Rudolf August Oetker

Rudolf August Oetker (20 September 1916 – 16 January 2007) was a German entrepreneur and former member of the Nazi Party,[2] who became a billionaire running his private food company Oetker-Gruppe, founded by his grandfather August Oetker.

Rudolf August Oetker
Rudolf-August and Maja Oetker in 1966
Born(1916-09-20)20 September 1916
Died16 January 2007(2007-01-16) (aged 90)
NationalityGerman
OccupationOwner and CEO, Oetker-Gruppe
Net worthUS$8.0 billion (2006)[1]
Political partyNational Socialist German Workers' Party (1930s–45)
ChildrenRichard Oetker
RelativesAugust Oetker (grandfather)

Biography

Early life

Oetker served and volunteered in the Waffen-SS from 1941–1944. Rudolf Oetker became the president of his family-run business in 1944. The business was inherited from his grandfather, August Oetker, who invented a popular mixture of baking powder.[3][4][5][6]

Career

Rudolf August Oetker elevated the company to a household name in Germany today. The Oetker-Gruppe was one of the symbols of the post-World War II recovery effort in the country.

Oetker retired as executive director in 1981, turning the position over to his son August Oetker (jr.).

In 2006, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at US$8.0 billion.[1]

Personal life

Oetker married three times and had eight children.[1] His son Richard became CEO in 2010.

In 2014, the Oetker business empire was valued at $12 billion, and each of his eight children inherited an equal share of 12.5%, or about $1.5 billion:[3]

  • Rosely Schweizer
  • August Oetker
  • Bergit Douglas
  • Christian Oetker
  • Richard Oetker
  • Alfred Oetker
  • Carl Ferdinand Oetker
  • Julia Oetker

After discovering Oetker's Nazi past, his children hired a provenance researcher to investigate the origins of his art collection. They have begun returning artworks found to be stolen or looted to the heirs of their Jewish owners.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Rudolf August Oetker & family". Forbes. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  2. Ignatzi, Christian (22 October 2013). "Another German company reveals its Nazi past". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  3. de Jong, David (3 February 2014). "Nazi-Forged Fortune Creates Hidden German Billionaires". Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  4. "German pizza giant Dr Oetker reveals Nazi-era past". BBC News. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  5. "Dr. Oetker". Holocaust Online. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  6. "The Rudolf-August Oetker collection compensates the Emma Budge heirs for a silver cup in the Oetker collection since 2009". Lootedart.com. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  7. Hinckley, Catherine. "German Art Collectors Face a Painful Past: Do I Own Nazi Loot?". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  • Jungbluth, Rüdiger (2004). Die Oetkers (in German). Campus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-593-37396-6.
  • Gotta, Frank (1981). Die deutsche Wirtschaftsprominenz 1981 von A-Z: Lexikon der 200 bedeutendsten zeitgenössischen Persönlichkeiten aus der Wirtschaft (in German). WEKA-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8111-3046-3.
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