Woman Builder of Death Machines.
A charming, gentle young woman—“Bertha Krupp,” as she is called by the soldiers; the Baroness von Bohlen, as she is known in Germany—is associated with the European war in many fantastic ways.
Bertha Krupp, as the principal owner of the great Krupp works at Essen, is the kaiser’s gun maker. When she was to be married she was so important a personage that the kaiser acted as her godfather. The young nobleman, Baron Gustave von Bohlen und Halbach, was the choice of his majesty. Not only have the Krupp works furnished a vast amount of efficient field artillery to the Germans, but they have supplied the monster siege guns with which the Belgian and French forts have been smashed.
Modest and unassuming, the young mistress of the Krupp works is beloved by all who know her, and especially by the thousands of workmen at Essen, whose admiration she aroused when, shortly after her father’s death, she began supervising the operation of the works and bravely remained close to the big guns while they were being tested. From the income from the manufacture of the guns a fund is set aside by Bertha Krupp to help some of her fifty[Pg 56] thousand pensioners. At large orphan asylum is supported by the Krupp money. Throughout Germany the baroness is noted for the charities that she supports with her immense fortune.
And the soldiers, whenever they hear the noise of the terrible Krupp guns, say: “Bertha is talking again.”