The dark past of German industry

Article written by Bruna Marques e Raphael Krykorka

Revelations about a hidden past of large German companies have highlighted severe crimes that shaped the history of German industry. After Adolf Hitler's accession to the Weimar chancellery in 1933, the consolidation of national socialist ideology began in the country. It was a fact that the German Chancellor influenced German domestic production through political pressure, tax and regulatory, however, transnationals shared their ideals hiddenly. Relevant German third sector companies volunteered to assist the Hitler regime, by secretly beginning a process of compulsory labor analogous to slavery in factories, restricted to Jews and Slavs.

In this context, German corporations implement the practices idealized by Hitler, such as the exploitation of ethnicities considered inferior. Thus, notorious German companies such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, spontaneously adhered to national socialist ideals, because the use of such labor would lower production costs, in addition to strengthening ties with the German central authority. A Dynasty Quandt, BMW owner family, admitted the company's involvement with the Nazi government, by taking control of several Jewish companies and using slave labor. “Günther Quandt and his son Herbert, who headed the dynasty during the Third Reich, used approx. 50.000 forced laborers in their weapons factories. An avarage of 80 slave workers died every month in Quandt factories and many were executed.” (SCHOLTYSECK, Joachim). Besides that, owner Günther Quandt joined the German National Socialist Party following the appointment of Adolf Hitler to the nation's chancellorship., strengthening the voluntary ideological bond between big businessmen and the regime.

Simultaneously, and in the same way companies in the textile sector were influenced by the Führer's ideals. Due to this Nazi preponderance, corporations like Hugo Boss approached Hitler, that, became the supplier of uniforms for the German armed forces. There are reports of construction of accommodation camps for forced labor carried out by women and Jews in the company's industries. After the fall of the Nazi regime, Hugo Ferdinand Boss was tried and fined due to his proven involvement in World War II. In contrast, Not all companies adhered to the Führer's ideas, for example, there were ideological conflicts between the Dassler brothers, which ended up fragmenting your company. In this matter, Adolf Dassler's Adidas appears, in opposition to his brother Rudolf Dassler, founder of Pumas and loyal supporter of Nazi ideology.

Evidently, National Socialism influenced most German companies during its period of government, reaching all industry sectors, including the pharmacist. In this area, through sealed contracts with the German government, Pharmaceutical companies began research and development of a method later known as the “Final Solution.”, This measure openly included the formulation of means for executing Jews in Reich territories., such as the use of Zyklon B gas in gas chambers during the Holocaust period. For example, IG Farben, originally a synthetic dye manufacturing company, became a collaborator of the Nazi project, and used concentration camp prisoners for inhumane medical experiments. After conflict resolution, IG Farben was tried by the Nuremberg Tribunal, which prohibited involuntary experiments on humans and punished the company's actions. Consequently, there was the division of the IG Farben conglomerate, which marked the emergence of important companies such as Bayer, BASF e Hoechst.

Bayer alone, began conducting research at one of its factories in Auschwitz-Birkenau, countless medications were forcibly tested on prisoners, who had been deliberately infected with tuberculosis, diphtheria and other diseases, as well as in other 25.000 workers. Schutzstaffel doctors, paramilitary organization of the National Socialist Party, were formally responsible for the medical care of prisoners, conducting the experiments on behalf of German pharmaceutical companies or for their own private interests, signing thousands of death certificates of patients with fictitious causes of death to camouflage such measures. Leading these atrocities to the true reason for the interests on the German side, which appealed to the vulnerable situation of prisoners and the political situation in the countries around them, to invest in research and studies in companies that had commercial potential, also providing innovative and destructive chemical creations such as his participation in the creation of the gas chambers, that served to take millions of innocent lives.( HENRY ELKINS, Thomas).

After World War II, Germany was divided among capitalists commanded by the West, and the Soviet-led socialists. This way, the western side structured its economy along the capitalist model, effecting the ideological division of the nation and the creation of the German Federal Republic. Westerners were open to negotiations with the outside world and to investments from capitalist powers, while the Eastern part kept its foreign relations closed due to Soviet socialist influence. West Germany adopted an export-oriented economic model, focusing on producing high quality goods for the international market. The nation maintained its growth after the world conflict, in addition to a great development boost achieved by the experiments and tests carried out on forced workers by the past regime, receiving investment and research to be used for the remainder of the century.(HISTORY COLLECTION).

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the government had assumed that the reconstruction of East German industry would essentially involve the acquisition of predominantly West German factories. O Plano Marshall, on the other hand, was a United States-led program that provided financial aid to Western European countries, with the aim of rebuilding the continent's post-war economies. The plan contributed to the growth of West Germany, which received a substantial amount that modernized its industries and infrastructure. The unification of Germany, brought benefits to both sides, for example, technology transfer from industrialized sectors, such as automotive and textile, in addition to reaching new markets that were previously subject to Soviet governance, with the reduction of social disparity, bringing jobs, developing the infrastructure, salary, making reunification and the subsequent economic integration that consolidated Germany as one of the main economic powers in the world, with a strong industry, competitive and innovative.(MAKE IT IN GERMANY).

currently, the portrait of German industry reflects figures from its past, the policies and government of the time did not favor Germany in a responsible and ethical way, but they did not stop pushing and making them what they are today, in the German economy. The automobile sector remains the leader, recording profits from 506 billion euros in 2022, vehicle manufacturing guarantees profits for other sectors, as there are close links between companies in the chemical sectors, electrical engineering, steelworker, metallurgical and textile.

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