As the brother-in-law of Gustav Krupp, Tilo von Wilmowsky (1878–1966) had close ties to industry and, as a major landholder, excellent connections to agriculture. During the Weimar Republic and the Nazi period, he advocated for crisis concepts based on the coming-together of industry and agriculture, and promoted trade relations with Southeast Europe. His contact to the resistance saw him imprisoned in a concentration camp from July 20, 1944.