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Fritz ThyssenFritz Thyssen (November 9 1873 - February 8 1951) was a German industrialist associated with the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler. He was the son and heir of August Thyssen, owner of an empire of factories. During World War I the Thyssens were producing armament and ammunitions for the German army. Being a member of the DNVP, he started to support the NSDAP. By 1926, when Fritz inherited the empire, they controlled two thirds of Germanys ore supplies. In 1930 he became the major financial supporter of the Nazi Party. Together with other industrials they bought the "Braunes Haus" in Munich. They also started a campaign to encourage other industrialists to work with the NSDAP. In 1930, first May, he officially becomes a member of the NSDAP. He was also an ideological supporter, since he backed repression against trade unions and left-wing parties. However, he was in strong disagreement with the religious persecutions of Jews. One of his strongest motivation to join the NSDAP was likely his dislike for the Treaty of Versailles. Following the Kristallnacht, Thyssen resigned from all his political offices and fled to Switzerland and then to France. Hitler confiscated all his property and demanded his capture. The Vichy government of occupied France promptly obeyed and Thyssen was sent to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen. He however was not treated like a "common prisoner" there. He was also reported to have attended an August 10, 1944 "secret meeting of top German industrialists and bankers" held "at the Maison Rouge hotel in Strasbourg to devise a means of insuring a secure future for Nazis. Among those attending were coal tycoon Emil Kirdorf, Georg von Schnitzler of IG Farben, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, steel magnate, Fritz Thyssen, and banker Kurt von Schroeder." If Thyssen attended this meeting before he had been freed this then this raises some questions as to his real status in Nazi Germany. In any case he was part of a privileged meeting of Germany's industrial elite in which they made plans about how best to accomodate to the now approaching defeat. Thyssen was "freed" in 1945 but shortly afterwards arrested and convicted for being a former member of the Nazi Party. The "conviction" was however not a very harsh one, allowing him to regain financial power quickly. He lost about 15% of his property to war victims. He died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/odessa.html Thyssen, Fritz Thyssen, Fritz
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