The oil tycoon who built refineries for both Stalin and Hitler
In short: Fred C. Koch was an American engineer whose thermal cracking technology revolutionized gasoline production. But his path to becoming a billionaire was paved with complex global alliances, ranging from training Bolshevik engineers in the Soviet Union to building refineries for the Third Reich.
In 1927, Fred C. Koch developed a more efficient thermal cracking process to derive gasoline from crude oil. This innovation allowed smaller companies to compete with major oil producers, but it also triggered a legal firestorm. A consortium of large companies filed 44 different lawsuits against him, embroiling him in litigation for years. While he prevailed in nearly all cases, one loss was later overturned due to a judge being bribed. Because of these legal hurdles in the United States, Koch turned his attention abroad. Between 1929 and 1932, his firm, Winkler-Koch Engineering, supported the Kremlin by training Bolshevik engineers to establish 15 modern oil refineries during the Soviet Union's first five-year plan. This period left a lasting mark on Koch; he eventually came to despise the regime, describing the Soviet Union as a "land of hunger, misery, and terror" and expressing deep regret over his collaboration after witnessing the brutal purges of his colleagues. Koch's industrial reach was equally expansive in Europe. In 1934, he partnered to build the Hamburg Oil Refinery, the third-largest serving the Third Reich—a project personally approved by Adolf Hitler. While critics point to this as a direct tie to fascism, the company maintained it was one of many American firms doing business in Germany at the time. Across the Middle East, France, and England, 39 heavy oil refinery cracking units were constructed by Koch's firm during 1928 to 1934. By 1940, Koch founded the Wood River Oil and Refining Company, which became Koch Industries. His personal ideology shifted toward a fierce anti-communism, leading him to become a founding member of the John Birch Society in 1958. He spent his later years warning Americans about "internal subversion" and advocating for limited government, a philosophy that would define the political legacy of his sons, Charles and David.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Fred C. Koch
- Also: Wikidata — Fred Chase Koch · CC0
- Also: www.britannica.com — Fred C. Koch | American inventor and businessman | Britannica
- Also: Wikidata — Fred Conrad Koch · CC0
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