List of German companies by employees in 1938
Encyclopedia
This is a list of the largest companies of Nazi Germany
by employees in 1938.
, which is included in the list as it was a joint venture of Siemens
and Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft
which each company holding 50 percent of the shares of Telefunken. Employee numbers are not including those employed in foreign subsidiaries. The only three companies in 1938 with large foreign subsidiaries were Siemens with 11.2 percent of the workforce employed abroad, Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft with less than 20 percent and Mannesmann
with 10 percent. In 1938 seven of the 100 largest German companies were subsidiaries of foreign companies, all of them included in the list. The seven foreign-controlled companies were the subsidiaries of Luxembourgish Arbed
(Felten & Guilleaume, Eschweiler Bergwerksverein and Burbacher Hütte), American General Motors
(Adam Opel
), American International Telephone & Telegraph
(Deutsche I.T.& T.-Gruppe), American Singer Corporation
(Singer Nähmaschinen), French de Wendel group (de Wendelsche Berg-und Hüttenwerke), Belgian Solvay
(Deutsche Solvay) and Dutch-British Royal Dutch Shell
(Rhenania Ossag Mineralölwerke).
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
by employees in 1938.
Companies by employees
The list is based on Fiedler (1999a, 1999b), who compiled data from a variety of sources. Given the shortage of historical employment data some employment numbers are only estimates and some companies might be missing from this list. Employment numbers are including all subsidiaries as long as the parent company is the majority shareholder, that is, holds more than 50 percent of the stock. An exception is TelefunkenTelefunken
Telefunken is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft...
, which is included in the list as it was a joint venture of Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
and Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
which each company holding 50 percent of the shares of Telefunken. Employee numbers are not including those employed in foreign subsidiaries. The only three companies in 1938 with large foreign subsidiaries were Siemens with 11.2 percent of the workforce employed abroad, Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft with less than 20 percent and Mannesmann
Mannesmann
Mannesmann AG was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues of €23.27 billion.Over time, Mannesmann...
with 10 percent. In 1938 seven of the 100 largest German companies were subsidiaries of foreign companies, all of them included in the list. The seven foreign-controlled companies were the subsidiaries of Luxembourgish Arbed
Arbed
ARBED was a major Luxembourg-based steel and iron producing company. Created in 1911 after the merger of three steel producing companies, ARBED was a major actor in the economic history of the Grand-Duchy until it merged in 2002 with two other European steel companies to create Arcelor.- Origins ...
(Felten & Guilleaume, Eschweiler Bergwerksverein and Burbacher Hütte), American General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
(Adam Opel
Opel
Adam Opel AG, generally shortened to Opel, is a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1862. Opel has been building automobiles since 1899, and became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1929...
), American International Telephone & Telegraph
ITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
(Deutsche I.T.& T.-Gruppe), American Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
(Singer Nähmaschinen), French de Wendel group (de Wendelsche Berg-und Hüttenwerke), Belgian Solvay
Solvay
Solvay may refer to* Solvay , an international chemicals and plastics company* the Solvay process* Ernest Solvay, its inventor* Solvay Conference* the Solvay Business School* Solvay, New York* Solvay Hut, on the Matterhorn...
(Deutsche Solvay) and Dutch-British Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
(Rhenania Ossag Mineralölwerke).
Rank | Company | Employees | Industry | Employees of Successor 2011 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Deutsche Reichsbahn Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft The Deutsche Reichsbahn – was the name of the German national railway created from the railways of the individual states of the German Empire following the end of World War I.... |
703,546 | Railway | 226,000 |
2. | Deutsche Reichspost | 397,890 | Postal administration | 421,270 |
3. | I.G. Farbenindustrie IG Farben I.G. Farbenindustrie AG was a German chemical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG . The company was formed in 1925 from a number of major companies that had been working together closely since World War I... |
218,000 | Chemicals | >227,640 (BASF, Bayer, Celanese, etc.) |
4. | Vereinigte Stahlwerke | 197,000 | Mining and steel | 177,000 |
5. | Siemens Siemens Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG... (Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske... and Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966.... ) |
165,975 | Electrical engineering | 430,000 |
6. | Friedrich Krupp Krupp The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th... |
123,408 | Mining and steel | 177,000 |
7. | Gutehoffnungshütte | 75,781 | Mining and steel | |
8. | Vereinigte Elektrizitäts- und Bergwerks Aktiengesellschaft VEBA VEBA AG was a German energy company. VEBA was founded in 1929 as a holding company owned by the state of Prussia, and was privatized in 1965. VEBA became a part of E.ON in 2000.... |
72,345 | Mining and utilities | 85,000 (E.On) |
9. | Friedrich Flick KG | 71,408 | Steel | |
10. | Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft AEG Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau.... |
65,000 | Electrical engineering | Defunct |
11. | Reichswerke Hermann Göring | 63,000 | Mining and steel | 25,650 (Salzgitter AG) |
12. | Saargruben AG | 48,448 | Mining | |
13. | Daimler-Benz Daimler-Benz Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had... |
47,095 | Vehicles | 260,100 |
14. | Junkers Flugzeug-und Motorenwerke Junkers Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG , more commonly Junkers, was a major German aircraft manufacturer. It produced some of the world's most innovative and best-known airplanes over the course of its fifty-plus year history in Dessau, Germany. It was founded there in 1895 by Hugo Junkers,... |
44,015 | Aircraft | 121,000 (EADS) |
15. | Klöckner-Werke | 43,409 | Steel and mechanical engineering | 28,000 |
16. | Mannesmann Mannesmann Mannesmann AG was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues of €23.27 billion.Over time, Mannesmann... röhrenwerke |
43,000 | Steel | 48,600 |
17. | Metallgesellschaft Metallgesellschaft Metallgesellschaft AG was formerly one of Germany's largest industrial conglomerates based in Frankfurt. It had over 20,000 employees and revenues in excess of 10 billion US dollars... |
41,000 | Metals | 20,400 (GEA) |
18. | Otto Wolff-Konzern Otto Wolff AG Otto Wolff AG was a German steelmaker founded in Cologne by the industrialists Otto Wolff and Ottmar E. Strauß in 1904. One of the largest business in pre-war Germany, it exists today as an independent subsidiary of the ThyssenKrupp group.- History :... |
33,000 | Steel | 177,000 |
19. | Arbed Arbed ARBED was a major Luxembourg-based steel and iron producing company. Created in 1911 after the merger of three steel producing companies, ARBED was a major actor in the economic history of the Grand-Duchy until it merged in 2002 with two other European steel companies to create Arcelor.- Origins ... |
32,000 | Steel | 263,000 |
20. | Salzdetfurth AG K+S K+S AG is a German-based agricultural chemical and salt company, headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe's largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer... |
31,131 | Mining | 15,250 |
21. | Hoesch | 30,993 | Steel | 177,000 |
22. | Adam Opel Opel Adam Opel AG, generally shortened to Opel, is a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1862. Opel has been building automobiles since 1899, and became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1929... |
27,000 | Vehicles | 40,500 |
23. | Schering Schering Schering AG was a research-centered German pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering and merged with Bayer's pharma sector in December 2006. The company's headquarters was in Berlin-Wedding, Germany... |
26,665 | Pharmaceuticals | 25,000 |
24. | Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen AG | 25,000 | Metals, mining and utilities | |
25. | Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components... |
23,233 | Electrical engineering | 290,000 |
26. | Auto Union Auto Union Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group.... |
22,673 | Vehicles | 59,400 |
27. | Deutsche I.T.& T.-Gruppe | 21,000 | Electrical engineering | |
28. | Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Aktiengesellschaft was a cooperation of eight German shipyards in the period 1926 to 1945... |
21,000 | Shipbuilding and aircraft | |
29. | Philipp Holzmann Philipp Holzmann Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie... |
20,800 | Construction | |
30. | Hochtief Hochtief Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft is Germany's largest construction company. It is based in Essen but operates globally, ranking as the top general builder in the United States through its Turner Corporation subsidiary, and in Australia through the Leighton Group. In 2010 it employed more than 70,000... |
20,425 | Construction | 70,600 |
31. | Rudolph Karstadt Arcandor Arcandor AG is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was created in 1999 through the merger of Karstadt Warenhaus AG, which was founded in 1920, and Quelle... |
20,000 | Retail | 86,000 |
32. | Deutsche Erdöl AG | 20,000 | Oil | 1,300 |
33. | Deutsche Werke Kiel Deutsche Werke Deutsche Werke was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1925 when Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and other shipyards were merged. It came as a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I that forced the German defence industry to shrink... |
20,000 | Shipbuilding | 8,140 (TKMS) |
34. | Hugo Schneider AG Deutsche Werke Deutsche Werke was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1925 when Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and other shipyards were merged. It came as a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I that forced the German defence industry to shrink... |
19,200 | Arms and ammunition | |
35. | Deutsche Reichsbank Reichsbank The Reichsbank was the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945. It was founded on 1 January 1876 . The Reichsbank was a privately owned central bank of Prussia, under close control by the Reich government. Its first president was Hermann von Dechend... |
18,931 | Banking | 14,800 |
36. | Christian Dierig | 18,834 | Textiles | |
37. | Zellstofffabrik Waldhof | 18,402 | Paper | 10,000 |
38. | Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight.-History:... |
18,297 | Aircraft | 121,000 (EADS) |
39. | Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk RWE RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe... |
17,754 | Utilities | 70,700 |
40. | Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets... |
17,462 | Banking | 101,700 |
41. | Deutsche Continental-Gas-Gesellschaft | 17,400 | Utilities | |
42. | Bayerische Motoren-Werke BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands... |
16,968 | Vehicles | 95,400 |
43. | Continental Gummi-Werke Continental AG Continental AG, internally often called Conti for short, is a worldwide leading German manufacturer of tires, brake systems, vehicle stability control systems, engine injection systems, tachographs and other parts for the automotive and transport industries. The company is based in Hanover, Germany... |
16,606 | Rubber | 148,000 |
See also
- Economic history of GermanyEconomic history of GermanyGermany before 1800 was heavily rural, with some urban trade centers. In the 19th century it began a stage of rapid economic growth and modernization, led by heavy industry. By 1900 it had the largest economy in Europe, a factor that played a major role in its entry into World War I and World War II...
- Economy of Nazi GermanyEconomy of Nazi GermanyWorld War I and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles with its severe reparations imposed on Germany led to a decade of economic woes, including hyperinflation in the mid 1920s...
- List of companies by employees
- List of German companies by employees in 1907