biography
| name: |
Krupp, Gustav
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originally Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1870–1950)
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| biography:
| Industrialist, born in The Hague, The Netherlands. He was a Prussian diplomat when he was chosen by Wilhelm II as a suitable husband for Bertha Krupp (1886–1957), heiress to the Krupp industrial empire. They married in 1906 and by special imperial edict he was allowed to adopt the name Krupp. He took over the firm, gained the monopoly of German arms manufacture during World War 1, and manufactured the long-range gun for the shelling of Paris, nicknamed ‘Big Bertha’. He turned to agricultural machinery and steam engines after the war, gave financial support to Hitler, and connived in secret rearmament, contrary to the Versailles Treaty, after the latter's rise to power in 1933. Hitler's Lex-Krupp (1943) confirmed exclusive family ownership for the firm. After World War 2, the Krupp empire was split up by the Allies, but Gustav was too senile to stand trial as a war criminal at Nuremberg. |
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