J.A. Topf and Sons (J.A. Topf und Söhne) was a former German engineering company, notorious for designing and manufacturing the crematoria used by the Nazis at concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Early history

The company of J.A. Topf & Sons, was founded in 1878, in the town of Erfurt, in East Germany. The company began as a manufacturer of furnaces and malting equipment.

During the 1920s the company began manufacturing crematoriums designed by chief engineer Kurt Prüfer.

Holocaust involvement

Topf and Sons was asked by the SS to design special crematoria furnaces capable of cremating very large numbers of bodies. The company and its chief engineer Kurt Prüfer obliged.

Postwar

Kurt Prüfer was captured by the Americans, but released after questioning. The Russians however, arrested Prüfer, and sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment. Prüfer died in a Russian gulag in 1952.

Ludwig Topf, one of the owners of the company, committed suicide in May 1945, whilst his brother Ernst-Wolfgang Topf, fled to West Germany.

The company of Topf & Sons, was nationalized by the former East German Communist regime and remained in business until 1996.

References

• http://www.topfundsoehne.de/download/medienmappe_ef_en.pdf

External links

• http://www.holocaust-history.org/auschwitz/topf/