Bertha Krupp

Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (29 March 1886 - 21 September 1957), born Bertha Krupp and commonly known by this name outside Germany, was a member of the Krupp family, Germany's leading industrial dynasty of the 19th and 20th centuries. As the elder child and heir of Friedrich Alfred Krupp she was the sole proprietor of the Krupp industrial empire from 1902 to 1943, although her husband, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, ran the company in her name. In 1943 she transferred ownership of the company to her son, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach.

Bertha Krupp was born in Essen, home of the Krupp family and their company since the 16th century. Her mother was Margarethe Krupp, born Margarethe von Enden. At the time of Bertha's birth the company was owned and managed by her grandfather, Alfred Krupp. Following his death the following year, her father Friedrich inherited ownership and control. Her sister Barbara (later Barbara Freifrau von Wilmowsky) was born in 1887 {d. 1972}, but the absence of a male heir put the future of the company in doubt.

When Friedrich Krupp died in 1902, it was held to be impossible for a woman to exercise control over the vast Krupp coal, steel and armaments empire. In 1904, therefore, Kaiser Wilhelm II arranged for Bertha to marry Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach, a professional diplomat of good family and a familiar figure at the Kaiser's court. He added the name Krupp to his surname and assumed executive control of the company. Barbara received a large cash settlement and Bertha became sole owner of the company.

Gustav and Bertha had eight children: Alfried (1907-67), Claus (1910-1940), Irmgard (1912-1998), Berthold (1913-87), Harald (1916-85), Waldtraut (1920-2005) and Eckbert (1922-1945). Of these only Alfried as the eldest son took the surname Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The others used the surname von Bohlen und Halbach. Claus and Eckbert were killed on active service in World War II, and Harald spent ten years in captivity in the Soviet Union.

During World War I the Krupp company manufactured large mortars which were used to bombard forts in Belgium and France. These were known by German troops as "Dicke Bertha" ("fat Bertha") after Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The translated name "Big Bertha" came to be used by Allied troops to refer to all German long-range artillery, particularly those which were used to shell Paris in 1918.

After Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach suffered a stroke in 1941, his health declined sharply. In 1943 Adolf Hitler issued a decree known as the Lex Krupp allowing full ownership of the Krupp empire, which was vital to Germany's war effort, to pass from Bertha to her son Alfried, who then assumed control of the company. Bertha took Gustav to a family estate in the Tyrol region of Austria, where they remained until the end of the war.

In 1945 Gustav was indicted as a war criminal, but was held to be medically unfit to stand trial. He died in 1950. Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in relation to the Krupp company's use and mistreatment of concentration camp inmates as slave labour in Krupp factories, particularly at the Berthawerk, a factory near the Auschwitz extermination camp, which was named after Bertha. He was sentenced to twelve years in prison and the confiscation of all his property. He served five years in prison before being freed in 1951 when the U.S. High Commissioner in Germany, John J. McCloy, unilaterally overturned his conviction.

In 1951 Bertha Krupp returned with Alfried to Essen, where Alfried resumed control of the company and rapidly restored it to a dominant position in the German economy, although it no longer made armaments. She had become a much-loved figure in the city, known for her charitable work and her frequent visits to injured or ill Krupp workers and their families. (Critics pointed out that the amounts donated by the Krupps to charity were a tiny fraction of the family's vast wealth, and far less than donated by other wealthy families, such as the Rockefellers.) Bertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach died in Essen in 1957 and is buried in the family crypt outside the city. Alfred Krupp Von Bohlen und Halbach only child Arndt von Bohlen und Halbach {1938-1986}-died just one year short of the 400 anniversary of the arrival of the first Krupp in Essen in 1587. Ardnt married but had no children; thus the line of Krupp died out.

References

*cite book | last = William Manchester| authorlink = | title = The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War|edition= March 4, 2003|pages= 992 | publisher = Back Bay Books| isbn= 0316529400