Quandt (family)

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Quandt is the name of a German family of industrialists. The Quandts, who are known to be public shy, took the top spot on the list of the 500 richest Germans in 2014 with € 31 billion . The foundations of today's wealth were created before the Second World War and especially during the period of the Third Reich . After the Second World War, Herbert Quandt's involvement in the restructuring of the automobile manufacturer BMW in the early 1960s contributed to the increase in wealth. A substantial part of Quandt's fortune today consists in the stake in BMW. The success of the pharmaceutical company Altana has also contributed to the current wealth of the family .

The ancestors of the Quandts, who came from Holland , settled in Pritzwalk in Brandenburg around 1700 . In the course of the industrial revolution , numerous weaving mills emerged in the Mark Brandenburg . Emil Quandt (1849–1925) took over the cloth manufacture of his former employer in 1883 and produced, among other things, uniforms for the army. Günther Quandt (1881–1954) expanded the company holdings during the First World War and during the Weimar period and created one of the largest corporate assets of the time. During the time of National Socialism , Günther Quandt increased and increased the family property partly at the expense of concentration camp prisoners and illegally dispossessed, mostly Jewish competitors, and became a major producer of armaments and industrial goods in the Third Reich. The Quandts benefited from the use of forced labor in their factories during World War II .

Günther Quandt

Günther Quandt (1941)
The partnership agreement of 1883, u. a. with the signature of Emil Quandt, quasi the founding document of the later Quandt group.

Günther Quandt was born in Pritzwalk in 1881. His father, the cloth manufacturer Emil Quandt , had Günther Quandt trained in the textile industry. Günther Quandt then joined his father's company as an authorized signatory . As early as 1909 he was the manager of several cloth factories in his hometown.

When the First World War broke out , Günther Quandt was appointed head of "Reichswolle AG". His group of companies became the main supplier of textiles and leather to the army . After the war he remained a consultant in the Reich Ministry of Economics until 1922 . Quandt made clever use of the contacts he had made in the war economy. From 1922 he became increasingly involved in the potash industry and succeeded in acquiring the majority of shares in Accumulatoren Fabrik Aktiengesellschaft (AFA, later VARTA and BAE ) based in Berlin and Hagen, of which he became General Director. He also gained a foothold in the armaments business: He reorganized Mauserwerke AG and in 1928 took over what was then "Berlin-Karlsruher Industriewerke AG" (the cover name of the armaments production company previously and from 1936 onwards again known as the German arms and ammunition factory) and also built holdings in various other branches of industry in the insurance industry.

After the National Socialist seizure of power and initial difficulties in relation to the new rulers ( parts of the AFA board close to the NSDAP tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Günther Quandt in 1933) Quandt was able to consolidate his position within the German industrial landscape. In 1937 he was appointed military manager. The AFA's accumulators were used in submarines and rockets , among other things, and textile companies supplied uniforms and blankets for the Wehrmacht - as they did in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic . Other Quandt companies made weapons and ammunition.

Competing companies of Jewish owners expropriated by the Nazi state were cheaply taken over by Quandt.

The case of the battery factory '' Société Anonyme des Accumulateurs Tudor '' of the Luxembourg entrepreneur Léon Laval in Florival near Wavre is known in this context . Quandt endeavored to incorporate this work into the AFA. After the conquest of Luxembourg and Belgium by the German occupiers, Quandt tried, with the support of the Gestapo , to force Laval through interrogations to sell his shares to Quandt. After his steadfast refusal, Laval was imprisoned first in Luxembourg and then in Germany until the end of the war.

In 1945 Quandt, who until then had lived on a park-like property in the villa colony of Neubabelsberg on the shores of Lake Griebnitzsee , fled Berlin and settled in Leutstetten on Lake Starnberg . His sons moved into alternative quarters in Hanover in the British zone , where the most important works of the family were located. Just a few weeks after the capitulation in May 1945, AFA was one of the first companies to receive an operating license from the British occupying forces. In 1946 Günther Quandt was arrested by order of the US military government and remained interned for two years. However, the British withheld documents that were incriminating about Günther Quandt's activities in the Third Reich and did not forward them to the American prosecution. Despite initial investigations, no charges were brought against him at the Nuremberg war crimes trials . As part of the denazification , Quandt had to answer before a Starnberg court of rulings because of his role in the expropriation of Léon Laval. Laval had survived the camp detention and appeared as a joint plaintiff in the trial. Despite his involvement in the crimes of the Third Reich, the proceedings ended in 1948 with Quandt being classified as a “ fellow traveler ”. The role of Quandt's armaments company during the war and the use of slave labor were never part of a trial against him. Quandt himself declared that he was "severely persecuted by the National Socialist government for years", which according to the Quandt biographer Rüdiger Jungbluth is to be regarded as absurd; the Arbitration Chamber itself was a "farce".

Günther Quandt's first marriage was to Antonie Ewald, who died of the Spanish flu in 1918 . The two sons Hellmut Quandt (1908–1927) and Herbert Quandt (1910–1982) emerged from this marriage. Between 1921 and 1929 Quandt was married to Magda Ritschel . From this marriage the son Harald (1921-1967) emerged, who grew up in the Goebbels house from 1931 after the divorce in 1929 with his mother and after her marriage to Joseph Goebbels .

Günther Quandt built his son Herbert and his half-brother Harald to become his successors. He placed both in senior positions in the family-controlled businesses. Together with them he led the “Quandt empire” through the family company “AG für Industriebeteiligungen” from Stuttgart . Günther Quandt died on December 30, 1954 while on vacation in Cairo . The capital of the billion dollar Quandt Holding went to his two sons, 50 percent each.

The brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt and their descendants

Harald Quandt (1944)

The sons managed the inheritance jointly, but had agreed to create areas of responsibility: whoever was in charge, made the decisions. Herbert Quandt managed the electrical, vehicle, oil and fertilizer as well as textile areas, Harald Quandt until his death in 1967 the machine and apparatus construction, the light and heavy metal semi-finished product production and other metal processing.

The name Herbert Quandt is closely related to the renovation of the Bayerische Motoren Werke in Munich. The restructuring plan of management and major shareholders for BMW AG , which had got into financial difficulties at the end of the 1950s, provided for a takeover by Daimler-Benz , which was prevented by employees and minor shareholders at the general meeting on December 9, 1959. Herbert Quandt was impressed by this fighting spirit and saw his chance to renovate BMW on his own. With his considerable financial commitment and by securing loans, Herbert Quandt helped the banks to regain confidence in the company. On November 30, 1960, Quandt's restructuring plan was approved at the BMW general meeting in Munich.

Herbert Quandt's son Sven Quandt, born in 1956, was appointed to the Varta supervisory board by his father at the age of 23. The investments held by Herbert Quandt's third wife Johanna Quandt in leading German companies are of great economic importance today . Together with her two children, Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt , she held, among other things, 46.7 percent of the shares in the Bavarian automobile manufacturer BMW. Due to the good sales figures, for example, in 2013 the group paid a dividend of 2.50 euros per common share. The three major shareholders thus received a total of around 703 million euros for this year. In 2012 and 2013, the Quandt trio brought in more than 1.3 billion euros. Parts of the family assets were brought into the Johanna Quandt Foundation , which is dedicated to business and media promotion.

Party donations from the Quandt family

Since 2002, the Quandt family donated around 2 million euros to German parties. The largest part of the donation went to the CDU . The sister party CSU and the FDP also received donations. In October 2009 the CDU received 150,000 euros each from Johanna Quandt, Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten. Most recently, Susanne Klatten, Johanna Quandt and Stefan Quandt donated 230,000 euros each to the CDU on October 9, 2013. During this time, donations totaling 210,000 euros were also made to the FDP. During the same period, the family was able to use gift tax regulations to transfer their share assets from Johanna Quandt to their children. If one regards the party donations from the groups BMW (approx. 3.7 million euros) and Altana (approx. 1.6 million euros) also as donations from the Quandt family, the family is one of the largest individual donors of German political parties.

Entanglement of the family in National Socialist injustice

The NDR documentary The Quandt's Silence from 2007 led to a controversial discussion about the role of the Quandt family during the Nazi era . After the documentary was broadcast, spokesmen for the family stated in October 2007 that the depiction had "moved" them and that the family wanted a historian to review their story and make the results available to the public.

The use of forced labor in the companies that Günther Quandt controlled has been documented in several historical individual studies and has long been known to interested parties. The NDR documentary by Eric Friedler creates a connection to the present by making the thesis that today's Quandt assets are primarily “brown” money.

Sven Quandt , a son of Herbert Quandt by a second marriage, was the only member of the family to answer questions from the film team. He rejected the allegations against the family and demanded that a line should be drawn under the past because further drilling would harm Germany. He refused to share responsibility because he had not yet lived at the time of the Nazi dictatorship.

“We have a huge problem in Germany: that we can never forget. In the family ... and we've talked about the topics often enough ... But we think it's a shame, because it doesn't help Germany much. The more we [...] think about it and everyone is reminded of it, the more one is reminded of it abroad. And we should finally try to forget that. There are very similar things that have happened in other countries, all over the world. Nobody talks about it anymore. "

- Sven Quandt : in The Quandts ' Silence , 2007

Sven Quandt's statement does not reflect the opinion of all family members.

According to the NDR documentary, experts consider the idea that Günther and Herbert Quandt might not have known anything about the criminal exploitation of the forced laborers for the benefit of their companies as absurd. Forced laborers had to work in the battery factories without protective clothing and were exposed to the toxic gases of the heavy metals lead and cadmium , which led to many deaths. The authors refer to an internal calculation by Günther Quandt, which assumed a "fluctuation" of 80 people per month - that is, 80 deaths. From accumulators work of Quandt in Hanover sticks hundreds were unable to work forced laborers from the company's own camp to Gardelegen deported . According to Benjamin Ferencz , who worked for the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials , the Quandts, as well as Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach , Friedrich Flick and those responsible for IG Farben , would have been charged as major war criminals if the documents available today had been available to the prosecutors would have. Günther Quandt managed to evade legal responsibility. With absurd arguments, Quandt presented himself as a victim of the Nazis. Magda Goebbels ' aged sister , who the film team visits in the old people's home, mocked it. "I now only have a fortune of 78 million dollars", Günther Quandt said to her at the time.

Contrary to what the NDR film suggests, Günther Quandt did not benefit from his special relationship with Joseph Goebbels (his ex-wife had been married to Goebbels since 1931). Goebbels thought Quandt was a reactionary plutocrat . In May 1933, shortly after joining the party, Quandt was even arrested - allegedly for a tax offense. The NDR film says that Quandt had a “powerful advocate” in Goebbels. But he took no sides. On June 14, 1933 Goebbels noted in his diary: “I do not interfere in any way. If he was absent, he should atone. "

In the NDR documentary, the Quandt family is accused of having neither apologized to their victims nor paid any compensation. Compensation for the forced laborers only got underway in the late 1990s after US lawyers threatened class action lawsuits against German companies. In 2000 the so-called " Forced Labor Fund " was created. The federal government and the German economy provided the foundation with five billion euros. Several companies, where the Quandts are in charge, participated in the fund, including Varta and Delton AG. BMW and Altana were among the founders of the foundation initiative.

In the documentation by Eric Friedler it was researched that the Quandts' wealth is mainly based on the exploitation of the slave laborers during the war and on the profits from armament:

“To sum it up, the Quandt family made their fortune on the basis of forced labor , linked to World War II and the German war aims and so on. So that's the basis for your assets. "

- Herbert Schui in The Quandts ' Silence , 2007

Rüdiger Jungbluth criticized that Herbert Schui apparently ignored the fact that Günther Quandt was one of the leading German industrialists during the Weimar period. The basis of his rise are textile factories in Brandenburg and clever speculations in the time of hyperinflation . After the First World War, as a member of the Board of Directors of Wintershall, he helped shape the largest German potash group. Later he took over the battery company AFA, which already served 80% of the German market for accumulators in the twenties. Günther Quandt was therefore already part of the German business elite before the Nazis came to power.

This is also confirmed by the Bonn historian Joachim Scholtyseck , who was commissioned by the Quandt family with the scientific analysis and who in 2011 presented an extensive study on the Quandt family history. Scholtyseck comes to the conclusion that the wealth from the initial level in the Weimar Republic could be continuously increased during the Nazi era, but that this increase in wealth cannot be clarified with a scientific claim when offset against the war losses.

In 2011, the Quandt heirs gave Gabriele and Stefan Quandt of TIME an interview on Nazi history of their family.

“We realized that it was wrong not to want to know exactly what happened back then. We had to say goodbye to this attitude, and for good. Therefore, with a view to the next generation, I am grateful to Professor Scholtyseck that he has examined all of this with meticulousness. Our family now knows. Nobody is surprised anymore. Even if you'd rather have a grandfather who you can be proud of in every way, but it's the one we have to live with. "

- Gabriele Quandt : Interview in DIE ZEIT, 2011

“The common unfortunate past is today, conversely, a point of identification. Like our ancestors, we do not want to deal with our responsibility when it comes to managing and shaping a large fortune. "

- Stefan Quandt : Interview in DIE ZEIT, 2011

Quandts holdings

Affiliates
  • AQTON SE - Stefan Quandt's holding company
  • Delton Group - Holding company owned by Stefan Quandt
  • SKion GmbH - Susanne Klatten's holding company
Corporate investments
  • BMW AG - Quandt family shares: 46.7% (as of 2012)
  • Altana AG - wholly owned by SKion
  • Datacard Group - manufacturer of machines for smart card and passport production
  • Biological Remedies Heel GmbH
  • Thiel Media GmbH
  • SGL Carbon - manufacturer of graphite products and carbon fiber reinforced plastics
  • VARTA AG - battery manufacturer - formerly majority owned by the Quandts
  • IWKA AG - controlled by the Quandt family from 1928 to 1980
  • Solar watt
  • Gemalto NV - Manufacturer of chip and SIM cards, EC and credit cards, electronic passports, health cards, 10% family owned by the Quandts
  • Nordex - Susanne Klatten still holds around 5.7% of the wind turbine manufacturer through the subsidiary SKion, after Nordex shares were sold to the Spanish Acciona Windpower in 2015

List of known family members

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Rüdiger Jungbluth : NS company history: The Quandts and the Nazis . In: The time . No.  47 , 2007, p. 23 f . ( zeit.de [accessed on February 8, 2013]).
  2. ↑ Joachim Scholtyseck : The rise of the Quandts - a German entrepreneurial dynasty . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62251-9 . limited preview in Google Book search
  3. ^ Henri Werner, Ernest Reiter: Henri Owen Tudor. An Idea… and Where it Led . Ed .: Les Amis du Musée Henri Tudor. Rosport 2012, ISBN 978-99959-6291-3 , pp. 229 .
  4. ↑ Thomas Fromm: BMW: Rescue 50 years ago "The birth of the mia-san-mia feeling" . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 30, 2010 ( Sueddeutsche.de [accessed June 18, 2012]).
  5. ^ Industry - BMW - "Cold Duck" . In: Der Spiegel . No.  36 , 1962, pp. 30-33 ( online ).
  6. ^ Industry - BMW renovation - "The cancer" . In: Der Spiegel . No.  49 , 1960, pp. 46-49 ( online ).
  7. ↑ The BMW renovation decided . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 1, 1960, p.  12 .
  8. ↑ BMW increases profit to 5.1 billion euros . Another record year perfect. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 14, 2013 ( FAZ.NET [accessed on March 14, 2013]).
  9. ↑ Noted in the Bundestag: donations. Bundestag news / briefing. (No longer available online.) German Bundestag, November 27, 2009, archived from the original on January 2, 2014 ; Retrieved February 8, 2013 .
  10. ^ Political party funding - briefing by the President of the German Bundestag. Party donations over € 50,000. German Bundestag, October 2013, accessed on October 15, 2013 .
  11. ↑ FDP receives 200,000 euros donation from investor . FAZ December 18, 2013.
  12. ↑ faz.net
  13. ↑ Donation splitting. (No longer available online.) Unklarheiten.de Political database, archived from the original on January 23, 2010 ; Retrieved February 8, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Christopher Keil: The Quandt case. Surprise before midnight . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 1, 2007 ( Sueddeutsche.de [accessed February 11, 2013]).
  15. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Jakobs: A German Dynasty, the Nazis and the KZ . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 16, 2008 ( Sueddeutsche.de [accessed February 11, 2013]).
  16. ^ Ralf Stremmel: Contemporary history on television. The award-winning documentary "The Quandts' Silence" as a questionable paradigm . In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (VfZ) . tape 58 , no. 4 . R. Oldenbourg, 2010, p. 455–481 ( ifz-muenchen.de [PDF; accessed on September 16, 2016]).
  17. ↑ manager-magazin.de with material from dpa: ARD documentation - Quandt family wants to deal with the Nazi era. Manager Magazin , October 5, 2007, accessed February 8, 2013 .
  18. ↑ a b c d e The Silence of Quandt's Documentation, 60 min., Production: NDR, first broadcast on ARD on September 30, 2007.
  19. ↑ a b c d Rüdiger Jungbluth , Giovanni di Lorenzo : The Quandts' Nazi past: “You feel horrible and ashamed” . In: The time . No.  39 , 2011, p. 23 f . ( zeit.de ).
  20. ↑ Ulrich Sander: Murderous Finale - Nazi Crimes at the End of the War . 1st edition. PapyRossa, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-89438-388-6 .
  21. ↑ Joachim Scholtyseck : The rise of the Quandts - a German entrepreneurial dynasty . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-62251-9 .
  22. ↑ Carsten Knop: The dispute about the Quandts . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 17, 2013, p. 15 ( FAZ.NET [accessed on September 23, 2013]).
  23. ↑ Tilmann Lahme: The profit before your eyes and beyond all scruples . New non-fiction books / J. Scholtyseck: The Rise of the Quandts. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 224 , September 26, 2011, p. 28 ( FAZ.NET [accessed on March 11, 2013]).
  24. ↑ aqton.eu
  25. ↑ Nordex and Acciona Windpower join forces to create a major player in the wind industry. Press release. Nordex, December 17, 2009, accessed on October 4, 2015 .