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Alfried Krupp's private life is far removed from the pomp and circumstance of his position. A lonely man who has few personal friends, does not attend any church, he long ago moved out of Villa Hügel now lives alone in his 15-room house near by. His first marriage to once-divorced Anneliese Bahr, daughter of a prominent manufacturer, ended after four years in 1941, when his father, who had opposed the marriage, threatened to disinherit him. The son by the marriage, Arndt, 19, is studying in Switzerland, is expected to succeed his father as head of Krupp (though Alfried can designate any Krupp he wishes). After his release from prison, Alfried married thrice-divorced Vera von Hossenfeldt, a longtime friend who had lived in the U.S. during the war. Vera described Alfried as "the only man I ever loved," but she divorced him four years later and returned to the U.S., where she now lives on a 400,000-acre ranch in Nevada.
Aside from sports cars (he has two) and photography, Krupp's chief recreation is his 66-ft. schooner Germania V, on which he cruises for one or two months a year. Krupp also likes to play skat—at one-tenth of a pfennig a point.
Big Gamble. Alfried Krupp's big gamble is one that he hopes will win him reunification of his divided empire. Though the five-year term for selling his separated properties is up next March, he has shown little hurry to sell, has so far disposed of only two coal mines. If sales on "reasonable terms" cannot be made in time (and no German firm would interfere in Krupp's personal problem by bidding on the properties), regulations permit Krupp one-year extensions. Alfried Krupp would rather not take advantage of this temporary escape clause; instead, he is hoping that the Allies will annul the sales agreement and leave Krupp with all its empire. For three years, General Manager Beitz, who chafes at Alfried's moderate approach, has been badgering Bonn officials, nagged the U.S. State Department, wheedled British officialdom in hope of having the Mehlen Accord canceled. Last February Chancellor Adenauer finally wrote to the British, French and Americans asking for its reconsideration. So far, there has been no formal response, and the U.S. State Department is not sympathetic to a change in the accord now.
Alfried Krupp is confident that the climate will change; he has already seen the extent to which the cold war has softened earlier attitudes against German industrial concentration. In many cases, deconcentration has been allowed to become only a paper fiction; e.g., Friedrich Flick's steel combine "sold" one steel mill to Flick's sons. Though Krupp keeps a close watch on his separated assets (Beitz sometimes calls the companies' managers in for reports), he has made no big move toward secret reconcentration. Alfried Krupp could legally sell his coal and steel holdings in Germany and invest the proceeds of the sale in plants just across the border in France or Luxembourg. But he refuses to take the loophole. Says he: "We have a moral obligation, and I will not look for escapes."