Rebirth at Essen

"What are your plans?" newsmen asked Alfred Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach when he was arrested in 1945 as a war criminal, amid the wreckage of his vast armaments empire. "Rebuild the factories," answered Krupp, "and produce again." Last week he was about to make good his resolve.

In World War II, Allied bombers knocked out more than 60% of Krupp's Essen plants and equipment, and the work begun by bombers was carried on by the victorious governments. Russia grabbed more than 130,000 tons of valuable Krupp machinery. Britain carted away 150,000 tons of valuable scrap, systematically dismantled half of the remaining Krupp buildings. Krupp himself was tried at NUernberg, and sentenced to twelve years in prison. (Six years later, U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy commuted the sentence to the time already served.)

Founded in 1811, the Krupp firm sold arms to all nations and all causes, became a symbol of Bismarck's blood & iron Reich under Alfred Krupp, the present Krupp's great-grandfather. During his trial, Alfred Krupp said: "As a member of the fifth generation which produced steel, the fourth generation which forged weapons, I should like to add one thing. Never in my parents' home . . . did I hear one word or experience one act which welcomed or promoted any war at any place or at any time. The symbol of our house does not depict a cannon, but three interlocked wheels, emblem of peaceful trade."

Last week representatives of the Allies and West German government officials were putting the final touches to a joint agreement permitting Krupp's wheels to turn again--for peaceful trade. Under the agreement, Krupp will be 1) forced to sell its coal mines and steel plants, and 2) will be allowed to produce only working peaceful products like trucks, ships, locomotives and agricultural machinery. But many a European industrialist hoped that the ban on arms production would soon be withdrawn. "The sooner Krupp pitches in to do its share in the rearming, the better," said one British official. "I certainly don't like to see them capturing all the civilian export markets while the rest of us struggle to produce arms for the common defense."

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