Berthold Schwarz Berthold Schwarz Berthold Schwarz (sometimes spelled Schwartz), also known as Berthold the Black and "der Schwartzer", was a legendary German (or in some accounts Danish or Greek) alchemist of the late 14th century, credited with the invention of gunpowder by 15th- through 19th-century European literature. The purported period of Schwarz' activity (late 14th century) thus falls between the first reports of gunpowder in Europe (late 13th century) and the development of effective applications in artillery (mid 15th century). It is unclear whether Schwarz is a historical person. It has been suggested that he was a historical alchemist who had developed
Schwarz Gruppe around 1190 Kaufland branches, of which 640 in Germany), operating across 26 countries. Lidl intends to expand its business to Australia, Lithuania in 2016, Serbia and the US in 2017, Russia in 2020. Online sales are operated via Schwarz Gruppe E-Commerce, a sister company of Lidl. In the ranking the 500 largest family-owned German businesses, WirtschaftsBlatt ranks the Schwarz Gruppe first. The top 3 privately held European companies in the PrivCo 25 Europe were: Schwarz Group, Trafigura and INEOS Group with cumulative revenue of over €200 Billion. German Schwarz, which owns chains Lidl and Kaufland, has surpassed French Carrefour as