Fritz Kranefuss

Friedrich Carl Arthur Kranefuß (born 19 October 1900 in Herford – died 1945), known as Fritz Kranefuß, was a German industrialist and a Wehrwirtschaftsführer (Military Economy Leader) in the Third Reich.

Kranefuss was on the board of Braunekohle-Benzin AG (Brabag), a conglomerate of chemical firms and collieries concerned with the production of synthetic fuel.[1] He joined the Nazi Party in 1932.[2]

He was one of three directors of the Dresdner Bank, the others being Karl Rasche and Emil Heinrich Meyer, to belong to the exclusive Freunde des Reichsführer-SS circle.[3] Kranefuss had been introduced to Heinrich Himmler by his uncle Wilhelm Keppler's Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft, although it was Kranefuss' idea to make the movement more specific to Himmler.[4] As a consequence it was Kranefuss who was chosen as head of the circle.[5] His involvement in the circle also entitled him to the Schutzstaffel rank of Brigadeführer.[1] He also helped to ensure that BRABAG became one of the leading users of forced labour during the Second World War.[1] Towards the end of the war Kranefuss, a well-connected international businessman, was also used by Himmler to open unofficial channels of contact with the Allies.[6]

References
  1. Benjamin B. Ferencz, Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation, Indiana University Press, 2002, p. 177
  2. Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Zweite aktualisierte Auflage, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 335
  3. G.S. Graber, History of the SS, Diamond Books, 1994, p. 123
  4. Gerald D. Feldman, Allianz and the German Insurance Business, 1933-1945, Cambridge University Press, 2001, p. 104
  5. Feldman, Allianz and the German Insurance Business, p. 340
  6. Heinz Höhne, The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS, Penguin Books, 2000, p. 518


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