Emil Kirdorf
Encyclopedia
Emil Kirdorf was a German
industrialist, one of the first important employers in the Ruhr
industrial sectors. He was personally awarded by Adolf Hitler
the Order of the German Eagle
, Nazi Germany
's highest distinctions, on his 90th birthday in 1937, for his support to the Nazi Party in the late 1920s.
, near Düsseldorf
. His father was a wealthy owner of a weaving
mill. He had a brother named Adolf who would be his business partner during his adult life. Kirdorf volunteered a year in 1864 in Hamburg
to work in an export enterprise. A year later, he worked in a textile company in Krefeld
. The family's mill went bankrupt, mainly because of the management
's refusal to introduce mechanical loom
s. Kirdorf therefore changed to mining industry in which he worked as an accountant
. Following the Franco-Prussian War
, he became director of Zeche Holland in 1871. Two years later, the entrepreneur Friedrich Grillo
offered him the position of commercial director in the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) company. He became general manager of GBAG in 1893. He steered the company through the Long Depression
of the 1870s, and held this position until 1926.
Under his direction, the GBAG became the largest coal mines European enterprise, and Emil Kirdorf became known as the "Chimney Baron" (Schlotbarons). Hansa
, Zollern
and Germania
companies were integrated to GBAG under Kirdorf's leadership. Kirdorf then was one of the main founder of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Kohlen-Syndikat employers union in 1893, member of its board of directors until 1913. 98 mine enterprises of the Ruhr belonged to this union, which tried, among others aims, to prevent dumping
.
Kirdorf was also one of the founding member of the pangermanist Alldeutscher Verband league in 1891, which advocated imperialist policies. He was also a founding member of the Freie Ukraine (Free Ukraine) association, of the Kolonialverein (founded in 1882) and of the Flottenverein, a lobby in favour of extension of the Kaiserliche Marine
against the British Navy.
After World War I
, he was a co-founder of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung zur Förderung der geistigen Wiederaufbaukräfte (Trade Association for the Promotion of the Mental Reconstruction Forces), which subsided Alfred Hugenberg
's media empire. In September 1918, it required the resignation of the Emperor Wilhelm II
.
The GBAG thereafter concentrated in its coal activities. Kirdorf lost his key-position to Hugo Stinnes
, to which he violently opposed his management policies. Stinnes intended to make of GBAG the base of a German trust
, which was opposed by Kirdorf. After Stinnes' death in 1924, Kirdorf took back his position and entered the executive committee. In 1926, the GBAG formed the Vereinigte Stahlwerke, of which it controlled 15%. Others groups included ThyssenKrupp
(26%) and PhoenixKrupp.
Kirdorf died in Mülheim
in 1938.
for his authoritarian and anti-democratic
views. He rejected the Weimar Republic
and fought the workers' movement and trade union
s. According to his conceptions, the state and the entrepreneurs had to organize social order. Thus, he became an active promoter of Hitler's rise to power
. He met him for the first time on 4 July 1927, and funded the NSDAP. Kirdorf then joined the NSDAP in 1927, but left it the following year, alleging as reason the influence of Gregor Strasser
on the party. On 1 August 1929, he was invited as a guest of to the Nazi Party's Congress in Nuremberg
. Kirdorf joined again the NSDAP in 1934. He mainly supported it in order to divert the working class
from Marxism
. It was also at Kirdorf's instigation that Hitler wrote Der Weg zum Wiederaufstieg in 1927, intended for exclusive distribution to, and consumption by, the leading industrialists of Germany.
On 26 October 1927, 14 industrial employers made a lecture of Hitler in the Kirdorfs' house. Kirdorf then organized, in August 1931, an exchange of views between Hitler and representatives of the steel industry. Joseph Goebbels
noted in his diary, on 15 November 1936, that Hitler had told him about "how he wanted to shoot himself once," because of increasing debts, but that Kirdorf helped him with 100,000 Marks.
Hitler personally awarded to him, on 10 April 1937, date of Kirdorf's 90th birthday, the Order of the German Eagle
, the highest distinction of the Third Reich. He benefitted on 13 July 1938 from a state funeral in Gelsenkirchen
, with Hitler deposing a crown on his coffin.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
industrialist, one of the first important employers in the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
industrial sectors. He was personally awarded by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
the Order of the German Eagle
Order of the German Eagle
The Order of the German Eagle was an award of the German Nazi regime, predominantly to foreign diplomats. The Order was instituted on 1 May 1937 by Adolf Hitler.It ceased to be awarded following the collapse of the Nazi Government at the end of World War II....
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's highest distinctions, on his 90th birthday in 1937, for his support to the Nazi Party in the late 1920s.
Biography
Emil Kirdorf was born at MettmannMettmann
Mettmann is a Rhenish town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district...
, near Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. His father was a wealthy owner of a weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
mill. He had a brother named Adolf who would be his business partner during his adult life. Kirdorf volunteered a year in 1864 in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
to work in an export enterprise. A year later, he worked in a textile company in Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
. The family's mill went bankrupt, mainly because of the management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
's refusal to introduce mechanical loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s. Kirdorf therefore changed to mining industry in which he worked as an accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
. Following the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, he became director of Zeche Holland in 1871. Two years later, the entrepreneur Friedrich Grillo
Friedrich Grillo
Friedrich Grillo was a prominent Essen industrialistBorn the son of an Essen merchant and he took over his father's enterprise, and expande3d the range of trade, becoming an influential businessman* In 1854 he gained a seat on the supervisory board of the Bochum Association* In 1855 he became...
offered him the position of commercial director in the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) company. He became general manager of GBAG in 1893. He steered the company through the Long Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
of the 1870s, and held this position until 1926.
Under his direction, the GBAG became the largest coal mines European enterprise, and Emil Kirdorf became known as the "Chimney Baron" (Schlotbarons). Hansa
Hansa
The Hanseatic League, known as Hansa or Hanse in various Germanic languages, was a 13th–17th century alliance of European trading cities...
, Zollern
Zollern
Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Its ruling dynasty was the House of Hohenzollern, a Swabian noble family first mentioned in 1061. They named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle at the Swabian Alb; its capital was Hechingen...
and Germania
Germania
Germania was the Greek and Roman geographical term for the geographical regions inhabited by mainly by peoples considered to be Germani. It was most often used to refer especially to the east of the Rhine and north of the Danube...
companies were integrated to GBAG under Kirdorf's leadership. Kirdorf then was one of the main founder of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Kohlen-Syndikat employers union in 1893, member of its board of directors until 1913. 98 mine enterprises of the Ruhr belonged to this union, which tried, among others aims, to prevent dumping
Dumping
Dumping may refer to a subject......in computing:*Recording the contents of memory after application or operating system failure, or by operator request, in a core dump for use in subsequent problem analysis.*Recording a file or medium as a backup....
.
Kirdorf was also one of the founding member of the pangermanist Alldeutscher Verband league in 1891, which advocated imperialist policies. He was also a founding member of the Freie Ukraine (Free Ukraine) association, of the Kolonialverein (founded in 1882) and of the Flottenverein, a lobby in favour of extension of the Kaiserliche Marine
Kaiserliche Marine
The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...
against the British Navy.
After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was a co-founder of the Wirtschaftsvereinigung zur Förderung der geistigen Wiederaufbaukräfte (Trade Association for the Promotion of the Mental Reconstruction Forces), which subsided Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg was an influential German businessman and politician. Hugenberg, a leading figure within nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, became the country's leading media proprietor within the inter-war period...
's media empire. In September 1918, it required the resignation of the Emperor Wilhelm II
William II, German Emperor
Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...
.
The GBAG thereafter concentrated in its coal activities. Kirdorf lost his key-position to Hugo Stinnes
Hugo Stinnes
-Life and career:Stinnes was born in Mülheim, in the Ruhr Valley, North German Confederation. His father was also named Hugo, and his grandfather Matthias Stinnes had founded a modest enterprise in Mülheim....
, to which he violently opposed his management policies. Stinnes intended to make of GBAG the base of a German trust
Trust company
A trust company is a corporation, especially a commercial bank, organized to perform the fiduciary of trusts and agencies. It is normally owned by one of three types of structures: an independent partnership, a bank, or a law firm, each of which specializes in being a trustee of various kinds of...
, which was opposed by Kirdorf. After Stinnes' death in 1924, Kirdorf took back his position and entered the executive committee. In 1926, the GBAG formed the Vereinigte Stahlwerke, of which it controlled 15%. Others groups included ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG is a German multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Duisburg Essen, Germany. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. While ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers, the company also provides components and systems for the automotive...
(26%) and PhoenixKrupp.
Kirdorf died in Mülheim
Mülheim
Mülheim an der Ruhr, also called "City on the River", is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen...
in 1938.
Role during Nazi Germany
Kirdorf was well-known as a reactionaryReactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
for his authoritarian and anti-democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
views. He rejected the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and fought the workers' movement and trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s. According to his conceptions, the state and the entrepreneurs had to organize social order. Thus, he became an active promoter of Hitler's rise to power
Hitler's rise to power
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in Germany in September 1919 when Hitler joined the political party that was known as the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei . This political party was formed and developed during the post-World War I era...
. He met him for the first time on 4 July 1927, and funded the NSDAP. Kirdorf then joined the NSDAP in 1927, but left it the following year, alleging as reason the influence of Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser was a politician of the National Socialist German Workers Party...
on the party. On 1 August 1929, he was invited as a guest of to the Nazi Party's Congress in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. Kirdorf joined again the NSDAP in 1934. He mainly supported it in order to divert the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
from Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. It was also at Kirdorf's instigation that Hitler wrote Der Weg zum Wiederaufstieg in 1927, intended for exclusive distribution to, and consumption by, the leading industrialists of Germany.
On 26 October 1927, 14 industrial employers made a lecture of Hitler in the Kirdorfs' house. Kirdorf then organized, in August 1931, an exchange of views between Hitler and representatives of the steel industry. Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
noted in his diary, on 15 November 1936, that Hitler had told him about "how he wanted to shoot himself once," because of increasing debts, but that Kirdorf helped him with 100,000 Marks.
Hitler personally awarded to him, on 10 April 1937, date of Kirdorf's 90th birthday, the Order of the German Eagle
Order of the German Eagle
The Order of the German Eagle was an award of the German Nazi regime, predominantly to foreign diplomats. The Order was instituted on 1 May 1937 by Adolf Hitler.It ceased to be awarded following the collapse of the Nazi Government at the end of World War II....
, the highest distinction of the Third Reich. He benefitted on 13 July 1938 from a state funeral in Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
, with Hitler deposing a crown on his coffin.
External links
- Emil Kirdorf
- article on the website of the Route der Industriekultur