Alfred Toepfer

Alfred Toepfer
Born	13 July 1894 Hamburg, Germany
Died	8 October 1993 Hamburg, Germany
Occupation	Businessman, philanthropist

Dr. Alfred Carl Toepfer (13 July 1894 in Hamburg – 8 October 1993 in Hamburg) was a German entrepreneur, owner of the company Toepfer International and founder of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation. He helped shaped the original internal markets of the European Coal and Steel Community, and was a philanthropist known for his celebration of the arts, sciences, and nature.

Toepfer was born in 1894 in Lüneburg Heath, the son of a merchant. He lived on a farm and completed an apprenticeship while learning several languages at school. Early 1912, he joined the Wandervogel, and was greatly influenced by the historian Julius Langbehn. Its leader Hans Breuer shaped his thinking, especially his call for reflection on one's own folklore. In 1913 Toepfer was one of the participants in the meeting of the first Free German Youth Day.

The following year he joined the Army as an infantryman, serving in World War I and participating in the Battle of Masurian, the Second Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, and the Fourth Battle of Ypres. He was wounded several times and in January 1919 was discharged a highly decorated lieutenant.

The year Toepfer left the military he joined the Freikorps, led by General Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker. As the leader of a mounted machine gun unit, he was first deployed in Weimar to protect the Weimar National Assembly. In the following months the Freikorps was ordered to put down Bolshevik insurrections, including in Halle, Magdeburg, Brunswick, Gotha, Erfurt and Eisenach. With the integration of the country's fighter forces in the Reichswehr, Toepfer left the Korps by the end of the year.

...
Wikipedia