Life and career

Stinnes was born 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 the Ruhr Valley, North German Confederation

North German Confederation

The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...

. His father was also named Hugo, and his grandfather Matthias Stinnes had founded a modest enterprise in Mülheim.

After passing his leaving examination from a Realschule

Realschule

The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...

, young Stinnes was placed in an office at Koblenz

Koblenz

Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...

 where he got a business training. In order to get a practical knowledge of mining, he worked for a few months as a miner at the Wiethe colliery. Then, in 1889, he attended a course of instruction at the Academy of Mining in Berlin (in 1916 merged into the Berlin Institute of Technology). In 1890, he inherited his father's coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 and other financial enterprises.

Gradually, from dealing in coal, he became himself the owner of several mines and extended his business to the manufacture of different kinds of fuel such as briquettes. He also began to purchase sea-going vessels as well as river steamers and barges, the latter, especially on the Rhine, on a constantly increasing scale. He next organized an extensive international business in coal, and had 13 steamers trading to and from North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Sea ports. They carried coal, wood and grain, and also iron ore, Stinnes having, at the age of 23, heavily invested in the steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 industry. He also imported great quantities of English coal and had an agency at Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

 as well as an interest in some English mines. This led to his establishing branches of his business at 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...

 and at Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

.

Before 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 the possessor of a significant fortune which was vaguely estimated at several millions of pounds. He was a director of many of the largest industrial and mining companies of Westphalia

Westphalia

Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...

, the Rhineland

Rhineland

Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

 and Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

. Business interests of this magnitude were constantly expanding, and he became interested in numerous subsidiary enterprises, such as tramways and the supply of electric power and light. He was always engaged in founding new companies or amalgamating existing ones. Stinnes managed to maintain an extensive and even a detailed knowledge of the working of all the companies in which he was engaged, and in all of them to exact zealous and conscientious work from his business subordinates. The secret of his success was vertical integration

Vertical integration

In microeconomics and management, the term vertical integration describes a style of management control. Vertically integrated companies in a supply chain are united through a common owner. Usually each member of the supply chain produces a different product or service, and the products combine to...

 and an essential unity of direction and coordination of aims in all branches of his enterprises.

When World War I broke out, Stinnes secured an enormous share in the war profits which flowed into the coffers of the great industrialists. In enemy countries, his enterprises were sequestrated, and his firm at Rotterdam placed on the Allies' “black list,” but he was richly compensated, apart from the regular indemnification paid by the German government, when he was called in by Erich Ludendorff

Erich Ludendorff

Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg...

 as the most competent expert to give advice, to organize the coal and the industrial production of occupied Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and to help to set in motion the gigantic production of war material which the German general headquarters demanded.

During the war, Stinnes extended his activities in Hamburg, and in 1916 bought up the Woermann and the East African steamship lines. In these fresh undertakings, he became associated with the two greatest German shipping companies, the Hamburg-American Line and the North German Lloyd. His Hamburg interests continued from that date onwards to multiply in something like geometrical progression. He purchased half a dozen landed estates in Saxony to supply timber for pit props. At Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

 in Schleswig

Schleswig

Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...

, he secured control of the largest Baltic

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 shipping concern, and proceeded to build a new fleet of ships, christening one of them the “Hindenburg.”

Stinnes connexion with Ludendorff led to his becoming an influence behind the scenes in German politics. A prominent capitalist

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

 and conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

, he became a founding member of the Deutsche Volkspartei (German People's Party

German People's Party

The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...

 or DVP), the new electioneering name of the former National Liberal Party. In June 1920, after the German Revolution

German Revolution

The German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...

, Stinnes was elected to the Reichstag

Reichstag (Weimar Republic)

The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...

. He acted as spokesman for German industry towards 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 and laid the foundation of today's system of cooperation between the unions and employers in Germany, for example, the introduction of the 8-hour work day.

About the time of his election to the Reichstag, Stinnes began to buy up leading German newspapers, one of his main objects being to organize a solid and powerful bloc of opinion in Germany in support of law and order

Law and order (politics)

In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...

 and the promotion of the highest industrial and commercial efficiency

Efficiency

Efficiency in general describes the extent to which time or effort is well used for the intended task or purpose. It is often used with the specific purpose of relaying the capability of a specific application of effort to produce a specific outcome effectively with a minimum amount or quantity of...

. His newspaper purchases included the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung

Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung was a German newspaper that appeared between 1861 and 1945. It was associated with the Stinnes family, and supported right wing nationalist politics in the Weimar period, arguably contributing to the rise of Nazism.Hugo Stinnes took over the DAZ in 1920 in an effort to...

in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, formerly the organ of Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 and then of all succeeding German governments, the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten and the München-Augsburger Zeitung, the latter being one of the oldest newspapers in Germany. Both of the München (Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

) journals were previously exponents of a very much more democratic trend of opinion than that which came to characterize them under their new proprietorship. Ancillary to these acquisitions, Stinnes secured large interests in paper mills in order to make his newspapers independent of the paper market.

By the early 1920s, Stinnes was also using his influence in the press

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 used to attack the Versailles Treaty. Stinnes leveraged his access to hard foreign currency during the period of inflation in the Weimar Republic

Inflation in the Weimar Republic

The hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic was a three year period of hyperinflation in Germany between June 1921 and July 1924.- Analysis :...

 by borrowing vast sums in Reichmarks, and repaying the loans with nearly worthless currency later. This earned him the title of “” (Inflation King). In 1923, the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

 called him “The New Emperor of Germany” to describe his far-reaching political influence and wealth.

In the 1920s, Stinnes was embroiled in a legal dispute with Mayer Wilderman. Wilderman, who had been born in Bessarabia

Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....

 (then part of Russia), had set up a series of chemical factories in Germany in 1912. However, on the outbreak of World War I, Stinnes seized the factories and deprived Wilderman of his assets using the excuse that Wilderman was an 'enemy alien'. Bessarabia became part of Romania in 1918 and Wilderman tried to recover his assets. However, Stinnes stalled by disputing the facts surrounding Wilderman's birth (e.g., accusing Wilderman of forging his birth certificate), and used financial sleight-of-hand to pretend the assets had in fact been dissipated and, therefore, there was nothing that could be restored.

Stinnes died in Berlin as a result of a gall bladder operation. Although his financial empire held some 4500 companies and 3000 manufacturing plants, it collapsed within a year of his death. Parts of his empire continued as Stinnes AG (now DB Mobility Logistics

Deutsche Bahn

Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

) and RWE

RWE

RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...

, the second-largest energy supplier in Germany.

Family

Hugo Stinnes' daughter Clärenore

Clärenore Stinnes

Clärenore Stinnes was a German car racer; she and Swedish cinematographer Carl-Axel Söderström were the first people to circumnavigate the world by automobile....

was the first person to circumnavigate the world with an automobile in 1929.
Hugo's oldest son Edmund Stinnes married into a cultured, upper class German family in Freibourg. His wife was Margianna Von Schulz Gaevertnitz, who's father Gerhard Von Schulz Gaevertnitz was a teacher and close personal friend of the eminent sociologist Max Weber. Johanna, his wife, was an artist who played the piano with Brahms, her mother Bertha Hirsch was kneown as Frau Kultur and opened the first public library in Germany. Some of her friends included Schiller and Goethe who have her a personal handwritten versions of his work. Edmund and Margiana had two daughters.