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{{short description|German businessman}}
⚫ ]
{{Infobox person
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⚫ | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B03534, Günther Quandt, Wehrwirtschaftsführer.jpg
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| caption = Quandt in 1941
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|07|28|df=yes}}
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* {{marriage|Antonie Ewald|1913|1918|reason=died}}
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'''Günther Quandt''' (] ] – ] ]) was a German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes ] and ] (chemicals). Eight of the hundred currently richest Germans are among his descendants. '''Günther Quandt''' (28 July 1881 – 30 December 1954) was a German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes ] and ], a car and chemical company, respectively. Between 1921 and 1929, he was married to ], later the wife of ] Propaganda Minister ]. In the 1930s he joined the ], becoming one of its strong financial supporters.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/varta-battery-factories|title=Varta Battery Factories}}</ref>

His descendants were ranked as the wealthiest Germans by ] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/artikel/oetker-albrecht-quandt-die-reichsten-deutschen-im-ueberblick-a-995561-10.html|title=Platz 1 - Stefan Quandt, Johanna Quandt und Susanne Klatten (BMW, Altana, Delton, SGL Carbon) - manager magazin|work=manager magazin|access-date=2018-03-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thelocal.de/20141007/bmw-family-quandt-shoots-to-top-of-german-rich-list|title=BMW family shoots to top of German rich list|date=2014-10-07|access-date=2018-03-15|language=en}}</ref>


== Early life == == Early life ==


He was born in ] in ], the son of ] (1849-1925). Emil had married in 1883 the daughter of a rich textile manufacturer (Reichswolle AG) and he took charge of the company in 1900. He had three siblings: Gerhard, Werner and a younger sister named Edith. Werner married Eleanor Quandt, who after the Second World War helped to protect her brother-in-law, Günther, from prosecution by the Allies. Günther's sister Edith married the owner of another textile company. He was born in ] in ], the son of Emil Quandt (1849–1925). Emil had married in 1883 the daughter of a rich textile manufacturer (Reichswolle AG) and he took charge of the company in 1900. He had three siblings: Gerhard, Werner and a younger sister named Edith. Werner married Eleanor Quandt, who after the Second World War helped to protect her brother-in-law, Günther, from prosecution by the Allies. Günther's sister Edith married the owner of another textile company.


During ], with Günther in charge, the Quandts supplied the German army with uniforms, building up a larger fortune that Günther would use after the war to acquire Accumulatorenfabrik AG (AFA), a battery manufacturer in ] that would become VARTA, a potash-mining company, metal-working companies (including ]) and stakes in ] and ]. During World War I, under the leadership of Günther Quandt, his family supplied uniforms to the German army, which helped them accumulate a large fortune. After the war, Günther used this fortune to acquire Accumulatorenfabrik AG (AFA), a battery manufacturer based in Hagen. AFA later became known as VARTA. Additionally, Günther invested in a potash-mining company, metal-working companies (including IWKA), and acquired stakes in BMW and Daimler-Benz.


==The Nazi period==
⚫ Günther Quandt first married Antoine ‘Toni’ Ewald. They had two sons ] (1908-1927) and ]. Antonie died of the Spanish flu in 1918 and Helmut died of complications from appendicitis in 1927.
After ]'s appointment as Chancellor in 1933, Quandt joined the ], becoming one of Hiltler’s strong financial supporters.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org"/> In 1937, Hitler gave him the title of a ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer,'' (Leader in the Military Economy), like other industrialists who played a leading role in the war economy. Quandt's businesses supplied ammunition, rifles, artillery and batteries, using slave labourers from concentration camps in at least three factories. 80% of these labourers, numbering in the tens of thousands, died. An execution area was set up in the grounds of AFA's Hanover factory.<ref></ref> Quandt also appropriated factories throughout ] after German invasions.


At the end of World War II, the US Senate held hearings on the operations of the German economy during the war. They found that Quandt was an important director in German industry, with several interlocking companies, syndicates and corporations. He had interest in such areas as insurance, banking, automobiles, ammunition, textiles, electricity, batteries and other areas. They also found out about his ''Wehrwirtschaftsführer'' title.
⚫ His second marriage on ], ] in ] to ] (sometimes Rietschel) produced another son, ]. Magda was half Günther's age. The marriage ended in divorce in 1929. Two years later Magda married ] with ] as a witness.

The ] winning documentary film ''The Silence of the Quandts''<ref name=Silence>{{youTube|FpQpgd_EeWY|The Silence of the Quandts (English subtitles, German narration) }}</ref><ref name="WSWS">{{cite web | url=http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/11/quan-n29.html | title=The Silence of the Quandts: The history of a wealthy German family. A documentary film by Eric Friedler and Barbara Siebert | publisher=] | date=November 29, 2008 | accessdate=November 15, 2014 | author=Emma Bode and Brigitte Fehlau}}</ref> by the German public broadcaster ] described in October 2007 the role of the Quandt family businesses during the ]. The family's political past was not well known, but the documentary film revealed this to a wide audience and confronted the Quandts about the use of ] in the family's factories during World War II. As a result, five days after the showing,<ref name="Independent">{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bmw-dynasty-breaks-silence-on-its-nazi-past-2362634.html | title=BMW dynasty breaks silence on its Nazi past | work=] | date=29 September 2011 | accessdate=November 15, 2014 | author=Paterson, Tony}}</ref> four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian will examine the family's activities during Hitler's dictatorship.<ref>{{Citation |last= Bonstein |first= Julia |title= Breaking the Silence: BMW's Quandt Family to Investigate Wealth Amassed in Third Reich |newspaper= ] |date= December 10, 2007 |url= http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,511193,00.html}}</ref> The independent 1,200-page study that was released in 2011 concluded: "The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis", stated by Joachim Scholtyseck, the Bonn historian who compiled and researched the study.<ref name="Independent"/> {{as of|2008}}, no compensation, apology or even memorial at the site of one of their factories have been permitted.<ref name="WSWS" /> BMW was not implicated in the report.<ref name="Independent"/>


==After the war== ==After the war==
In 1946 Günther Quandt was arrested because of the Goebbels connection, and was interned. To the surprise of many, he was judged to be a '']'', namely someone who accepted the Nazi ideology but did not take an active part in crimes. He was released in January 1948. One of the prosecutors in the ], Benjamin Ferencz, now says that if today's evidence against Günther Quandt had been presented to the court at the time, "Quandt would have been charged with the same offences as the directors of ]." They served up to eight years in jail. Instead Quandt was able to re-install himself in the supervisory boards of various German firms, e.g. Deutsche Bank. He also became honorary citizen of the University in ] in 1951. He died on vacation in ] on ] ]. In 1946, Quandt was arrested because of the Goebbels connection, and interned. To the surprise of many, he was judged to be a '']'' (fellow traveller), namely someone who accepted the ] ideology but did not take an active part in crimes. In January 1948, Quandt was released without charge.
One of the prosecutors in the ], ], now says that if today's evidence against Quandt had been presented to the court at the time, "Quandt would have been charged with the same offences as the directors of ]." The directors served up to eight years in jail. Instead Quandt was able to re-install himself in the supervisory boards of various German firms, e.g. Deutsche Bank. He also became honorary citizen of the University in ] in 1951. He died on vacation in ] on 30 December 1954.


His two surviving sons, Herbert and Harald, administered their inheritance together, though Harald Quandt concentrated on the industrial plants Karlsruhe Augsburg AG (IWKA) which were involved in mechanical engineering and arms manufacture, while Herbert Quandt managed the investments in AFA/VARTA, Daimler-Benz and BMW. His two surviving sons, Herbert and Harald, administered their inheritance together, though Harald Quandt concentrated on the industrial plants Karlsruhe Augsburg AG (IWKA) which were involved in mechanical engineering and arms manufacture, while Herbert Quandt managed the investments in AFA/VARTA, Daimler-Benz and BMW.

==Personal life==
⚫ Günther Quandt first married Antonie 'Toni' Ewald. They had two sons Helmut Quandt (1908–1927) and ]. Antonie died of the Spanish flu in 1918 and Helmut died of complications from appendicitis in 1927.

⚫ His second marriage on 4 January 1921 in ] to ] produced another son, ]. Magda was half Günther's age. The marriage ended in divorce in 1929. Two years later Magda married ] with Adolf Hitler as best man.

==See also==
*] (1910–1982), son of Günther, regarded as having saved BMW
**] (1926–2015), Herbert's wife
***] (born 1966), son of Herbert and Johanna
***] (born 1962), daughter of Herbert and Johanna
**] (born 1937), daughter of Herbert
*] (1921–1967), son of Günther, a German industrialist

⚫ == References ==
⚫ {{reflist|2}}


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last= de Jong |first= David |title= Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties |publisher= Mariner Books |location= Boston |date= 2022 |type= Hardback |isbn= 9781328497888}}
* Rüdiger Jungbluth: Die Quandts: Ihr leiser Aufstieg zur mächtigsten Wirtschaftsdynastie Deutschlands. Campus 2002 (ISBN 3593369400) *{{cite book |last= Jungbluth |first= Rüdiger|title= Die Quandts: Ihr leiser Aufstieg zur mächtigsten Wirtschaftsdynastie Deutschlands |publisher= Campus Sachbuch |location= Frankfurt am Main |date= 2002 |type= Hardback |language= de |isbn=9783593369402}}


{{Authority control}}
⚫ ==References==
⚫ {{reflist}}


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Latest revision as of 09:42, 30 November 2024

German businessman
Günther Quandt
Quandt in 1941
Born(1881-07-28)28 July 1881
Pritzwalk, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died30 December 1954(1954-12-30) (aged 73)
Cairo, Republic of Egypt
Spouses
Antonie Ewald ​ ​(m. 1913; died 1918)​
Magda Ritschel ​ ​(m. 1921; div. 1929)​
Children3, including Herbert and Harald

Günther Quandt (28 July 1881 – 30 December 1954) was a German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes BMW and Altana, a car and chemical company, respectively. Between 1921 and 1929, he was married to Magda Ritschel, later the wife of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. In the 1930s he joined the Nazi Party, becoming one of its strong financial supporters.

His descendants were ranked as the wealthiest Germans by Manager Magazin in 2014.

Early life

He was born in Pritzwalk in Germany, the son of Emil Quandt (1849–1925). Emil had married in 1883 the daughter of a rich textile manufacturer (Reichswolle AG) and he took charge of the company in 1900. He had three siblings: Gerhard, Werner and a younger sister named Edith. Werner married Eleanor Quandt, who after the Second World War helped to protect her brother-in-law, Günther, from prosecution by the Allies. Günther's sister Edith married the owner of another textile company.

During World War I, under the leadership of Günther Quandt, his family supplied uniforms to the German army, which helped them accumulate a large fortune. After the war, Günther used this fortune to acquire Accumulatorenfabrik AG (AFA), a battery manufacturer based in Hagen. AFA later became known as VARTA. Additionally, Günther invested in a potash-mining company, metal-working companies (including IWKA), and acquired stakes in BMW and Daimler-Benz.

The Nazi period

After Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933, Quandt joined the Nazi Party, becoming one of Hiltler’s strong financial supporters. In 1937, Hitler gave him the title of a Wehrwirtschaftsführer, (Leader in the Military Economy), like other industrialists who played a leading role in the war economy. Quandt's businesses supplied ammunition, rifles, artillery and batteries, using slave labourers from concentration camps in at least three factories. 80% of these labourers, numbering in the tens of thousands, died. An execution area was set up in the grounds of AFA's Hanover factory. Quandt also appropriated factories throughout Europe after German invasions.

At the end of World War II, the US Senate held hearings on the operations of the German economy during the war. They found that Quandt was an important director in German industry, with several interlocking companies, syndicates and corporations. He had interest in such areas as insurance, banking, automobiles, ammunition, textiles, electricity, batteries and other areas. They also found out about his Wehrwirtschaftsführer title.

The Hanns-Joachim-Friedrichs-Award winning documentary film The Silence of the Quandts by the German public broadcaster ARD described in October 2007 the role of the Quandt family businesses during the Second World War. The family's political past was not well known, but the documentary film revealed this to a wide audience and confronted the Quandts about the use of slave labourers in the family's factories during World War II. As a result, five days after the showing, four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian will examine the family's activities during Hitler's dictatorship. The independent 1,200-page study that was released in 2011 concluded: "The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis", stated by Joachim Scholtyseck, the Bonn historian who compiled and researched the study. As of 2008, no compensation, apology or even memorial at the site of one of their factories have been permitted. BMW was not implicated in the report.

After the war

In 1946, Quandt was arrested because of the Goebbels connection, and interned. To the surprise of many, he was judged to be a Mitläufer (fellow traveller), namely someone who accepted the National Socialist ideology but did not take an active part in crimes. In January 1948, Quandt was released without charge.

One of the prosecutors in the Nuremberg trials, Benjamin Ferencz, now says that if today's evidence against Quandt had been presented to the court at the time, "Quandt would have been charged with the same offences as the directors of IG Farben." The directors served up to eight years in jail. Instead Quandt was able to re-install himself in the supervisory boards of various German firms, e.g. Deutsche Bank. He also became honorary citizen of the University in Frankfurt in 1951. He died on vacation in Cairo on 30 December 1954.

His two surviving sons, Herbert and Harald, administered their inheritance together, though Harald Quandt concentrated on the industrial plants Karlsruhe Augsburg AG (IWKA) which were involved in mechanical engineering and arms manufacture, while Herbert Quandt managed the investments in AFA/VARTA, Daimler-Benz and BMW.

Personal life

Günther Quandt first married Antonie 'Toni' Ewald. They had two sons Helmut Quandt (1908–1927) and Herbert Quandt. Antonie died of the Spanish flu in 1918 and Helmut died of complications from appendicitis in 1927.

His second marriage on 4 January 1921 in Bad Godesberg to Magda Ritschel produced another son, Harald Quandt. Magda was half Günther's age. The marriage ended in divorce in 1929. Two years later Magda married Joseph Goebbels with Adolf Hitler as best man.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Varta Battery Factories".
  2. "Platz 1 - Stefan Quandt, Johanna Quandt und Susanne Klatten (BMW, Altana, Delton, SGL Carbon) - manager magazin". manager magazin. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. "BMW family shoots to top of German rich list". 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  4. English summary of TV programme transmitted by ARD in October 2007
  5. The Silence of the Quandts (English subtitles, German narration) on YouTube
  6. ^ Emma Bode and Brigitte Fehlau (November 29, 2008). "The Silence of the Quandts: The history of a wealthy German family. A documentary film by Eric Friedler and Barbara Siebert". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  7. ^ Paterson, Tony (29 September 2011). "BMW dynasty breaks silence on its Nazi past". The Independent. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  8. Bonstein, Julia (December 10, 2007), "Breaking the Silence: BMW's Quandt Family to Investigate Wealth Amassed in Third Reich", Der Spiegel

Further reading

  • de Jong, David (2022). Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties (Hardback). Boston: Mariner Books. ISBN 9781328497888.
  • Jungbluth, Rüdiger (2002). Die Quandts: Ihr leiser Aufstieg zur mächtigsten Wirtschaftsdynastie Deutschlands (Hardback) (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Sachbuch. ISBN 9783593369402.
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