Alfred Breuninger

Alfred Breuninger (* 13. May 1884 in Stuttgart , † 21st August 1947 ) was a German retail - entrepreneurs . From 1932 until his death he was chairman of the board , from 1939 also the main shareholder of Breuninger AG and from 1935 to 1945 Stuttgart NSDAP councilor.

Life

Origin and professional career

Alfred Breuninger was the son of the businessman and founder of the Breuninger textile and clothing business, Eduard Breuninger . After attending a secondary school in Stuttgart, he joined his father's business as a commercial apprentice . By attending the weaving school in Reutlingen and spending time in German and French wool and cotton weaving mills, he expanded his knowledge. After taking part in the First World War as a private, he took over the buying and selling of the wholesale department in his father's company, which was converted into a stock corporation in 1916 . After the death of his father in 1932, he became chairman of the board, while his mother, Lydia, remained the main shareholder.

time of the nationalsocialism

According to his own statements, Breuninger had elected the NSDAP in the Reichstag election in March 1933 and joined the party on May 1, 1933 ( membership number 3.224.757) because, according to Breuninger in 1946, “he did not shut himself off from further economic advancement wanted to". He also became a member of the German Labor Front (DAF), the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV), the NS-Altherrenbundes (NSAHB), the Association for Germanism Abroad (VDA), the NS-Reichskriegerbundes and the Reichskolonialbundes . His Adolf Hitler donation was already over 11,000 Reichsmarks in 1933 and increased in the following years. He made large financial donations to the German Foreign Institute , which, according to the historian Roland Maier, "supported ethnic resettlements and worked towards the war of annihilation in the east through ethnicity research and maps ".

In 1935 Breuninger was appointed councilor of the Stuttgart municipal council by the Stuttgart NSDAP district leader Adolf Mauer . Breuninger's appeal was displeased to old party comrades because in 1933 he had taken legal action against the assessment of his company to pay department store tax and had triumphed against the NS city administration before the administrative court. In addition to his function as councilor, he sat on the city's administrative advisory board and became an employee of the “Main Office for Economics and Taxes” in the district office for local politics. Breuninger's influence grew and there was considerable economic progress, especially in the period from 1933 to 1939. Alfred Breuninger's taxable annual income had more than quadrupled from 89,000 Reichsmarks in 1932 to 392,000 Reichsmarks in 1939, while the company's turnover rose from 21 to 31 million Reichsmarks in the same period. In 1935 Breuninger became a member of the Supervisory Board of Württembergische Bank .

At the end of 1937, he acquired the residential and commercial building in Stuttgart, Marktplatz 16, which the Jewish owners Josef Grünberg and Arthur Hirschfeld had leased to Breuninger since 1928. The Schaarschmidt manufactured goods store, including inventory and staff, was taken over. A right of first refusal had been agreed with the two Jewish owners, but the originally planned purchase price was clearly undercut. The historian Roland Maier comments on this process: "Although the distress and persecution of the Jewish citizens and the Aryanization of their property were known, the Breuninger company found nothing wrong with the legal transaction." enforce the blackout exercise scheduled for December 1937 so as not to disrupt the Christmas business.

After the death of his mother Lydia in 1939, Alfred Breuninger became the main shareholder in addition to his role as CEO. When the war began, the Wehrmacht gave him orders to manufacture uniform parts. In addition, from 1942, his company operated a distribution center for the clothing of foreign forced laborers . Breuninger AG itself employed forced laborers and, from 1943, carried out supply work that was essential for armament for the Zeiss Ikon company . Despite a decline in the number of employees and sales during the Second World War , Breuninger had "extraordinary successes in his business during the twelve years of the National Socialist dictatorship".

post war period

After the Second World War, denazification proceedings were initiated against Alfred Breuninger , in which numerous business partners confirmed his “personal integrity”. The proceedings were discontinued due to Breuninger's death on August 21, 1947. A legal dispute over the restitution of the Marktplatz 16 commercial building to the heirs of the previous Jewish owners ended with a settlement three years after the death of Alfred Breuninger . The heirs had asserted that the office building had been forced to sell at a bargain price of 700,000 Reichsmarks, while the actual value was more than double. The Breuninger AG set the benefit lower and also claimed that the building was burned out in an air raid in 1944. The settlement made in 1950 meant that Breuninger AG was able to keep the house in return for an additional payment of DM 360,000 to the heirs.

literature

• Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. Nazi councilor and beneficiary of the Nazi regime. In: Hermann G. Abmayer (ed.): Stuttgart Nazi perpetrators. From fellow travelers to mass murderers. 2nd edition, Schmetterling Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-89657-136-6 , pp. 291-295.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 291.
2. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 291 f.
3. ↑ Roland Müller: Stuttgart at the time of National Socialism. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8062-0541-8 , p. 196 and p. 214. (Dissertation, University of Stuttgart, 1987)
4. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 292 f.
5. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 292 f.
6. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 293 f.
7. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 294.
8. ↑ Roland Müller: Stuttgart at the time of National Socialism. Stuttgart 1988, p. 319.
9. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 291 and p. 294.
10. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 294 f.
11. ^ Roland Maier: Alfred Breuninger. P. 295.