231 of the Treaty (the war guilt clause) held Germany solely responsible for all loss and damage suffered by the...

In 1923, Thyssen met former General Erich Ludendorff, who advised him to attend a speech given by Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party. Thyssen was impressed by Hitler and his bitter opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, and began to make large donations to the party. In this he was unusual among German business leaders, as most were traditional conservatives who regarded the Nazis with suspicion. Postwar investigators found that he had donated 650,000 Reichsmarks to right-wing parties, mostly to the Nazis, although he remained a member of the German National People's Party until 1932, and did not join the Nazi Party until 1933. Ludendorff in 1918 Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (sometimes given incorrectly as von Ludendorff) (April 9, 1865–December 20, 1937, Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany) was a German Army officer, Generalquartiermeister during World War I, victor of Liege, and, with Paul von Hindenburg, one of the victors of the battle of Tannenberg. ... Hitler redirects here. ... The National Socialist German Workers Party, (German: , or NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. ... This article is about the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, which ended World War I. For other uses, see Treaty of Versailles (disambiguation) . The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a peace treaty that officially ended World War I between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany. ... A 100 Reichsmark banknote from Germany of 1935 (http://www. ... 1924 electoral poster, using the Admiral Tirpitz as a figurehead The German National Peoples Party (German: Deutschnationale Volkspartei) (DNVP) was a right wing national-conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. ...

In November, 1932, Thyssen and Hjalmar Schacht were the main organisers of a letter to President Paul von Hindenburg urging him to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. Thyssen also persuaded the Association of German Industrialists to donate 3 million Reichsmarks to the Nazi Party for the March 1933 Reichstag election. As a reward, he was elected a Nazi member of the Reichstag and appointed to the Council of State of Prussia, the largest German state (both purely honorary positions). Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970) was a German financial expert and Minister of Economics from 1935 until 1937. ... Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, known universally as Paul von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman. ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... The Free State of Prussia (blue), within Germany at the time of the Weimar Republic Capital Berlin Government Republic Minister-President  - 1918 Friedrich Ebert  - 1920-19321 Otto Braun  - 1933-1945 Hermann Göring Historical era Interwar period  - Established 9 November, 1918  - Preußenschlag 20 July 1932  - Abolition (de facto) 30...

Nazi Germany

Once the Nazi dictatorship took hold, however, Thyssen began to have second thoughts. Although he welcomed the suppression of the Communist Party, the Social Democrats and the trade unions, he disliked the mob violence of the SA. In 1934 he was one of the business leaders who persuaded Hitler to suppress the SA, leading to the "Night of the Long Knives". Thyssen was horrified, however, at the simultaneous murder of various conservative figures such as Kurt von Schleicher. Machtergreifung is a German word meaning seizure of power. ... 1932 KPD poster, End This System The Communist Party of Germany (German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period. ... The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD – Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) is the second oldest political party of Germany still in existence and also one of the oldest and largest in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2003. ... The seal of SA SA propaganda poster. ... For other uses, see Night of the Long Knives (disambiguation). ...   (7 April 1882 – 30 June 1934) was a German general and the last Chancellor of Germany during the era of the Weimar Republic. ...

Thyssen accepted the exclusion of Jews from German business and professional life by the Nazis, and dismissed his own Jewish employees, but he did not share Hitler's violent anti-Semitism. As a Catholic, he also objected to the increasing repression of the Roman Catholic Church, which gathered pace after 1935. The breaking point for Thyssen was the violent pogrom against the Jews in November 1938 known as Kristallnacht, which caused him to resign from the Council of State. By 1939 he was also bitterly criticising the regime's economic policies, which were subordinating everything to rearmament in preparation for war. ^[1] The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... Pogrom (from Russian: ; from громить IPA: - to wreak havoc, to demolish violently) is a form of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious or other, and characterized by destruction of their homes, businesses and religious centres. ... Kristallnacht, also known as Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, Crystal Night and the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom[1] against Jews throughout Germany and parts of Austria on November 9–November 10, 1938. ...

World War

In September 1939 World War II broke out. Thyssen sent Hermann Goering a telegram saying he was opposed to the war, shortly before leaving for Switzerland with his family. He was expelled from the Nazi Party and the Reichstag, and his company was briefly nationalised. It was returned to other members of the Thyssen family some years after the war. In 1940 Thyssen moved to France, intending to immigrate to Argentina, but was caught by the German occupation of France while he was visiting his ill mother in Belgium. He was arrested and taken back to Germany, where he was confined, first in a sanatorium near Berlin, then from 1943 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. His wife Amelie instead of escaping to Argentina joined her husband and spent the whole war in the concentration camp with her husband. "She had spent the good times with her husband and would also join him in the difficult times.^{[citation needed]}" In February 1945 he was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He was comparatively well-treated, however, and survived to be liberated by Allied forces in 1945. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Hermann Goering in English) (January 12, 1893–October 15, 1946) was a prominent and early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main architects of Nazi Germany. ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... Combatants  France  United Kingdom  Canada  Czechoslovakia  Poland  Belgium  Netherlands  Luxembourg Germany Italy Commanders Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand Lord Gort (British Expeditionary Force) Leopold III H.G. Winkelman Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group A) Fedor von Bock (Army Group B) Wilhelm von Leeb (Army Group C) H.R.H. Umberto di... Entry to the camp Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... The main entrance just after the liberation Memorial at the camp, 1997. ...

Later life

While Thyssen was imprisoned in Germany, an "autobiography" was published in the United States in 1941 under the title I Paid Hitler. The book was in fact written by a journalist called Emery Reves, based partly on memoirs dictated by Thyssen, but containing much material invented or exaggerated by Reves. This book is the source of views about Thyssen, including the view that the German industrialists as a class supported and funded Hitler and put him into power. After the war Thyssen disputed the authenticity of this book, and this was upheld by the postwar denazification tribunal. Emery Reves is the author of The Anatomy of Peace, a 1945 book that helped popularize the cause of world federalism. ... Denazification (German: Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime. ...

Thyssen was nevertheless tried for being a supporter of the Nazi Party. He did not deny that he had been a Nazi supporter until 1938, and he accepted responsibility for his companies' mistreatment of Jewish employees in the 1930s, although he denied involvement in the employment of slave labour during the war. Thyssen agreed to pay 500,000 Deutschmarks as compensation to those who suffered as a result of his actions, and was acquitted of other charges. In January 1950 he and his wife immigrated to Buenos Aires, where he died the following year. Thyssen was buried in the family mausoleum in Mülheim. ^[2] A 10 Deutsche Mark banknote from Germany 1993 showing Carl Friedrich Gauss (http://www. ... For other uses, see Buenos Aires (disambiguation). ...

In 1959 Thyssen's widow Amélie Thyssen and daughter Anita Gräfin Zichy-Thyssen established the Fritz Thyssen Foundation to advance science and the humanities, with a capital of 100 million Deutschmarks. Amélie Thyssen died in 1965. Anita Gräfin Zichy-Thyssen ran the Foundation until her death in 1990. The Family has no say in the running of the Foundation.

References

1. ^ Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power,, Allen Lane 2005, 372
2. ^ "Thyssen Buried in Ruhr", New York Times, Feb 9, 1953, p. 27