BMW’s Quandt family to reveal Nazi-era activities ...
10-10-07, 10:04 AM
#1
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
BMW’s Quandt family to reveal ****-era activities ...
Quandts to reveal ****-era links
Quandt family members have a 46.6% stake in BMW
The Quandt family - one of Germany's wealthiest business dynasties - has pledged to reveal details of its activities during the **** era.
The family's announcement followed a German TV documentary in which former prisoners of the ***** spoke of wartime abuses at a Quandt battery factory.
Quandt family members own big blocks of shares in German luxury car maker BMW and chemicals group Altana AG.
Many big German firms have offered compensation to former slave labourers.
In 2001 a US court ruling cleared the way for compensation to be disbursed from a $4.8bn (3.4bn euros; £2.4bn) fund set up by the German government and thousands of German firms. Volkswagen and Daimler-Chrysler were among them.
German officials had delayed compensation until US lawsuits had been dropped.
Family secrets
After decades of silence on the issue, Quandt family members said on Friday: "We recognise that, in our history as a German business family, the years 1933 to 1945 have not been sufficiently cleared up".
They announced a research project to throw light on the family's ****-era past.
"The accusations that have been raised against our family have moved us," the statement said.
The documentary, broadcast by the publicly-run channel ARD on 30 September, contained testimony from former slave labourers, who spoke of cruel treatment by **** guards at the Afa battery factory in Hanover.
The factory was owned by Guenther Quandt, whose links with the ***** were explored in the film.
After their divorce, his first wife Magda Ritschel married Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
According to the film, a concentration camp provided slave labour for the Afa factory.
The Quandts own nearly 50% of BMW. Herbert Quandt turned the business into a champion of German industry after the war.
Quandt family members have a 46.6% stake in BMW
The Quandt family - one of Germany's wealthiest business dynasties - has pledged to reveal details of its activities during the **** era.
The family's announcement followed a German TV documentary in which former prisoners of the ***** spoke of wartime abuses at a Quandt battery factory.
Quandt family members own big blocks of shares in German luxury car maker BMW and chemicals group Altana AG.
Many big German firms have offered compensation to former slave labourers.
In 2001 a US court ruling cleared the way for compensation to be disbursed from a $4.8bn (3.4bn euros; £2.4bn) fund set up by the German government and thousands of German firms. Volkswagen and Daimler-Chrysler were among them.
German officials had delayed compensation until US lawsuits had been dropped.
Family secrets
After decades of silence on the issue, Quandt family members said on Friday: "We recognise that, in our history as a German business family, the years 1933 to 1945 have not been sufficiently cleared up".
They announced a research project to throw light on the family's ****-era past.
"The accusations that have been raised against our family have moved us," the statement said.
The documentary, broadcast by the publicly-run channel ARD on 30 September, contained testimony from former slave labourers, who spoke of cruel treatment by **** guards at the Afa battery factory in Hanover.
The factory was owned by Guenther Quandt, whose links with the ***** were explored in the film.
After their divorce, his first wife Magda Ritschel married Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
According to the film, a concentration camp provided slave labour for the Afa factory.
The Quandts own nearly 50% of BMW. Herbert Quandt turned the business into a champion of German industry after the war.
.
10-10-07, 05:33 PM
#3
Lexus Fanatic
So? We all know that BMW made aircraft engines for **** warplanes and ground vehicles for the German army. So what else is new? That doesn't mean that BMW is necessarily guilty of war crimes (although some of the Chris Bangle designs come close 
). Even the slave labor in some of those plants was ****-driven, not necessarily company-driven, and the *****, of course, in their dictatorship, had an iron grip on everything........most companies didn't have a choice. They were told what to make and how to make it.
Can't we just let the past be the past and move on?
). Even the slave labor in some of those plants was ****-driven, not necessarily company-driven, and the *****, of course, in their dictatorship, had an iron grip on everything........most companies didn't have a choice. They were told what to make and how to make it.Can't we just let the past be the past and move on?
Last edited by mmarshall; 10-10-07 at 05:42 PM.
10-10-07, 05:47 PM
#4
So? We all know that BMW made aircraft engines for **** warplanes and ground vehicles for the German army. So what else is new? That doesn't mean that BMW is necessarily guilty of war crimes (although some of the Chris Bangle designs come close ). Even the slave labor in some of those plants was ****-driven, not necessarily company-driven, and the *****, of course, in their dictatorship, had an iron grip on everything........most companies didn't have a choice. They were told what to make and how to make it.
Can't we just let the past be the past and move on?
). Even the slave labor in some of those plants was ****-driven, not necessarily company-driven, and the *****, of course, in their dictatorship, had an iron grip on everything........most companies didn't have a choice. They were told what to make and how to make it.Can't we just let the past be the past and move on?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
