Albert Vögler

Albert Vögler (8 February 1877 - 14 April 1945), was a German liberal politician, industrialist and entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of the German People's Party, and an important executive in the munitions industry during the Second World War.

Vögler was born to Karl and Berta Vögler in Essen. He studied mechanics and engineering at high school before graduating from the university of Karlsruhe in 1901 with a degree in mechanical engineering. Between 1901 and 1910 he worked as a senior engineer at the Dortmunder Steel Works, and then became a member of the executive committee in the Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG mining company. Upon the death in 1924 of the founder, Hugo Stinnes, Vögler became manager.

In 1918, with Gustav Stresemann, he was involved in the founding of the German People's Party (DVP) in the Weimar Republic. He criticised the policies of Joseph Wirth who signed agreements with France in accordance with Germany's submission to the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923. In 1924 he left the DVP.

Between 1925 and 1927 he was a member of the Dortmunder Chamber of Commerce and president of the Rheinisch Westfäli coal syndicate. In 1926 he founded the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG and was its chairman until 1935. In 1927 he also became an honorary board member of his old university in Karlsruhe.

As a business man, Vögler feared the rise of communism in Germany. Records of dontations from Vögler to the Nazi party from as early as 1931 exist. Vögler met Adolf Hitler on September 11, 1931. From 1932 Vögler openly funded the Nazi party.

Hitler became German Chancellor on January 30, 1933. He held a meeting with Hermann Göring, and German industrialists on February 20, 1933. Vögler was present at this meeting. Hitler presented the Nazi Party's political plans, and received a total of three million marks in donations.

From 1940 onwards, Vögler was heavily involved with the manufacture of munitions. He served in increasingly important positions under Albert Speer in the Ruhr industrial heartland from 1942 until 1944.

He was president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (later Max Planck Society) from 1941 until his death in 1945.

On April 14, 1945, in order to avoid capture by the US Army, Vögler committed suicide in Haus Ende, Herdecke.