Hugenberg, Alfred (äl`frĕt h

`gənbĕrkh), 1865–1951, German financier and politician. He was president of the directorate of the Krupp firm (1909–18), entered the Reichstag in 1919, and was chairman (1928–33) of the conservative German Nationalist party. Control of the Hugenberg combine, a media and finance conglomerate, enabled him to mount a powerful propaganda campaign against Communists, socialists, and the Versailles Treaty. He was a major financial backer of the Nazis, hoping to control them, and a member of Hitler's first cabinet (1933), but he resigned after six months. His party was dissolved, and his combine gradually absorbed by the Nazi state.

Hugenberg, Alfred

(born June 19, 1865, Hannover, Hannover—died March 12, 1951, Kükenbruch, W.Ger.) German industrialist and political leader. As chairman of the Krupp family's industrial concern (1909–18), he built a huge newspaper and film empire and greatly influenced German public opinion during the Weimar Republic. As head of the conservative German National People's Party (from 1928), he contributed to Adolf Hitler's rise to power. In 1931 he formed an alliance of nationalist and conservative elements to topple the Weimar government; though his effort failed, large contributions from German industrialists aided the Nazi Party's growth. In 1933 he briefly served in Hitler's cabinet, but his party was dissolved that same year.