Rudolf August Oetker (20 September 1916 – 16 January 2007) was a German entrepreneur and former member of the Nazi Party,[1] who became a billionaire running his private food company Oetker-Gruppe, founded by his grandfather August Oetker.
Rudolf August Oetker | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 16 January 2007 | (aged 90)
Occupation(s) | Owner and CEO of Oetker-Gruppe |
Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (1930s–1945) |
Children | Richard Oetker |
Relatives | August Oetker (grandfather) Richard Kaselowsky (stepfather) |
Oetker served and volunteered in the Waffen-SS from 1941 to 1944. After his stepfather, Richard Kaselowsky, was killed in an air raid, 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.[2][3][4][5]
After the war, Oetker was interned in the Staumühle internment camp near Paderborn. When his SS blood group tattoo was discovered under his left armpit, which identified him as a member of the SS, he was brutally beaten by the guards. For years after the war, Oetker would need a cane to walk. He was released from custody in 1947. He would elevate 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.[6] In 1960s, Oetker funded Stille Hilfe, a relief organization for the SS veterans, fugitives, and convicted war criminals.[7]
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.[8]
Oetker married three times and had eight children.[8] 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:[2]
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.[9] In 2019 a painting by Carl Spitzweg was restituted to the heirs of Leo Bendel who had been looted and murdered by Nazis.[10] The painting had been acquired through the Galerie Heinemann in Munich.[11]
In 2011, the representative of the estate of Emma Budge published a search notice for the silver cup on a database for artworks lost in consequence of Nazi persecution.