De Wendel family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The de Wendel Family is a industrialist family from Lorraine, France. In 1704, Jean-Martin Wendel, the son of an officer, acquired the forges de La Rodolphe in Hayange. In 1727 he received confirmation of ancient nobility by Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. At the end of the Ancien Régime, Ignace de Wendel d'Hayange, officer in the artillerie, founded Le Creusot with the British engineer William Wilkinson. In the XIXth and XXth century the family gained might both industrial and political. As a result they also attracted controversy as an icon of French capitalism. Following the nationalisation of the French steel industry in 1978, they became a successful investment company (Wendel Investissement).