Business Topic- Krupp Family

-I decided to expand on the Krupp Family and their impact on Germany and German business in the the 18th, 19th, and 20th century

-Beginning of family

•  First historical record of the family appearing in 1578 when Ardnt Krupp joined the merchants guild in Essen
• Ardnt died in 1624, his son Anton took over
• Began a gunsmithing operation, first instance of the families arms producing legacy
• Over the next century family kept acquiring property
• During the mid 18th century Friedrich Jodocus Krupp headed the family, married Helene Ascherfeld
• Jodocus died 6 years later, left business to his widow (first time in the family) she continued acquiring property, acquiring a filling mill, shares in 4 local mines and an iron forge.

-Friedrich Krupp

• Begin his career at 19 when his mother appointed him manager of the forge
• Inherited everything when his mother died
• Wanted discover secrets of cast steel
• Found Krupp Gusstahlfabrik in 1811, built a mill and foundry to power the facility on the Ruhr River
• Able to produce smelted steel in 1816
• Died Oct. 8 1826 in Essen

-Alfred Krupp

• Began working at 14 and quite school
• 1841 patented the spoon roller which gave him enough money to enlarge the factory
• began working on his first cast steel cannon in 1847 and in 1855 showed off his best cannon yet causing excitement in the engineering world and making factory famous
• In 1851 began selling railroad tyres which become the company's primary source of revenue
• Sold his first cannons to Prussia, after that continued expanding buying Spanish mines and Dutch shipping, making it the biggest company in Europe
• Died in 1887, had 75,000 employees and manufactured 24,576 guns

-Friedrich Alfred Krupp

• Skilled businessman
• 1890 developed nickel steel
• 1982 brought Grunson, became Krupp-Panzer and manufactured armored plate and ship turrets
• Rudolph Diesel brought his engine to him in 1893
• Bought Germaniawerft in 1896, became Germany's main warship builder and built the first U-boat in 1906 

-Gustav Krupp

• 1911 bough Hamm Wireworks and began manufacturing barbed wire. !912 began manufacturing stainless steel
• Was selling 50% of its armaments to Germany and the rest to 52 other nations, the company was now invested worldwide and headquartered in Essen
• led the company through WW1
• After WW1 much of the company was dismantled as part of war reparations.
• Continued selling arms secretly for much of the beginning of  the 20th Century
• Joined with the Nazis and expanded his employees from 35,000 to 112,000 employees

-Alfried Krupp

• Son of Gustav Krupp
• Joined the SS in 1931
• Took over tons of industries in occupied countires
• Used slave labor during the war
• After the war many of Krupps holdings were dismantled
• Eventually seen as vital to Germany's economy, Krupp was re-instituted
• Continued to acquire businesses and by 1959 had over 125,000 employees and was the fourth largest company in Europe and 12th in the world
• Improved public relations and took back the companies taken away from him as well as becoming the richest man in Europe

-After Alfrieds death

• Early in the 70's much of company was bought by the Iranian monarchy
• Restructured as a holding company in 1980's
• 1993 the company became publicly traded for the first time in its history
• In 1999 Krupp and Thyssen fully merged forming ThyssenKrupp AG.
• Company now specializes in steel. capital good and services.

                The topic I chose to write about was business.  It was the only topic we were allowed to choose from but i believe I would have picked it anyway.  The main reason I think i would have picked the topic of business is because I myself am a business major and the topic is quite fascinating to me, especially comparing how business was previously done and how it is now done.  As for the presentations I thought they were quite interesting and I feel that I learned a lot of fun and interesting things.

                 The specific topic of business I chose to expand on was the Krupp family and their business empire that they had created.  The families dynasty began in 1587 when Arndt Krupp began purchasing many properties and becoming one the wealthiest merchants in Essen.  After a couple centuries the family began its steel working roots in 1810 and from there continued purchasing companies, selling different steels as well as beginning to manufacture weapons.  The Krupp company during both WW1 and WW2 were the main sellers of weapons to Germany.  After both wars much of the company's assets were dismantled both times leaving the company to be rebuilt.  Sadly the company did become involved in Nazi crimes during WW2 including using slave labor. By 1959 the comapny was quite huge again.  In 70's much of the company was bought up, became publicly traded in 1993 and in 1993 merged with Thyssen forming ThyssenKrupp AG.  The Krupp's were incredible businessmen and innovators who forged and incredible empire the likes of which few could ever replicate.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp

Previous "specialists"
1.Jacob Mackedanz Jessica Hall jon wegeleben
2. Robert Backes Will Wacholz  
3. Tom louiselle Scott Reid David Colbert

Talking Points

-Unnecessary sacrifice of human life.
-The war caused an entire generation to be lost.
-The difference between the old and young in terms of the war.
-The way we all adapt to war and how some are made for it while other cannot handle it.
-The simpler pleasures that we learn to enjoy when forced into war or things that no longer appeal to us.

20th Century Literature Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FjIFxaMw97RWHXqf4oEqG5OfqLm47-_B-bRpoDipfAo/edit?pli=1#slide=id.p

Main Character Role

Paul Baumer is the narrator of the book, All Quiet On The Western Front. The book is narrated in 1st person and set up to be like a diary of Paul’s experiences during war.

When we start the story, he is a 19-year-old boy just graduated from high school with a mother, father, and older sister. Due to intense pressure from society (namely one of his school teachers), Paul enlists in the German army along with 27 of his other classmates. Paul begins the story with several friends, still a little green around the gills and optimistic about life. Most of the book is filled with Paul’s philosophical thinking, reflecting on the war and what it has done to him and the other men in his platoon. He talks about not only the physical limits he is pushed to, but also the psychological limits he experiences. Paul struggles with trying to keep his sanity while battling in a war he is losing, as well as dealing with the brutal situations which come with trench warfare.

"Just as we turn into animals when we go up to the line . . . so we turn into wags and loafers
when we are resting. . . . We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with
feelings which, though they may be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place
here.” (Chapter 7, All Quiet on the Western Front)

Paul speaks of how the war turned him into an animal during battle, because he could only rely
on his most basic instincts, or else he would surely die.

Paul Baumer is a kind and gentle young man, but because of the war and the pain it
induces, Paul learns how to disconnect his mind from his heart. By doing this, Paul becomes
unable to feel the heartache of his comrades’ deaths, as well as the ability to conjure the idea of
a future without war. The most disheartening thing that Paul loses because of the war was his
capacity to feel at home among his family and town that he once loved so much.



Mackenzie Branch
James Kreiman
Amanda Goedeke
Jake Mueller

Chapter 12 Summary

By Chapter Twelve of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer is disillusioned with his role in life and the role of his life as it used to be. All his adult life he has been entrenched in a war that has basically consumed everything about the world as he knew it and destroyed his perception of what everyone else would see as a normal and functioning society. As seen in the chapter where he visits home, Paul actually misses the battlefield when he is gone. He can no longer function under the normal pressures of society as his body has gotten used to being in high pressure situations all the time.

“Everyone talks of peace and armistice. All wait. If it again proves an illusion, then they will break up; hope is high, it cannot be taken away again without upheaval. If there is not peace, then there will be revolution.” (Chapter 12, All Quiet on the Western Front)

            And even though he’d miss the battlefield, it has grown old. Watching people die and living in constant fear that he could be the next to go.

“It cannot be that it has gone, the yearning that made our blood unquiet, the unknown, the perplexing, the oncoming things, the thousand faces of the future, the melodies from dreams and from books, the whispers and divinations of women; it cannot be that this has vanished in bombardment, in despair, in brothels.” (Chapter 12, All Quiet on the Western Front)

            It is possible though, that he still believes in the innocence of youth. That even though his classmates and other soldiers his age and younger have had to live and die on the battlefield, they still contain traces of the young men that they were. Hope for the future and hope of a future love still being held close to their hearts.

“There are not many of the old hands left. I am the last of the seven fellows from our class.” (Chapter 12, All Quiet on the Western Front)

            He is the last surviving character that was introduced at the beginning of the novel, which makes sense he being the narrator and all. Of course that all changes on the backside of the last page when we learn he died on the quietest day of the year in what is possibly the least descript death of a main character ever. What killed him? A sniper? Too much gas inhalation? A ninja? Maybe even a bee sting? It is unlikely however, that it was as is shown in the movie. There were no birds or drawings involved.

Amanda Goedeke
Mackenzie Branch
James Kreiman
Jake Mueller