Fritz Thyssen (Thyssen)

Thyssen, Fritz (Thyssen), (1873-1951), a major German industrialist who provided significant financial support for Hitler and National Socialist Movement. Son of August Thyssen, one of the richest people in the era of Emperor Wilhelm II. Born November 9, 1873 in Mц?lheim a Ruhr. As a convinced nationalist, Thyssen was furious occupation of the Ruhr by France in 1923 and began providing huge sums of money to fight the French occupation authorities. He was arrested and brought before a French military tribunal. Ratio Thyssen to the Weimar Republic was cool: "Germany from a democracy is not a". In 1923, Thyssen became acquainted with a promising politician, Adolf Hitler, who persuaded him that is able to destroy communism in the German streets ". For 10 years Thyssen donated more than 1 million. marks the National Socialist Party. Later, he said that Hitler had made an impression on him a man ready to move towards the restoration of the Hohenzollern dynasty.

In 1928 Thyssen formed a huge steel-making concern "Vereinigte Stahlwerke". In 1931 joined the NSDAP. January 27, 1932 Thyssen invited Hitler to speak before a gathering of industrialists in Dusseldorf. Presenter of more than two hours of the Nazi Fuehrer was able to consolidate their party capital. In the presidential election in 1932 Thyssen supported Hitler: "I am firmly convinced, . that he was the only person, . who can and wants to save Germany from collapse and disgrace. "After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, . Thiessen led the Research Institute, . administering the needs of the corporate state,
. Nazi leaders believed its leading economic experts of the country.
By 1935 Thyssen began to have doubts about the Nazi regime. In 1938, he resigned from the Prussian State Council in protest against the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Despite the fact that his business interests contributed to the pace of rearmament of Germany, leaders of the Nazi elite regarded him aloof. He answered them the same, for example, Dr. Robert Ley, head Deutsch labor front, Thyssen called "stuttering alcoholic". In 1939, Thyssen was made in the Reichstag to protest against plans for the coming war. December 28, 1939, he left Germany and settled in Switzerland. While in exile, Thyssen sent the following letter to Hitler:

"My conscience is clear. I do not feel guilty. My only mistake was that I believed in you, Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer, and in your movement. I believe with the fervor that is inherent in the passionate German. Since 1923, I brought the huge sacrifices for the sake of national-socialist movement. I wanted to become a member of the party and fought for that, not asking and not asking anything for myself. I have always animated the hope that our efforts will save our miserable Germanic people. When the National - the Socialist Party came to power, the initial events seemed to confirm my belief, at least until the von Papen was still vice-chancellor. The same von Papen, whom you are obliged to your appointment as Chancellor of the empire with the support of President General von Hindenburg. The same von Papen, to whom you gave a solemn oath in the holy place - the Church of Harrison in Potsdam - to protect the constitution. Do not forget that your ascension was not the result of some huge revolutionary action, but was due to a liberal constitution, with which you are bound by your oath.
However, over time there have been disastrous changes. Early on, I felt the need to protest against the persecution of Christianity, against the beast to do with his priests, against the desecration of their churches.

. When November 9, 1938 the most cowardly and most brutally robbed and tortured the Jews, when the whole of Germany destroyed their synagogues, I again protested
. To demonstrate the extent of my disgust, I left the post of state councilor. All my protests went unanswered.

Now you have entered into an agreement with the Communists. Your ministry of propaganda even dare to say, . that respectable Germans, . voted for you, and openly opposed communism, . essentially similar to those animals' anarchists, . that plunged Russia into a tragedy, . and that you personally described as "ordinary, . stained with the blood of criminals "(" Mein Kampf ", . with,
. 750) ... Stop the senseless bloodshed, and Germany will bring peace and thereby retain its unity.

I must explain the reasons that forced me to leave Germany. About this I have not yet mentioned. All documents relating to more than fifteen years of struggle, I firmly put. And I'm not going at a time when my country faced an uphill struggle, to provide the enemy a moral weapon. I have and always will be a German heart and thoughts, and aspirations. I proudly and loudly declare their German origin, and will do so until the last breath. And as a German I never allow myself to enjoy the right to condemn Germany at the moment of deepest national suffering. Someday it will be necessary and justified for the sake of truth. Listen to me, and you'll hear the tortured voice of the German people, who cries out to you: to repent, return the freedoms, rights and humanity again in Deutsch Reich.

I will be silent. I would like to see that you intend to do. I believe that this letter can not conceal from the Germans. I expect. If the Germanic people will be deprived of the right to hear my words, the words free and honest German, I will appeal to the conscience of the world, and let the world pass sentence. I'm waiting.
Long live Germany!
Fritz Thyssen

Thyssen never received a response from the Fuhrer to his letter. Instead, five weeks later, the German newspapers announced the withdrawal of Thyssen German citizenship and the confiscation of his property. He was arrested in France and with his wife sent to a concentration camp, where he stayed until 1945. Thyssen died in Buenos Aires on February 8, 1951.