abstract:Friedrich Flick (born 10 July 1883 in Ernsdorf, Siegerland; died 20 July 1972 in Constance) was a German industrialist, a member of the Flick industrial family, the richest person in West Germany during the Cold War and one of the richest people in the world at the time of his death in 1972. He initially built a fortune during World War I and became extremely wealthy during the Weimar Republic, establishing a major industrial conglomerate in the coal and steel industries.