Purpose and Statutes
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation, headquartered in Cologne, was established on 7th July 1959 by Amélie Thyssen and her daughter, Anita Countess Zichy-Thyssen, in memory of August and Fritz Thyssen for the purpose of promoting the science and research. It was the first large private individual foundation promoting science and research to be founded in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War.
Under its Statutes, the sole aim of the Foundation is to provide direct support for science and research at universities and research institutes primarily in Germany, with a special emphasis on junior researchers.
Since 1961, the year it began its active work, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation has been a reliable partner for researchers working in the humanities, social science and medicine. Originally funded with a stock package of August Thyssen-Hütte AG having a nominal value of DM 100 million, it has contributed approx. EUR 605 million to scholarly research at universities and non-profit research centres over this period.
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation supports research in the fields of history, language and culture, state, economics and society as well as medicine, devoting special attention to support for junior researchers.
“It has always been our intention to place a nominal amount of DM 100 million in stock of Aug. Thyssen-Hütte AG in a “Fritz Thyssen Foundation”, which is to be independently administrated and whose earnings are to be used to the benefit of German universities and other schools of higher learning, research, science and for the support of junior researchers.”
Amélie Thyssen in a letter to Konrad Adenauer dated 5 May 1960 on the purpose of the Foundation
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Amélie Thyssen and Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on August 7, 1960 at the award ceremony of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany