Harald Quandt

Harald Quandt (1921 to 1967) was a German industrialist and a son of the industrialist Günther Quandt. His mother, Magda, later married Joseph Goebbels, and Harald was the only one of her children to survive the end of the Second World War. He served as a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe, was captured in Italy in 1944 and was released in 1947. After the war he helped his older half-brother Herbert Quandt rebuild the family firms, and when their father died in 1954 the two brothers jointly inherited a group of more than 200 companies, including large stakes in BMW and Daimler-Benz and holdings such as AFA and VARTA and the pharmaceutical company Altana. Herbert concentrated on batteries and automotive investments, while Harald was in charge of IWKA and the engineering and tooling companies. He died in an air crash near Cuneo, Italy, in 1967, and his five daughters inherited the wealth that later grew through Harald Quandt Holding.