Krupp, Gustav, originally Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach 1870-1950
German industrialist and arms manufacturer

He was born in The Hague. In 1906 he married Bertha Krupp (1886-1957), daughter of Friedrich Alfred Krupp and granddaughter of Alfred Krupp, and by special imperial edict he was allowed to adopt the name 'Krupp' (inserted before the 'von'). He took over the firm, gained the monopoly of German arms manufacture during World War I and manufactured the long-range siege gun nicknamed 'Big Bertha'. Turning to agricultural machinery and steam engines after the war, he backed first Paul von Hindenburg against Hitler, but then supported the latter's party financially and connived in secret rearmament, contrary to the Versailles Treaty, after Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Hitler's Lex-Krupp (1943) confirmed exclusive family ownership for the firm. After World War II, the Krupp empire was split up by the Allies, but Gustav was too senile to stand trial as a war criminal at Nuremberg.