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MORE THAN 70 years after the end of World World II, one of Germany’s richest families has admitted to its dark links with Adolf Hitler’s regime.
Spokesman of the Reimann family, Peter Harf, told Bild am Sonntag of plans to give €10 million to charity after learning of their elders’ support for the Nazis and their company’s use of forced labour during the war.
“Reimann senior and Reimann junior were guilty. The two entrepreneurs have both passed away, they belonged actually in prison,” said Harf.
Albert Reimann senior died in 1954 and his son in 1984.
They did not talk about the Nazi era and the family had thought that all of the company’s connection to the Nazis had been revealed in a 1978 report, Harf said.
The company they left behind, JAB Holding, is today a behemoth that owns household brands ranging from Clearasil to Calgon.
With wealth estimated at €33 billion, the Reimann family is believed to be Germany’s second richest.
Harf said the family began digging into their dark past in the 2000s, and in 2014 decided to commission a historian to produce a thorough study into their ancestors’ ties to Nazism.
The family plans to make public a full account when the book by the historian, Paul Erker of Munich University, is finished, said Harf.
Quoting letters and archival documents, Bild am Sonntag said Reimann senior was a willing donor to Hitler’s SS as early as 1931.
His company was in 1941 deemed a “crucial” firm in the war, as it produced items for the Wehrmacht and the armaments industry.
In 1943, the company was using as many as 175 forced labourers, and employed a foreman who was known for his cruel treatment of the workers.
Harf, who confirmed the conclusions drawn by the Bild report, said there had been no known efforts to provide any compensation to the forced labourers.
The historian presented his preliminary findings to the Reimann children and grandchildren, as well as Harf, several weeks ago, he said.
We were all ashamed and turned as white as the wall. There is nothing to gloss over. These crimes are disgusting.
“But we have since talked about what we can do now,” he said.
“We want to do more and donate €10 million to a suitable organisation.”
Many of Germany’s biggest companies have over the decades confronted their Third Reich history.
Among them is Volkswagen, which used concentration camp internees and prisoners of war as slave labour in its factories during the war.
In 1938, Hitler himself laid the foundation stone for the first Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg in northern Germany, tasked with building an affordable car for all Germans — which would go on to become the iconic Beetle.
- © AFP 2019 with reporting by Associated Press
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10 million out of 33billion seems like a drop in the ocean and hardly newsworthy. Now if he had donated a billion to charity it would be something. Restitution isn’t restitution if it doesn’t hurt!
@Colm O’Leary: Guilt should not be passed through to the future generations. Your parents mistakes are not your fault.
@Martin Scaldbag: Wealth should be passed but responsibility shouldn’t? His parents money should be given to victims for their crimes.
@Rochelle: how much do u think they shud have handed over?
@Martin Scaldbag: they are the beneficiaries of his crimes so yes they must make amends and no 10m is not enough
@Martin Scaldbag: therefore wealth should also not be passed – bit of a silly one. €10M is a little light.
@Colm O’Leary: no doubt tax efficient too
@Colm O’Leary: you have spoken the words I would have used. 10 mill for them …. the percentage that represents of their wealth is a drop in the ocean ….. a billion is also only a drop considering their vast wealth …. good intentions but they have underestimated the damage done by their ancestors. Not the current generations fault but a token gesture is insulting j
@Rochelle: Then should the parents of the little darlings who wreck property, assault people should also pay to their victims for the grief they cause. Parents today need to take responsibility for their kids actions but that will never happen as we have gone to P.C. with the snowflake parent.
@Edmond J. Hickey: its 10 million more than nothing
@Rochelle: but those victims are also dead! So, if you can’t punish the child for the crimes of the father how can you compensate the children of the victims? I think the main point is they have acknowledged the crimes of the father and expressed their disgust and remorse.
@Colm O’Leary: Can we get restitution from the British now also for the many years we had to endure their oppression and death?, suppose its only for one set of people as usual nobody elses suffering matters.
@Martin Scaldbag: But the wealth those mistakes generated is:)
@Martin Scaldbag: But the wealth resulting from those mistakes is:)
Hundreds of companies helped the Nazi war machine like siemens, Krupps and volkwagen – but not many people know or talk about the american giant computing company who created a punch card system to track Jewish wealth and itemise it , indeed the serial numbers tattooed on the skin of the poor unfortunates matched theit punch card numbers – IBM facilitated the greatest genocide in history – it`s very surprising that it is never talked about, they should be sued for Billions and Billions
https://allthatsinteresting.com/ibm-nazis-ww2
@Pixie McMullen: And throughout this entire era, IBM used foreign subsidiaries to funnel its international profits back to the U.S. Two of those subsidiaries — Dehomag and Poland’s Watson Business Machines — played a role in millions of deaths.
@Pixie McMullen: Did they use a different tracking system for the Gypsies or the disabled? Genuine question. More and more these groups seem to written out of history.
@Cal Mooney: I`m not quite sure mate, i just remembered reading about it years ago, this story jogged my memory – i presume it was the same system for all the unwanted, the whole thing was meticulous, down to even tracking marriages from generations before – the Germans have always been meticulous in everything they do, and still are today
@Cal Mooney: You perpetually diminish Jewish suffering. I’m beginning to see a theme.
The Nazis eliminated Jews, gypsies, gays, disabled, dissenters and even Catholic priests.
The numbers and the callousness did emphasise some over others.
Yet, your focus echoes other antisemitic groups.
Care to share your real thoughts?
@Battaz: maybe he is just pointing out that races other than Jews were slaughtered, but the overwhelming focus is on one cohort of the genocide? Just a thought, plus – where is he being antisemitic? Or are you just looking for antisemitism where ever you can find it, and if it doesn’t exist, you will make it up?
@Pixie McMullen: many Nazis also went to America under operation paperclip, headed many Government organisations. Mre notibally, Werner Von Braun who headed NASA. Should the US government hand out repatriations? Madness.
@Doubtchya Boy!: Sure wasn`t the race to Berlin really to get the German rocket/nuclear scientists out before Russia did ?
@Pixie McMullen: Many people are selective when talking about the various business that were ‘helping’ the nazi – it is not like they had much choice in the matter !! Also the history of VW as an example – the factory was decimated by the allied bombing and it was a british engineer soldier who actually took it over and started to rebuild it by supplying british replacement vehicles etc…..then Ford were sniffing around considering getting the VW but thought it was too busted ( and then themselves airbrushing history that Henry Ford was an admirer of Hitler ) – history is written by the winners – not all business that happen to exist then and be used by the Nazi are toxic as a result – that was the regime in the country at the time.
https://www.thelocal.de/20150925/the-brit-who-saved-vw-after-the-war
@Dave Hammond: I totally understand about all German companues being made to support the war effort and Nazism in general, they had no choice in it, as their assets were commandeered, BUT IBM did it willingly for money
@Dave Hammond: oh! and i totally agree with you Dave
@Pixie McMullen: but they were no different to the 100s of companies doing business during the 1930s with Germany – but their subsidiary was taken under nazi control – yes being their equipment was used 10 years before the war ( and it was subsequently in Japanese internment camps by the US ) – IBM didn’t have the ability to stop the Nazi during the war and actually they paid millions into the repatriation funds without admitting liability because they were ashamed of the fact – legal cases against IBM were subsequently dropped …..the reason that people dont go on so much about it is because most observers who examine the details understood that the subsidiaries were in fact taken under the control of the nazis during the war – that was a difficulty for organisations at the time that was so easy situation to handle ….
@Pixie McMullen: exactly.
@Dave Hammond: Henry Ford was the only non-National to ever receive the German version of yhe legion og honor under this regeime…check yourself Ford owners !!
10mil what a joke. Its similar to someone who is worth 200k giving 60 charity. Shameful amount to donate. In percentage terms I donate more each year.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: Total assets and worth are different to cash assets. Buildings, shares, etc all count as assets. True cash is usually a far smaller amount than total worth. It’s admirable for them to confront and be honest about the history of their family, and it’s a lot of money that can help a lot of people.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil:
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: anyone that owns an average house has a worth of over 200k. It doesn’t mean they have 33billion in the bank.
@Louise: Ah, thanks. Now I feel sorry for their penury
If we all held our forefather’s actions to our account the world would stagnant in war. The donation is worthy of praise especially when it wasn’t forced to be made regardless of the proportion of funds donated.
Ah now lad’s.. Would ye ever feck off
Nice gesture
He did nazi that coming
Keep digging, maybe they can donate some more
@Catalanista: in fairness, they contracted the digging out themselves, not many people would go to the effort to see where their ancestors wealth came from, for that i think they deserve credit , and 10 Million is better than nothing
Dr. Oetker, the pizza maker is another example.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24580073
@Sean:
As is Folens publishing, much closer to home.
@The Great Unwashed: Also Hugo Boss
May the money that Herr Reimann and his family is setting aside for reparations go to help descendants of less well-known III Reich targets – trade unionists, gypsies, communists, gays, the disabled, twins and so forth.
@Anne Warren: why would decendants of victims be compensated?
Zie Jermannz, lol.
10M€ is probably what that fortune earns in interest in a week. Sounds good, but in the grand scheme of things it’s peanuts, but better than nothing.
Just learned about it…
Wow! A whole .03% of their wealth. I would say they are still well ahead from their dealings with the natzi’s
Ten million is nothing… Easily spent in no time…..
Well done them for initiating the investigational into their family’s full link with Hitler. 10 million in light of what they are worth may seem small but it’s a gesture and an acknowledgement. Such announcements and hopefully denouncement , of their family’s support for the Nazi’s will go a long way against the worrying growth of support for the far right in their country.
Just learned about it…
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