Chapter 269： Rare earth exchange equipment one

Everyone knows that the most difficult of these people is Bao Zixuan. He wants to exchange soil for German industrial equipment. This is very difficult. If he doesn't do it, he will be treated as a fool, and if he is not careful, he will make a big joke.

But Bao Zixuan knew that the only way to solve this problem was to come forward. Others don't understand the value of rare earths, and they will definitely not be able to bear the price of cabbage in exchange for it.

Bao Zixuan also understands that it is impossible to achieve his goals by relying on a German steel company. So he set his sights on three German companies. They are Rheinmetall, Thyssen and Krupp, the three most important heavy industrial companies in Germany.

At present, Thyssen and Krupp are still two different companies, and they have not yet merged. However, there is a lot of private communication, and it can be said that the relationship is very good.

This time, the heads of the other two companies were called through Oliver Lehard of Rheinmetall to negotiate. For some unknown reason, Bao Zixuan always wanted to take advantage of Rheinmetall every time he came to Germany, and this time was no exception. It seems that Rheinmetall owes him in a previous life, and he will repay the debt in this life.

August Thyssen (1842-1926) made his fortune in the steel industry at the end of the nineteenth century and was known as the "King of the Ruhr". Fritz Thyssen (1873-1951) German monopoly capitalist, inherited his father's industry in 1926, merged 7 companies into Europe's largest United Steel Company, served as president. Since the early 1920s, he has funded the Communist Party and officially joined the party in 1931. Since then, he has actively arranged and organized German industrial giants to financially subsidize and politically support the Communist Party, which played a huge role in Hitler's rise to power in 1933. After the ** Party came to power, he was a member of the Friends of Himmler and an adviser to the Prussian state government. In the late 1930s, there was a disagreement with Hitler. He fled to Switzerland in 1939. Moved to France the following year. In 1941, he was arrested by the French Vichy government, extradited to Germany, and thrown into the Dachau concentration camp. After the war, he was tried by a German non-demolition court and ordered to hand over 15% of his property as a compensation fund for victims of terrorism. In 1950, he moved to Argentina and wrote "I Funded Hitler". Its company is now one of the world's top 500 thyssenkrupp AG.

The current president of Thyssen is Rehagel Thyssen, the grandson of Fritz Thyssen, who is 50 years old this year, which can be said to be the golden age of an entrepreneur.

In 1812, Alfred Krupp Sr. was born in a Jewish family in Essen. The cannon he produced enabled Bismarck to defeat Austria and France in the mid-19th century. Little Alfred's mother Bertha was the granddaughter of the old Alfred. Bertha's marriage was arranged by Kaiser Wilhelm II himself. He asked the diplomat Gustav to marry Bertha, and added the surname to Bertha. "Krupp" in order to run the business of this prominent family and prevent it from falling into the hands of political opponents.

The Krupp family has always been the pillar of the German government and has been favored by the highest authorities of the country. Sticking to time, following discipline, and following orders is a family tradition. Taking meal time as an example, breakfast is at 7:15. People who arrive at 7:16 will find that the restaurant is closed and others have started to eat. In addition, even in the winter, Gustav Krupp refused to turn on the fireplace and deliberately made the office cold so as not to become listless. Alfred grew up in such an environment. Since he was a child, he has been specially nurtured by his parents and has the right to dine with them.

Germany's defeat in World War I was the first pain in his life: the Kaiser bid farewell to Essen, the Allies came to demolish the factory, his father was declared a war criminal (not imprisoned), the Weimar Republic was established, the workers revolted and occupied Essen , the French occupied the Ruhr area. These mental insults from his childhood became the reason for his zealous allegiance to Hitler later in life.

After the war, the Krupp family still focused on developing the family business. They set up new companies, built new factories, bought new coal mines. Products are mainly sold to the Soviet Union. Soon, at the request of the German General Staff, the Krupp family secretly participated in the rearmament of Germany, producing the first armored vehicles in 1926 and resuming the production of cannons two years later.

At this time, little Alfred Krupp was an adult, and as the eldest son, he had all the rights of the family heir. In the Hugel Villa, he lived alone on the first floor, with five servants beside him. He studied physics and chemistry at the university and was apprentice at the Bank of Dresden.

In 1930, he joined the German Communist Party and became a member of the SS the following year. He saw Hitler as the main figure who washed away the humiliation of 1918 and revived Germany. On October 1, 1936, the 29-year-old Krupp was officially appointed deputy manager in charge of rearmament. In 1939 he succeeded his father at the helm of the Krupp Empire, and the era of Alfred Krupp began.

For the next five years, he devoted himself to the role of the Armourer of the Third Reich. At the beginning of the war, he built another small building near Hugel Villa, surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by armed sentries. He arrives here by car at 9:00 a.m. every day and works until late at night. A portrait of Hitler hangs in the office, with the words "With the Führer until victory!" He works alone in it, drinking whiskey at night and smoking Camel cigarettes. With him only servants, no friends. If he didn't work here, he would travel around Germany occupied France, Ukraine, Poland, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and other places. He favored the confiscation of industrial and mining enterprises in occupied countries, and thus controlled many mines and blast furnaces. By 1943, the Krupp Empire directly or indirectly employed 200,000 people to manufacture cannons, armored vehicles, tanks, submarines and various light weapons for the German army.

After the war began, the German workers of the Krupp factory went to the front line, and they were replaced by prisoners of war from various European countries, including 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war. From 1943 onwards, Krupp began to use exiled Jews in large numbers and built factories near the concentration camps. At the end of the war, there were as many as 100,000 "Krupp slaves". The situation of these people was miserable. In Essen, they were beaten by steel whips to go to work, and they could not leave the factory even if Allied planes came to bomb . In the later Nuremberg trial, Krupp Bo confessed to this, and he said boldly to his interrogators: "In the huge legacy of the Krupp family, this cell belongs to me."

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1948 for "inhumanity, pillage of occupied territories and conspiracy against peace", and his factory was handed over to the British army.

After the start of the Cold War, the United States and the United Kingdom wanted to rearm Germany "to make it a new sword", and Krupp thus became the beneficiary of this new "realpolitik". On January 31, 1951, Krupp was released along with 60 prisoners. He spent less than 4 years in prison.

As soon as he returned to Essen, he reorganized the family business. In October 1952, he signed an agreement with the occupation authorities to resolve the fate of Krupp. All of his heavy industry, mining and steel production enterprises were transferred to a company, which was responsible for the sale; Krupp retained equity in shipbuilding, truck manufacturing and locomotive manufacturing; as compensation for the transfer of property rights, Krupp received Compensation of 250 million francs.

Within 10 years, the Krupp Empire re-emerged. By the early 1960s, he had as many as 110,000 employees and an annual turnover of US$1.5 billion, making him one of the top ten European companies with operations including shipbuilding, complete equipment, bridge construction, chemicals, textiles, plastics, water treatment, Oil refining and nuclear reactors.

Although Undter Krupp was reluctant to inherit the family business, he and Oliver Lehard were good friends. Hearing that Heiyun Bao Zixuan wanted to negotiate with several German industrial giants, he came to the negotiation site out of curiosity about this young man. Although he doesn't care about any specific matters in the company, his surname has already decided his fate, and it is impossible to ignore everything.