The History of Thyssen

Günther Schulz is Professor Emeritus for Constitutional, Social and Economic History at the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn. His research focuses on social and economic history from the early 19th century. As part of the research network for the "Thyssen Entrepreneurial Family in the 20th Century", he oversaw the production of six company history research projects. His most recent publication as editor is Die Entstehung der modernen Sparkasse. Von der ‚Ersparnisanstalt‘ zum marktorientierten Unternehmen (1950s to 1980s) (Deutscher Sparkassenvlg.G, 2022).

List of Figures



Foreword to the English-Language Edition

Volker Berghahn



Foreword



Introduction

Point of Departure: The Thyssen Legacy

Elements of an Entangled Family and Corporate History



Part I: Family-History Projects: Selected Findings



Chapter 1. The Thyssens – family and fortune (Simone Derix, 2016, 2nd ed. 2021)

      Family and conflict

      Lifestyle: Family spaces, local roots, mobility

      “Calculated risk”: The Thyssens, their foundations and advisors



Chapter 2. Two civic lives in the public eye.The brothers Fritz Thyssen and Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (Felix de Taillez, 2017)

      Stepping out from the father’s shadow:Fritz Thyssen as national hero

      The exclusive circles of Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza

      Out in the open:Fritz Thyssen, the media, and National Socialism



Chapter 3. The Thyssens as art collectors. Investment and symbolic capital (1900 -1970) (Johannes Gramlich, 2015, 2nd ed. 2021)]

     “Normal capitalist bourgeoisie”:August Thyssen sr. and Fritz Thyssen

     Collecting as vocation: Heinrich and Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza



Part II: Corporate-History Projects: Selected Findings

     Why Thyssen? On the state of research and the research problem

     On the company’s development

     Company and family

     Trust—capital—assets

     Consultant

     Selected findings



Chapter 4. Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG under National Socialism (Alexander Donges, 2014)

Chapter 5. Forced labor at Thyssen.“Stahlverein” and “Baron-Konzern” in the Second World War (Thomas Urban, 2014, 2nd ed. 2021)

Chapter 6. The expropriation of Fritz Thyssen. Dispossession and restitution (Jan Schleusener, 2018)

Chapter 7. Thyssen in the Adenauer era. Corporate formation and family capitalism (Johannes Bähr, 2015)

Chapter 8. From steel group to corporate group. The Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza companies from 1926 to 1932 (Harald Wixforth, 2019)

Chapter 9. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Group(Boris Gehlen, 2021)



Appendix: Thyssen family tree



Sources and Bibliography

Overview of Book Series