Engelbertha's Story
The Krupp industrial dynasty was founded in the late 1500's in Essen, Germany, by a local merchant who grew rich buying property from those who fled the city during an outbreak of the "Black Death" plague. In subsequent generations, Krupp interests evolved into a dynasty - at one time Europe's largest company - whose wealth and influence was based in the innovative manufacture
of steel and armaments. It was primarily Krupp artillery that powered the armies of the Central Powers in World War I and Adolph Hitler's N***s in World War II. Engelbertha Krupp was the daughter of Krupp scion, Alfred, who headed the dynasty in the mid-1800's until his death in 1887. Krupp family history shows only one offspring from Alfred's marriage to Bertha Eichhoff: a son, Friedrich, who succeeded his father as head of the Krupp works. But researcher David Stroebel has uncovered strong evidence that Alfred and Bertha had a second child, Engelbertha, who was banished and disinherited for marrying below her class. Stroebel's research has uncovered a romantic relationship between Engelbertha and John Joseph Stroebele, a shoemaker, who worked on the grounds of the Krupp family estate. Their plans to marry were met with furious opposition by the Krupps who ultimatey banished and disinherited Englebertha and caused records of her birth and baptism to be removed from family and local church records. Englebertha and John Joseph married and emigrated to the United States, settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. Until now an untold story, Engelbertha's direct connection to the Krupp family is revealed through family stories, letters, and photographs in David Stroebel's book, "The Cannon King’s Daughter: Banished from a Dynasty, the True, Untold Story of Engelbertha Krupp.
