Georg Rickhey facts for kids
Georg Johannes Rickhey (born August 25, 1898, in Hildesheim, died 1966) was a German engineer. He became the manager of a factory called Mittelwerk GmbH, located in an area known as Dora-Mittelbau. This factory was important during World War II.
Early Life and Career
Georg Rickhey earned a degree in engineering. In October 1931, he joined the Nazi Party, which was a political group in Germany.
From 1940, Rickhey took on important roles in a technical department in Essen. By 1942, he was promoted to a leadership position within the Nazi Party in Essen. At the same time, he also worked as an authorized officer for a mining company in Essen.
Work During World War II
During the Second World War, Georg Rickhey held several jobs with a German government ministry. This ministry was in charge of weapons and military supplies. In 1942, he became the manager of Demag, a company that built tanks for the war effort.
In April 1944, Rickhey became the head of Mittelwerk GmbH. This factory was located in Dora-Mittelbau, a place where many people were forced to work. At Mittelwerk, Rickhey oversaw the making of important weapons. These included the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket. For his work on these weapons, he received a special award called the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross. Other famous engineers, like Walter Dornberger and Wernher von Braun, also received this award.
After the War
Georg Rickhey was arrested in 1945. The U.S. Army took him to live in Ohio, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. There, he worked as part of a program called Operation Paperclip. This program brought German scientists and engineers to the United States.
Later, in 1947, Rickhey was part of a series of legal proceedings known as the Dachau Trials. He was accused of working closely with certain groups and seeing harsh events. However, he was found not guilty because there was not enough proof. After this, he did not continue his work in the United States.
