Georg Schäfer

Georg Schäfer (September 7, 1896, in Schweinfurt – January 27, 1975, in Erlangen) was a German industrialist and art collector. After his death, most of his art collection was housed in the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt.

Early life Upon the death in 1929 of his father (also named Georg Schäfer), Georg Schäfer (II) inherited a one-third interest in the Friedrich Fischer steel ball bearings firm.

Career Friedrich Fisher Steel At age 29 Schäfer became the commercial head of the firm, while his brother-in law Hermann Barthel directed the technical side. In 1929 the firm did not join a merger of Swedish and German ball bearing manufacturers. At first, this was seen as a setback. But as the government of Adolf Hitler prepared for war, the Fischer firm's independence allowed it to join the Nazi armament campaign, and this caused a rapid expansion for the firm.

Nazis and World War II By 1933 Schäfer was a Nazi city councillor in Schweinfurt and leader of the "Sonderring Wälzlager" (Ball Bearing Special Circle) which oversaw the supply of ball bearings in the German armament campaign.

In 1939 Schäfer ousted Hermann Barthel from the firm. With his brother, Otto Schäfer, he expanded wartime production by the firm, which changed its name to "Fischers Aktien-Gesellschaft (FAG) Kugelfischer." Despite Allied bombardments of Schweinfurt during World War II, the Kugelfischer firm continued to make ball bearings, employing 11,700 employees at the end of the war, including thousands of enslaved laborers. In 2016 the Georg Schäfer museum created a provenance research position.

However, in 2020, the provenance researcher resigned, saying that she had been denied access to historical documents and that no one seemed to have any plans to return Nazi-plundered works to the heirs of the original Jewish owners. "They needed me for appearances." she told the New York Times. "I felt as though I was being used as a fig leaf."