Topf and Sons

Topf and Sons 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 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 were happy to oblige, with apparently very little concern for what crematoria of such huge capacity, were being used for.

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.