An entrepreneur with 'sparkling eyes' and a 'sharp mind': April 4 marks the 100th anniversary of August Thyssen's death

• 100th anniversary of the death of August Thyssen, an entrepreneur who made steel the heart of the Ruhr region's identity and economy.

• August Thyssen, the pioneering architect of an integrated value chain - with an impact that endures to this day.

• thyssenkrupp Steel, today Germany's largest steel concern, is built on the entrepreneurial legacy of August Thyssen.

His eyes "sparkle with intellect and keen perception" and everything he says is "extraordinarily interesting" - that was how French journalist Jules Huret portrayed the industrialist August Thyssen in 1906. This ambitious, hardworking, and yet modest patriarch, who shaped the Ruhr region like few others, died on April 4, 1926, at the age of 83, at Landsberg Castle in the city of Ratingen. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his death.

August Thyssen is one of the key figures in German industrialization. With his keen sense for broad industrial contexts, he built a company that had a significant impact on the economic development of the Ruhr region. He was ahead of his time in many ways - including politically: Huret reported his desire for "friendly relations" between Germany and France, an idea that took shape decades later in the form of the European Coal and Steel Community.

8,000 thalers as seed capital - and a vision for the industrial Ruhr region

August Thyssen was born on May 1, 1842, in the industrial and mining town of Eschweiler. From his father, a steel wire manufacturer and banker, he received 8,000 thalers in seed capital - money he channeled with remarkable single-mindedness into building a business of his own. After his first entrepreneurial steps, he founded Thyssen & Co., an iron strip rolling mill in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1871, laying the cornerstone for what would become one of the world's largest coal, iron and steel conglomerates.

Thyssen understood early on that industrial strength comes not from individual plants alone, but from controlling every stage of the value chain. Step by step, he integrated processing, machine building, mining, and ore supply into his enterprise.

In 1891, he acquired the "Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser" anthracite mine and expanded it to an integrated iron and steelmaking plant - a milestone on the path to a vertically organized industrial conglomerate. This strategy made the company more independent, more efficient, and less vulnerable to economic fluctuations. In December 1891, the first steel was smelted at the Bruckhausen steelworks - today's basic oxygen steelmaking plant 1 of thyssenkrupp Steel.

Steel as key industry - and Thyssen as driver of its scaling

While other industrialists - Krupp among them - placed greater emphasis on research and specialized technologies, August Thyssen pursued a consistent strategy of scale and vertical integration: large capacities, broad markets, reliable logistics and cost-efficient production. In doing so, he played a decisive role in making steel the key industry of the Ruhr region and a driving force behind the development of the economy. His plants in Hamborn and Bruckhausen quickly ranked among the leading steel-producing sites in Europe.

Logistics as the key to success

Thyssen recognized early on how vital efficient transport routes were for a steel corporation. The location of his plants on the Rhine, proprietary transport capacities, and a tightly integrated network of railways and waterways created what was at the time a cutting-edge industrial infrastructure - a precursor to the logistical backbone that distinguishes thyssenkrupp Steel to this day.

An entrepreneur with a sense of responsibility

Despite his business acumen, August Thyssen was a man with a strong sense of responsibility for the region. Among other things, his foundation financed the Franziskushaus orphanage in Mülheim, the construction of the Marienkirche church in Styrum, and the old city baths on the Ruhr river. August Thyssen had little time for his family - he lived for his work. He was regarded as a modest and frugal man who made little fuss about himself. Reflecting on his life in later years, the industrialist remarked, "I do believe I can say, however, without being presumptuous, that the public has benefited more from my life's work than I have myself." He was not exaggerating: thyssenkrupp Steel Europe is today the Germany's largest steel producer and remains, then as now, one of the Ruhr region's most important employers - a legacy that springs directly from the entrepreneurial foresight of August Thyssen.

References:
Jules Huret and Dirk Hallenberger: Das Revier um 1900. Zu Besuch in der "reichsten Gegend von ganz Deutschland" (The Ruhr Valley around 1900: A visit to the "richest region in all of Germany"). Publisher by Verlag Henselowsky & Boschmann.