KRUPPS OF ESSEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 116, 18 May 1944, Page 4

KRUPPS OF ESSEN

RECENT GERMAN DECREE Germany's leading armament combine, th» Friedrich Krupp A.G., of Essen, was transformed at the end of last year from a public company to a family concern. This has been achieved by special Governmental decree, and the reason given officially'is that the "firm has rendered outstanding, and in its own way unique, services to the defensive power of the German nation." Under the new arrangement, special regulations are to govern the succession, and the owner of the enterprise is fully liable with all his private capital for all business transacted by the firm during this period of ownership. "It is certainly not without special reasons that the transformation of the leading German armament concern should have been decided on and carried out just at the time^when military events have clearly begun to foreshadow Germany's defeat," the "Statist" comments. The journal recalls that all Nazi Party officials, or those holding Government posts to which they have been appointed by the party, are forbidden to take part yi the management of any business undertaking. This is attributed to the hope that industry in the hands of industrialists instead of Nazi leaders might escape seizure or expropriation in the event of German military defeat. It is regarded as the attempt supported by, the army and the General Staff to preserve for the future the most vital cell of German armament production.