Fritz Berg

Fritz Berg   (industrialist, deep state actor)
In 1955
Born	27 August 1901 Altena, Germany
Died	3 February 1979 (Age 77) Cologne, Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Cologne
President of the Federation of German Industries - "the real government of West Germany" - for over 20 years. 13 Bilderbergs.  Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie/President In office 1949 - 1972

Fritz Berg was a German industrialist who was president of the Federation of German Industries, the umbrella organization of German industry and "the real government of West Germany", for over 20 years. Berg was a member of an informal circle of business community representatives that met regularly with leading politicians in the West German government, and the "Federal Chancellor’s most listened-to economic adviser." Berg played a key role in shaping the West German economic system.

He was a regular Bilderberg attendee in the 1950s and 60s.

Early life

The son of a businessman, Fritz Berg attended the Realprogymnasium Altena and then completed an apprenticeship in banking and in an export company in Hamburg. From 1922 to 1924 he studied in Cologne, where he became a member of the Burschenschaft Corps Hansea Köln.

From 1925 to 1928, he worked in the USA and Canada, including at the Ford Motors plants in Detroit.

War records lost

In 1928, he joined his father Wilhelm Berg's company, a steel products manufacturer.

In 1940 he became the sole owner of the company, which had branches in many German cities, in 1942 he became a member of the Advisory Board of the wartime business chamber Gauwirtschaftskammer, in 1943 he became deputy head of the Iron, Steel and Sheet metal Industry economic group and a member of the Presidium of the Metal Goods Economic group.

A fire on January 29, 1961 at the Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv destroyed records of the chamber's history, but at that time the files from the older period, which had been lost in 1944, were already "missing", presumably very convenient for Berg, as German industry extensively used slave labor under brutal conditions. Only his function as head of the department "Bicycle and Engine Parts" of the Reichsgruppe Industrie (RGI) during the Second World War is documented.

After World War 2

From April 16, 1945 to August 7, 1945, he was appointed by the Americans to honorary mayor of the Ruhr city of Altena.

His post-war biography in 1946 seamlessly ties in with his wartime activities, now as chairman of the Iron, Sheet Metal and Metal Goods Industry Business Association in Düsseldorf. In the same year, he also became a member of the committee on issues of the Marshall and Schumann Plan. In 1948 Berg was president of the South Westphalian Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Hagen. In October 1949, Fritz Berg became the first president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) by an overwhelming majority. He held this position for over 22 years until 1971.

Berg was a member of an informal circle of business community representatives that met regularly with leading politicians in the German government. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper even described him as the “Federal Chancellor’s most listened-to economic adviser.” Berg played a key role in shaping the West German economic system. The fact that the 1957 Act against Restraints of Competition (Kartellgesetz) contained so many exemption clauses that de facto undermined the ban on cartels can largely be attributed to his commitment.

The BDI played a significant role in the election of Konrad Adenauer as Chancellor. Berg significantly declared: "The opinion that an industrialist should be concerned only with his own enterprises and must not participate in politics has fallen into oblivion."

Berg headed the first West German industrial delegation to the USA in 1951. Later he was a member of the Presidium of the German Council on Foreign Relations, landowner and chairman or member of numerous supervisory boards.

He had talks of high political importance with John McCloy in 1961. He was in correspondence with David Rockefeller, who mentioned Berg in a letter to Allen Dulles.

Berg was involved in controversial party financing of the CDU in the 1970s.

As BDI president in the autumn of 1969, on the occasion of the "wild" (unauthorized) September strikes in the steel industry of the Ruhr area, he said that "They should have shot calmly, shot someone dead, then at least there would be order again.".

He was president of UNICE, which later became Confederation of European Business, from 1967 to 1971.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1955 September	23 September 1955	25 September 1955	Germany Bavaria Garmisch-Partenkirchen	The third Bilderberg, in West Germany. The subject of a report by Der Spiegel which inspired a heavy blackout of subsequent meetings.
Bilderberg/1956	11 May 1956	13 May 1956	Denmark Fredensborg	The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after
Bilderberg/1957 February	15 February 1957	17 February 1957	US St Simons Island Georgia (State)	The earliest ever Bilderberg in the year, number 5, was also first one outside Europe.
Bilderberg/1957 October	4 October 1957	6 October 1957	Italy Fiuggi	The 6th Bilderberg meeting, the latest ever in the year and the first one in Italy.
Bilderberg/1958	13 September 1958	15 September 1958	United Kingdom Buxton UK	The 7th Bilderberg and the first one in the UK. 72 guests
Bilderberg/1959	18 September 1959	20 September 1959	Turkey Yesilkoy	The 8th Bilderberg and the first in Turkey. 60 guests.
Bilderberg/1960	28 May 1960	29 May 1960	Switzerland Bürgenstock	The 9th such meeting and the first one in Switzerland. 61 participants + 4 "in attendance". The meeting report contains a press statement, 4 sentences long.
Bilderberg/1962	18 May 1962	20 May 1962	Sweden Saltsjöbaden	The 11th Bilderberg meeting and the first one in Sweden.
Bilderberg/1963	29 March 1963	31 March 1963	France Cannes Hotel Martinez	The 12th Bilderberg meeting and the second one in France.
Bilderberg/1964	20 March 1964	22 March 1964	US Virginia Williamsburg	A year after this meeting, the post of GATT/Director-General was set up, and given Eric Wyndham White, who attended the '64 meeting. Several subsequent holders have been Bilderberg insiders, only 2 are not known to have attended the group.
Bilderberg/1965	2 April 1965	4 April 1965	Italy Villa d'Este	The 14th Bilderberg meeting, held in Italy
Bilderberg/1966	25 March 1966	27 March 1966	Germany Wiesbaden Hotel Nassauer Hof	Top of the agenda of the 15th Bilderberg in Wiesbaden, Germany, was the restructuring of NATO. Since this discussion was held, all permanent holders of the position of NATO Secretary General have attended at least one Bilderberg conference prior to their appointment.
Bilderberg/1968	26 April 1968	28 April 1968	Canada Mont Tremblant	The 17th Bilderberg and the 2nd in Canada

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