1933-1939 - Krupp and the Nazi Consolidation
The NSDAP, having achieved power over the political life of the country, proceeded to extend its hold to all other phases of German life. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen undertook, as chairman of the Reich Association of German Industry, the largest association of German industrialists, to bring that association into "agreement with the political aims of the Reich Government." (D-157, Pros. Ex. 195) In April 1933 he submitted to Hitler the plan of that association for the reorganization of German industry according to the Fuehrerprinzip (leadership principal). The introduction of this principle into the sphere of business and industry served to promote a war economy by centralizing authority through compulsory memberships in so-called "autonomous" organizations governed by men committed to carrying out the program and aggressive aims of the Third Reich.
To strengthen the NSDAP Gustav Krupp von Bohlen in May 1933 organized the Adolf Hitler Spende. This was a fund collected from every circle of German industry, banking, and agriculture, and put at the disposal of Hitler, the Stahlhelm, and the NSDAP organizations. Eighty-five percent of industry contributed to it and it was the greatest private source of funds for the NSDAP. Krupp alone contributed in excess of 6,000,000 RM to it. Gustav Krupp remained chairman of the organization which raised this fund until about 1942, when his son Alfried Krupp took over this function.
While Gustav Krupp was devoting his energies to the consolidation of the Nazi dictatorship within Germany, he did not fail to note the importance of concealing its true character from the world abroad. After a conference with Alfred Rosenberg, then Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Politics of the Nazi Party, he arranged for funds to be put at Rosenberg's disposal in order "to counteract" by "counterpropaganda" the "misunderstandings" which were being created abroad "by ill-meaning circles." At numerous public meetings and conferences, Gustav Krupp continued to carry the torch for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. He complied willingly with a request from Goebbels for an article in support of Hitler to be used for the so-called "plebiscite" of November 1933. After the Anschluss with Austria, in March 1938, he paid tribute to the "statesmanship" of Hitler and hailed the "victory of Germanism in central Europe."
By aiding their accession to power, Gustav Krupp was simply collecting on the gamble taken in 1918. In a Germany pledged to rearmament, Krupp would again flourish as the "weapons forge" of the Reich. The period of losses would be over. Such indeed proved to be the case. The Krupp board of directors were able to report for the business year following the Nazi seizure of power that, "the business, for the first time after 3 years of losses, yielded a profit."
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