ThyssenKrupp AG

ThyssenKrupp AG

German steel company. The Krupp firm began in 1811 when Friedrich Krupp (1787–1826) founded a steel plant in Essen, and it remained in family hands for a century and a half. Known for its high-quality steel and its cannons and other armaments, Krupp prospered with the rise of the German navy. It enjoyed a monopoly on arms manufacturing during World War I; one of its most potent weapons was “Big Bertha.” After the war, Germany was forbidden to manufacture arms, and parts of the Krupp works were dismantled, though it remained a vast industrial empire. Krupp's factories were central to Germany's illegal rearmament under Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. After World War II, Alfried Krupp (1907–67) was convicted of war crimes for using slave labour and ordered to forfeit all his property, but with the outbreak of the Korean War he was granted amnesty and his property restored. In 1968, after his son renounced the Krupp name and fortune, the company went public. In 1992 it merged with Hoesch AG to become Fried Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp. Thyssen AG originated as a rolling mill founded by August Thyssen (1842–1926). It merged with seven other steelworks to become Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, but reassumed its own identity in 1953. After the steel divisions of the rival companies were joined in 1997 to form Thyssen Krupp Stahl, the remaining segments of each company merged in 1999, creating ThyssenKrupp AG. Its products include steel, construction and automotive components, elevators, and engineering services.