Herbert Quandt
Herbert Quandt | |
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Born | 22 June 1910 |
Died | 2 June 1982 | (aged 71)
Occupation | Industrialist |
Spouses |
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Children |
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Parents |
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Relatives | Harald Quandt (half-brother) |
Herbert Werner Quandt (22 June 1910 – 2 June 1982) was a German
Early life
Herbert Quandt was born in Pritzwalk, the second son of Günther Quandt (1881–1954) and Antonie "Toni" Quandt (born Ewald). Antonie died of the Spanish flu in 1918.[3] Quandt was affected by a retinal disease that left scars, and he was nearly blind from the age of nine. Consequently, he had to be educated at home.[4]
Nazi period
The
Slave labor
After extensive training at the family's companies at home and abroad, Quandt became a member of the executive board of AFA, later VARTA AG, in 1940. Quandt was the director of Pertrix GmbH, a Berlin-based subsidiary of AFA. During the war Herbert Quandt was the director of personnel at his family factory. During his time as director he personally oversaw the deaths of 40 to 80 people each month through the use of slave labor with each slave staying alive approximately 6 months.[8] This turnover was due in large part to the concentration of acid gas in the air of the factory in which the slave labor was forced to work. Slave labor was used extensively throughout the Quandt factories and as early as 1938.[8] Known factories where slave labor was used include three factories in Hanover, Berlin, AFA's Stocken and Hagen plants, and Pertrix GmbH.[8] Concentration camps were set up on the grounds of the AFA at Hanover which included an execution area.[8] According to the Scholtyseck report, there were over 50,000 slave laborers at the Quandt factories during war time.[9] Herbert Quandt was not tried after the war, though his father was interned until 1948 while he was investigated.[6]
Post-war business activities
He gained greater responsibility for companies which his father had acquired and after 1945, he rebuilt them.[4] He developed a business philosophy of decentralised organisation which gave executives wide powers for decision-making and allowed employees to participate in their company's success.
When Quandt's father died in 1954, the Quandt group was a conglomerate of about 200 businesses including the battery manufacturer, several metal fabrication companies, textile companies and chemical companies (including
BMW was already planning its
When Harald died in 1967 in an air crash, Herbert received more shares in BMW, VARTA and IWKA. In 1974, Herbert, and Harald's widow, Inge, sold their stake in Daimler-Benz to the Government of Kuwait.
Personal life
He married his first wife, Ursel Münstermann, in 1933 but they divorced in 1940. This marriage had produced a daughter, Silvia Quandt (born 1937),[3] who stayed with her mother after the divorce. Silvia is now an artist who lives in Munich. Ten years later, in 1950, he married his second wife, the jeweller Lieselotte Blobelt, but they divorced in 1959. This second marriage produced Sonja (born 1951) (now Sonja Quandt-Wolf), Sabina (born 1953) and Sven (born 1956).[3] Sven became the manager of the BMW rally team.
Herbert married his third wife Johanna Bruhn in 1960, just a year after his second divorce. She had been a secretary in his office in the 1950s and eventually became his personal assistant. She did not remarry after Herbert's death, and lived quietly in Bad Homburg until her own death in 2015. The current supervisory board members at BMW include Johanna's two children: Stefan Quandt, holder of 23.7% of the shares in BMW, and Susanne Klatten, a 19.2% shareholder.[11] They joined the board in May 1997.
Herbert ensured that the shares in his companies were not thinly spread and so to avoid family disputes the children of the previous marriages received large shares in other Quandt family companies. Silvia Quandt, the oldest child, received extensive investments and property in the 1970s. Later the three children from the second marriage were given the majority of the shares of VARTA Battery AG but these have since been sold. Susanne also received his shares in Altana AG, while Stefan also received shares in a holding company called Delton with interests in medical products and power supplies.
Herbert Quandt died on 2 June 1982 in Kiel.
There is now a foundation in the Herbert Quandt name through BMW.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d Paterson, Tony (29 September 2011). "BMW dynasty breaks silence on its Nazi past". The Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
- ^ "Who are these Quandts?". The Economist. 11 February 1999. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Herbert Quandt". Who's Who Germany. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ a b c "Der unterschätzte Sohn". Focus. 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
- YouTube
- ^ a b c Emma Bode; Brigitte Fehlau (29 November 2008). "The Silence of the Quandts: The history of a wealthy German family". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Bonstein, Julia (10 December 2007). "Breaking the Silence: BMW's Quandt Family to Investigate Wealth Amassed in Third Reich". Der Spiegel.
- ^ a b c d "Forced Labor: Varta Battery Factories". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Nazi Goebbels' Step-Grandchildren Become Hidden Billionaires". Private Wealth. Bloomberg News. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2020 – via fa-mag.com.
- ^ Jacobs, Frank (17 August 2018). "The Obscure History of the Quandts". Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ "#60 Stefan Quandt". Forbes. 11 August 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
- ^ "Inspire Responsible Leadership". BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
Further reading
- de Jong, David (2022). Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties (Hardback). Boston: Mariner Books. ISBN 9781328497888.
- Jungbluth, Rüdiger (2002). Die Quandts: Ihr leiser Aufstieg zur mächtigsten Wirtschaftsdynastie Deutschlands (Hardback) (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Sachbuch. ISBN 9783593369402.