Von der Leyen (family from Krefeld)

The von der Leyen family (German pronunciation: [fɔn deːɐ̯ ˈlaɪən]) is a German noble family which made its fortune as silk merchants and silk weaving industrialists. The Mennonite family established a major textile business in Krefeld in the 18th century. In its heyday, the business delivered silk to most European courts and aristocratic dynasties. The family was ennobled in 1786 and one branch raised to Baronial rank by Napoleon in 1813 and by the King of Prussia in 1816.

Coat of arms

The family is not related to the princely House of Leyen which also bears the name von der Leyen.

History

The first known family member was Peter von der Leyen, mentioned 1579 in Radevormwald where the family produced passementerie; the family name derives from an incorporated village named Leye. In 1656 their Catholic ruler, Philip William, Elector Palatine, introduced high penalty taxes for Anabaptists and Mennonites which made the Mennonite Adolf von der Leyen (c. 1624–1698) seek refuge in the city of Krefeld, at the time ruled by the more tolerant House of Orange-Nassau, and became a brother-in-law of the Op den Graeff family. Then head of the family Heinrich von der Leyen secured citizenship in 1668 and established his wholesale business.^[1] He also continued the family's silk business in the city. In 1693 the Mennonites of Krefeld were allowed to build their own church.

In 1720, Peter von der Leyen founded a factory producing sewing silk, and in 1724, brothers Johann, Friedrich and Heinrich (Adolf's grand sons) founded a silk dyeing factory. The family enterprises expanded rapidly and competed with Cologne companies. Krefeld had come under the rule of the King of Prussia in 1702 and kings Frederick William I and Frederick the Great sought to protect and develop domestic silk production and helped the von der Leyen business to expand further by granting them a silk production monopoly for Prussia. Frederick the Great stayed in the family's Krefeld house after winning the Battle of Krefeld in 1758.

Franz Heinrich Heydweiller inherited the silk-stocking business in 1749 from Peter's widow, who was his mother-in-law.^[2] This new company was barred by the government from competing with the parent company. However, it survived and flourished after shifting to the manufacture of velvet ribbons.^[2]

By 1763, half of Krefeld's population of 6082 worked for the von der Leyen factories. In 1760, the family founded the Von der Leyen foundation to support local Mennonites and in 1768 gave money for an organ in the Krefeld Mennonite Church.

The family built many factory and residential buildings in Krefeld some of which survived World War II bombardments. The success of the family's silk business has been attributed to the way they operated free from government control.^[3] The Von der Leyen monopoly of the silk industry was finally ended during the French occupation in 1794.^[1]

• 
  Peter von der Leyen (1697–1742)
• 
  Friedrich von der Leyen (1701–1778)
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  Heinrich von der Leyen (1708–1782)
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  Friedrich von der Leyen (1732–1787)
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  Johann von der Leyen (1734–1795)
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  Johann von der Leyen's house of 1766/76 in Krefeld
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  Leyental House, Krefeld, of 1777
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  Leyenburg manor, Rheurdt, of 1772

Conrad von der Leyen's house at Krefeld (now town hall)

In the year of Frederick the Great's death, 1786, brothers Conrad, Friedrich and Johann von der Leyen were raised to the rank of hereditary nobility. At the same time when George Washington had the White House built, Conrad von der Leyen commissioned a similar but larger house for himself at Krefeld, between 1791 and 1794, with architect Martin Leydel. In 1860 it was sold to the city of Krefeld and has served as its town hall ever since. When the French Revolutionary Army occupied Krefeld in 1792, General La Marlière took Conrad von der Leyen, some of his relatives and a few other leading citizen as hostages and forced the town to pay him 300.000 guilders. Conrad and his companions in misfortune, however, are said to have won it back for the most part by playing cards with the general.

Friedrich Heinrich, Baron von der Leyen (1769–1825), the silk baron

In 1795 the Left Bank of the Rhine, including Krefeld, was conquered during the War of the First Coalition and annexed by the First French Republic. Friedrich Heinrich von der Leyen (1769–1825), a son of Conrad's brother Friedrich, became mayor of Krefeld in 1800 and founded the local chamber of commerce. In 1803 he purchased Bloemersheim Castle near Neukirchen-Vluyn and the following year Meer Estate in Meerbusch, which are both still owned by the family. In 1804, Napoleon visited Krefeld and stayed in the von der Leyen residence. The following year Friedrich Heinrich became a member of the French Constituent assembly, and in 1813 he was created a hereditary Baron by Napoleon, in 1816 also by the king of Prussia (with the name Baron von der Leyen zu Bloemersheim), when the region had passed back to Prussia after Napoleon's defeat. The silk baron was granted many French and Prussian recognitions.

In 1828, the workers at the von der Leyen factories rebelled against their employers and the 11th Hussar Regiment put down the rebellion. Karl Marx described it as the "first workers' uprising in German history."^[4]

Gustav Heinrich, Baron von der Leyen zu Bloemersheim, died in 1857 as the family's last silk producer. He had not succeeded in reestablishing the business to its old success after the Napoleonic Wars. His widow sold the factories and moved to her agricultural estates, which the baronial Bloemersheim branch of the family operates to this day.

Friedrich Ludwig von der Leyen zu Bloemersheim (born 1854) was mayor of Büderich and district administrator of Neuss and lived in Haus Meer Castle [de] until his death in 1935.^[5]

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  Bloemersheim Castle
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  Haus Meer Estate
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  Baronial coat-of-arms

Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber (1914-96), whose mother is Hildegard von der Leyen zu Bloemersheim, was a Luftwaffe officer who served on both the Western and Eastern fronts. He later worked at a Volkswagen dealership in Modesto, California.

Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen

Friedrich Ludwig's son, Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen (September 28, 1897 – 1945) was a German jurist and civil servant who worked as a district administrator during the Third Reich in occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland, and was involved in perpetrating the Holocaust as Kreishauptmann (district chief) of Lemberg-Land in the District of Galicia.^[6][7][9] He was born in Haus Meer, Büderich (Meerbusch) [de] and is said to have died of gas poisoning after the bombing of Dresden.^[10]

Von der Leyen fought in the First World War from 1915–18 and was a member of a Freikorps from 1919–20. He was a member of the Young German Order, and from 1926–33, of Der Stahlhelm. He joined the NSDAP on February 1, 1940.^[10]

He studied law and passed examinations in 1926 and 1928. By 1933, he was a permanent representative of the Chief of Police in Uerdingen, and from April 1934, at the Police Headquarters of Wuppertal.^[10] Soon after he took control in Krefeld, protective custody orders were made against communists and social democrats.^[11] After the dissolution of the rest of Czechoslovakia, he was appointed provisional chief district administrator of the District of Deutschbrod in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.^[10][12] In 1940 occupied France, von der Leyen was appointed head of the administrative department of the military administrative district in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.^[10] In July 1942,^{[nb 1]} he became district chief in the district of Lemberg-Land in the District of Galicia. Von der Leyen inherited the Haus Meer Estate.^[12]

Von der Leyen was informed about, and participated in, the Holocaust;^[9] as were, and did, numerous other district administrators, chiefs, and miscellaneous officials in the District of Galicia.^[13][14] Von der Leyen was the "highest civilian ruler" of Lviv during the Holocaust - he oversaw forced labour camps, extermination camps, and the Lviv Ghetto, where approximately 540,000 people were murdered.^{[15][nb 2]} Joachim's widow, Huberta, would manage the Haus Meer Estate until its inheritance by his son, Friedrich Heinrich von der Leyen II in 1970.^{[citation needed]}

Disinformation narrative

Heiko von der Leyen, husband of politician Ursula von der Leyen (former German Federal Minister for Defence and current President of the European Commission), belongs to an ennobled (but not the baronial Bloemersheim) branch of the family.^{[citation needed]} The Q4 2023 CEDMO Fact-checking Summary used Joachim Frieherr's familial ties to Heiko as one of their surveyed disinformation narratives in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was the highest rated (via 'awareness' and 'trustworthiness') disinformation narrative in Slovakia.^[16] The narrative is often presented as though Heiko's wife has direct lineage, although she married into Heiko's family - which isn't a member of the Bloemersheim branch.^[17]

Notes

1. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia claims early 1943.
2. Pohl (p.283) notes Lviv was largely under control of city captaincy, district office, and SSPD. Von der Leyen's district, Lemberg-Land, did include the city and region of Lviv.

References

1. Hunley, J. D. (2019-07-03). Boom and Bust: Society and Electoral Politics in the Düsseldorf Area: 1867–1878. Routledge. ISBN 9781000008081.
2. Diefendorf, Jeffry M. (2014). Businessmen and Politics in the Rhineland, 1789–1834. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 32. ISBN 9781400853786.
3. Henderson, W. O. (2006). Studies in the Economic Policy of Frederick the Great. Oxon: Routledge. p. 148. ISBN 0415382033.
4. Krefeld - Der Aufstand der Seidenweber, rp-online.de vom 13. Mai 2011
5. Romeyk 1994, p. 603.
6. • Roth, Markus (2009). Herrenmenschen. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. ISBN 9783835304772.
   • Romeyk, Horst (1994). Die leitenden staatlichen und kommunalen Verwaltungsbeamten der Rheinprovinz 1816–1945. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag GMBH. ISBN 3770075854.
   • Pohl, Dieter (1997). Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941-1944. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH. ISBN 3486563130.
7. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945. Indiana University Press. 2012. ISBN 9780253002020.

   "On August 1, 1941, Eastern Galicia was transferred to a German civil administration and became part of Distrikt Galizien in the Generalgouvernement. This region was initially divided into 17 districts (Kreise); but from April 1, 1942, following a redrawing of boundaries, there were only 14 districts. Gródek was initially the center of its own Kreis, but from April 1, 1942, it became part of the Kreis Lemberg-Land. The Kreis was governed by a Kreishauptmann. Wilhelm Stockheck held the position of Kreishauptmann from September 1941 until February 1942. Dr. Werner Becker was the Kreishauptmann of Kreis Lemberg-Land from March 1942 until early 1943; he was succeeded by Baron Joachim von der Leyen."

8. "Kreishauptmann". Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.
9. Pohl (1997, pp. 281–7) Translated:

   "The district chiefs ("Kreishauptleute", plural of "Kreishauptmann"^[8]) played an even more active role in the Holocaust ("Judenmorden"). During the time of the Holocaust ("Endlösung") in Eastern Galicia, 22 of them were in office. They were mostly influenced by their experiences with "Jewish policy" ("Judenpolitik") in similar previous posts. With the takeover of districts in Eastern Galicia, they now controlled large Jewish parts of the population. In doing so, they set a fatal mechanism in motion. The district chiefs were responsible for the expropriation and isolation of the Jewish minority... the district chiefs welcomed any kind of persecution of Jewish people if it led to a reduction in the Jewish population... Generally, three to four officials [in each district] were responsible for 'anti-Jewish measures' ("antijüdischen Maßnahmen") by virtue of their office. These were initially the district chief himself and his deputy or head of the Office of Internal Administration, who was to be involved in all official business... [In the districts,] district chiefs were still involved in the preparations for the murders at the end of 1942 by forming ghettos, concentrating and registering Jewish people. There is evidence that they were informed in advance about the Holocaust ("Judenaktion") in the case of the district chiefs Asbach, Becker, Dewitz, Görgens, von der Leyen, Nehring, Wendt and Zinser..."

10. Roth (2009, pp. 488–9) Translated:

    "Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen (born 9/28/1897 in Haus-Meer, died 1945), Protestant grammar school. 1915-1918 front-line fighter. 1919-1920 Freikorps. 1922/23 Young German Order. Studied law. 1926-1933 Stahlhelm. 1926 first legal examination. 1926-1928 preparatory service. 12/22/1928 major state examination in law. 1933 SA. In the fall of 1933, government councilor as permanent representative of the Krefeld-Uerdingen police chief. From 4/1/1934 at the Wuppertal police headquarters. District administrator in Neukirchen-Vluyn before 1939. 1938/1939 acting district administrator in Deutsch-Brod/Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. 1940 Head of the administrative department of the military administration district in St. Germain. 2/1/1940 NSDAP. Until 7/23/1942 consultant in the Main Department of Internal Administration. District chief in Lemberg at the end of July 1942. Said to have died of gas poisoning in 1945 after the air raid on Dresden."

11. Joachim Lilla. "Wilhelm Elfes Polizeipräsident und Arbeitersekretär (1884–1969)". Portal Rheinische Geschichte. Translated:

    "[The] democratically minded representative Voß was transferred and replaced by the nationalist-minded government assessor Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen (1897-1945). When the SA disrupted an election campaign event of the Center Party with the former Reich Minister Adam Stegerwald (1874-1945) in Krefeld, the Krefeld police had to stand by and do nothing. At the beginning of March, the first protective custody orders against communists and social democrats were issued at the Krefeld police headquarters."

12. Pohl (1997, p. 417) Translated:

    "Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen (1897-1945); owner of a manor; Oberlandrat; 1938/39 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; April 1942 H A I.V./GG; 23. 7.1942 GDG ; end of July 1942 Kreishauptmann of Lemberg-Land; died as a result of the air raid on Dresden."

13. Pohl 1997.
14. Wichert 2022. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWichert2022 (help)
15. Diem Peter (5 June 2020). "Lviv". Austria-Forum. Translated:

    "The district captain and thus the highest civilian ruler ("oberster ziviler Herrscher") in Lviv was Joachim Freiherr von der Leyen from Krefeld. Almost all of the Jewish people of Lviv were subsequently murdered, including in the Lviv ghetto set up by the Nazis, in the city's forced labor camp at Lviv-Janowska and in the Belzec extermination camp. Among the synagogues destroyed was Beit Chasidim, the oldest in the city. In total, around 540,000 people were killed in concentration and prison camps in Lviv and the surrounding area during the National Socialist era, 400,000 of them Jewish people, including around 130,000 Lviv residents. The remaining 140,000 victims were Russian prisoners."

16. "Q4 2023 CEDMO Fact-checking Summary" (PDF). Central European Digital Media Observatory. January 29, 2024.
17. Veronika Jursová Prachárová (29 November 2023). "Ursula von der Leyen nie je príbuzná nacistického pohlavára". Demagog.sk.

External links

• Friedrich and Heinrich von der Leyen on a website on the History of the Rhineland (German)
• 400 Jahre Mennoniten in Krefeld (400 Years of Mennonites in Krefeld, six lectures), Mennonitische Geschichtsblätter, 65. annual compendium, 2008, 360 p., ISBN 978-3-921881-26-2