the twelve Subsequent Nuremberg Trials of the military, political, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany, held after the Nuremberg trials (the "Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal"), the most well-known trials which tried 22 of the most important captured Nazis. Like the other trials, the Flick trial took place at the Palace of Justice. The defendants in this case were Friedrich Flick and five other high-ranking directors of Flick's group of companies, Flick Kommanditgesellschaft, or Flick KG. The charges centered on slave labor and plundering, but Flick and the most senior director, Otto Steinbrinck, were also charged for their membership in the above-noted "Circle of Friends of the Reichsführer-SS," founded in 1932 by Wilhelm Keppler and taken over by Heinrich Himmler in 1935. Its members donated annually about 1 million Reichsmarks to a "Special Account S" in favor of Himmler. Flick steadfastly refused to acknowledge any guilt whatsoever, stating: "nothing will convince us that we are war criminals." However, Flick was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and on 22 December 1947 was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, with consideration for time served. Later career Flick was released early on 25 August 1950, due to the institution of good time credits. Despite his conviction, he quickly rebuilt his industrial empire and became one of West Germany's richest people by the 1950s, and the largest shareholder of Daimler-Benz and held large amounts of shares in Feldmühle, Dynamit Nobel, Buderus and Krauss-Maffei. He was awarded numerous honours, including the Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1963 and the Bavarian Order of Merit, and was an honorary senator of the Technical University of Berlin. At the time of his death, his industrial conglomerate encompassed 330 companies and around 300,000 employees. He died in Konstanz on 20 July 1972. His heirs were his son Friedrich Karl Flick and his grandson Friedrich Christian Flick, who established the modern art gallery Friedrich Christian Flick Collection. See also Nuremberg trials Alfried Krupp IG Farben Slave labour War criminals References Sources Further reading External links 1883 births 1972 deaths German industrialists German mining businesspeople German steel industry businesspeople Businesspeople from North Rhine-Westphalia Friedrich German people convicted of crimes against humanity Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members