German companies acknowledge responsibility for Nazi rise to power

May 11, 2025

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ER Editor: Who is really behind this unusual mea culpa initiative? Die Zeit mentions this as a sort of causal mechanism, which doesn’t sound entirely convincing to us, putting it down to the conscientious impulse of just one man:

On the 27th of January, executives from Bayer, BASF, Evonik and Siemens took part in the commemoration of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Thereupon Bill Anderson – the CEO of Bayer – wrote to leading companies together with the bosses of the other three groups to support the German economy behind a joint declaration on the 80th Anniversary of the end of the war on 8 May 2025 to gather. In the end, 49 companies participated. ZEIT publishes the declaration together with the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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German companies acknowledge responsibility for Nazi rise to power

Around 50 of the nation’s biggest corporations have signed an open letter on the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism

RT

Dozens of Germany’s most prominent enterprises have acknowledged their responsibility for allowing Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler to rise to power. In a letter published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the corporations, including Siemens, Uniper, and Volkswagen, have admitted that their forebearers’ greed and silence contributed to Nazi crimes.

FILE PHOTO: Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler meets with members of the German Labor Front, Nuremberg, Germany, 1936. ©  Global Look Press / Scherl

.“The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 would have been unthinkable without the failure of the decision-makers of the time in politics, the military, the judiciary, and the economy,” the collective statement marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe said.

Many German companies “contributed to consolidating the Nazi rule” and were “complicit” in the Third Reich’s crimes as they were solely driven by the desire to make profit, the document added.

The list of signatories included a total of 49 brands, including Adidas, Bayer, and BMW, as well as several major German banks, Deutsche Bahn, and Lufthansa. The companies stopped short of taking direct responsibility for the crimes of their predecessors and said instead that they “assume responsibility for making the memory of the crimes of the Nazi era visible.”

“In 1933 and beyond, too many remained silent, looked away,” the companies said, adding that this past silence “imposes responsibility… for the past, the present and the future” upon them. The companies vowed to “stand against hatred, against exclusion, and against anti-Semitism” and called for the “achievements” made by the EU after the end of the Cold War to be protected.

The murky Nazi-era history of the biggest German corporations and families that largely control them has repeatedly appeared in the media. In 2022, former Bloomberg journalist David de Jong released a book titled ‘Nazi Billionaires’, which detailed the ties of companies such as Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW to the Third Reich.

According to the book, Germany’s biggest automakers are still controlled by families that profited from Nazi rule. Some of their holdings include American brands ranging from Panera Bread to Krispy Kreme, in addition to luxury hotels across Europe.

“Businesses and many families in Germany were never really de-Nazified,” de Jong said at the time, adding that companies are only transparent when they are no longer controlled by the families of former Nazi collaborators.

Source

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ER: This is machine-translated.

“Consider your own advantage”

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

07.05.2025

On the 80th On the anniversary of the end of the war, the CEOs of 49 companies assume responsibility. German corporations would have helped „to consolidate the rule of the National Socialists. “ Your statement in the wording.

Declaration by German companies on the 8th May

Today 80 years ago, on the 8th May 1945, the Second World War ended in Europe. This day is a day to commemorate all the people who have been persecuted and murdered, the crimes and destruction that have killed more than 60 million people worldwide.

Today is also a day when we have to ask ourselves how this could have happened. The National Socialists’ takeover in 1933 would not have been conceivable without the failure of the decision-makers at the time in politics, the military, the judiciary and the economy. German companies helped to consolidate the rule of the National Socialists. Considering their own advantage, many companies and their actors at the time were involved.

Today, as German companies, we take responsibility for making the memory of the crimes of the Nazi era visible. Because these crimes warn us to recognize the fragility of democracy again and again. Together we stand against hatred, against exclusion and against Anti-Semitism. There cannot and will not be a final line with us.

The victory of the Allies over the National Socialists has given hope to an entire continent, the whole world. The European cohesion, rule of law and freedom achieved with the end of the Cold War are achievements that we must protect together. Democracy lives from participation – and from contradiction. It needs attitude and courage. In 1933 and after that, too many were silent, looked away and remained silent. This gives rise to our responsibility – for the past, for the present and for the future.

Bjørn Gulden, CEO, Adidas AG

Oliver Bäte, CEO, Allianz SE

Martin Babilas, CEO, ALTANA AG

Markus Kamieth, CEO, BASF SE

Bill Anderson, CEO, Bayer AG

Vincent Warnery, CEO, Beiersdorf AG

Oliver Zipse, CEO, BMW Group

Christian Kohlpaintner, CEO, Brenntag SE

Bettina Orlopp, CEO, Commerzbank AG

Nikolai Setzer, CEO, Continental AG

Karin Rådström, CEO, Daimler Truck AG

Richard Lutz, CEO, Deutsche Bahn AG

Christian Sewing, CEO, Deutsche Bank AG

Stephan Leithner, CEO, Deutsche Börse AG

Tim Höttges, CEO, Deutsche Telekom AG

Tobias Meyer, CEO, DHL Group

Carl Oetker, personally liable partner of Dr. August Oetker KG

Leo Birnbaum, CEO, E.ON SE

Christian Kullmann, CEO, Evonik Industries AG

Stefan Klebert, CEO, GEA Group AG

Clemens Junsthöfel, CEO, Hannover Rück SE

Dominik von Achten, CEO, Heidelberg Materials AG

Carsten Knobel, CEO, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA

Daniel Grieder, CEO, HUGO BOSS AG

Klaus Rinnerberger, CEO, LEONI AG

Carsten Spohr, CEO, Lufthansa Group

Alexander Vlaskamp, CEO, MAN Truck & Bus SE

Ola Källenius, CEO, Mercedes-Benz AG

Belén Garijo, CEO, Merck KGaA

Lars Wagner, CEO, MTU Aero Engines AG

Joachim Wenning, CEO, Munich Reinsurance Company

Lionel Souque, CEO, REWE Group

Armin Papperger, CEO, Rheinmetall AG

Stefan Hartung, CEO, Robert Bosch GmbH

Norbert Rollinger, CEO, R + V Versicherung AG

Markus Krebber, CEO, RWE AG

Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO, Schaeffler AG

Torsten Derr, CEO, Schott AG

Roland Busch, CEO, Siemens AG

Christian Bruch, CEO, Siemens Energy AG

Bernd Montag, CEO, Siemens Healthineers AG

Jochen Burg, CEO, SMS group GmbH

Miguel Ángel López Borrego, CEO, thyssenkrupp AG

Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, CEO, TRUMPF SE + Co. KG

Michael Lewis, CEO, Uniper SE

Oliver Blume, CEO Volkswagen AG and Porsche AG

Rolf Buch, CEO, Vonovia AG

Christian Hartel, CEO, Wacker Chemie AG

Source

Featured image source, ghetto: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nazi-germany-and-establishment-ghettos

Full article here: https://www.europereloaded.com/german-companies-acknowledge-responsibility-for-nazi-rise-to-power/