(7 of 10)
Orderly & Properly. There was nothing in Alfried Krupp's sheltered life to prepare him for this ordeal. The first of Gustav's and Bertha's eight children, he grew up in an atmosphere suggestive of Novelist Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. Kaiser Wilhelm II was his godfather. Young Alfried's world centered around Villa Hugel, which was not only a well-regulated German household to its inhabitants but the focus of social life for the Ruhr. The children saw little of their parents or other children, spent most of their time in the care of teachers and servants. Once a day, from exactly 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.. they were summoned to play with father—whether they wanted to or not. "We never fought nor laughed loud nor shouted.'' says Krupp. "Everything had to be orderly and properly done.''
Alfried was ten when he first went through a Krupp steel plant. At 17 he graduated with high grades from the nearby Bredeney Realgymnasium, a month later started work as an apprentice at the Krupp works in Essen. He had to leave Villa Hügel on his motor bike at 6 a.m. to get to the shop in time, once had his name put up on the plant's "lazy list" for being late. After his father decided that he should study steelmaking, he was shipped off to the Munich Polytechnikum —his first departure from home—later finished up at Aachen, Germany's toughest technical college. In 1936 he entered the firm as a deputy director and in 1938, according to Nurnberg trial records, joined the Nazi Party. That same year he entered Krupp's artillery-construction division, where he directed the design, sale and development of weapons until 1943, flying throughout Europe to inspect plants in Nazi-occupied territory.
Kruppianer Spirit. Krupp was confident from the first that his prison sentence would be reduced. In 1951. having made an investigation of Krupp's war guilt. U.S. High Commissioner for Germany John J. McCloy commuted the sentences of Alfried and his directors to time already served. Said Lawyer McCloy: "I can find no personal guilt in Defendant Krupp, based upon the charges in this case, sufficient to distinguish him above all others sentenced by the Nurnberg courts." He therefore ordered Krupp's property returned to him though Krupp later had to sign the Mehlen Accord which split up his empire. On a foggy February morning, after six years in prison, Krupp walked forth from Landsberg prison, went off with brother Berthold to a champagne breakfast in a nearby hotel. Said he to correspondents: "I hope it will never be necessary to produce arms again."
He began rebuilding the Krupp empire as soon as he was permitted to return to his Essen headquarters. To finance the comeback, he dug out the firm's accumulated deposits from still-existing bank accounts, borrowed upwards of $17 million from commercial banks, used the $2,600,000 that he (and each of his brothers and sisters) got from the Allied sale of Krupp properties. With the help of this capital and generous tax write-offs from the West German government, Krupp had spent some $40 million in plant rebuilding by 1955. Since 1954, the firm has been making a profit.