Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach

Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (13 August 1907 – 30 July 1967), often referred to as Alfried Krupp, was part of the Krupp family. They had a steel-making business in 19th and 20th century Germany. The Krupp family is famous for taking advantage of war to make money and for enslaving workers during World War II. At one time, the Krupp company was the biggest maker of weapons in the world.

Krupp was born in 1907 in Essen, Germany. He joined the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1933. The Krupp company pretended to make farm equipment but they were really making tanks. They moved and rebuilt factories. Some of the workers in the factories were enslaved people from concentration camps in the Holocaust. Historians say there were 100,000 slaved workers and as many as 70,000 of them died.

Historian Harold James says that Alfried Krupp only became leader of the company in 1943, after all the enslaving had happened, and that he was a scapegoat for the company's bad actions.  Krupp was put on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to 12 years, but he was pardoned in 1951.

References

Category:German businesspeople
Category:1967 deaths
Category:1907 births
Category:Nazis