I hate that VW became the Nazi car when it was really a way to scam people, and BMW and Mercedes get a pass despite making war machines the whole damn time.
With one honourable exception: Leitz, who made Leica cameras. A privately held company, they hired German Jews and immediately posted them abroad as “sales representatives”, delivering them to safety. This was explicitly on the orders of the Leitz family, who also insisted on keeping the programme secret even after the war rather than claiming credit.
I used to work for a German chemical manufacturer. One of the things they highlighted in their history is that in the lead up to WW2 they moved their headquarters and German factories to the UK and started making aircraft paint for the RAF. Overall they were a good company to work for.
The German people. They had coupon books where you could save up for a car or a vacation but used all that money to build factories to build war materiel. They never actually built a single consumer car.
Yeah. The current crop of fascists would be proud. I got the same sort of vibe when I was asked to create a “Trump account” for my kid when I was doing my taxes.
I hate that VW became the Nazi car when it was really a way to scam people, and BMW and Mercedes get a pass despite making war machines the whole damn time.
Don’t ask about Porsche, Opel, Bayer, Adidas… basically any German company that existed in that period.
With one honourable exception: Leitz, who made Leica cameras. A privately held company, they hired German Jews and immediately posted them abroad as “sales representatives”, delivering them to safety. This was explicitly on the orders of the Leitz family, who also insisted on keeping the programme secret even after the war rather than claiming credit.
I used to work for a German chemical manufacturer. One of the things they highlighted in their history is that in the lead up to WW2 they moved their headquarters and German factories to the UK and started making aircraft paint for the RAF. Overall they were a good company to work for.
What’s the name? I want to read about that kind of organization.
Hugo Boss designed all those cute uniforms.
Now we have Florsheim and WTF these are…
To be fair, the BMW museum in Munich has an entire section on their participation, and atrocities and an apology for it.
Have you seen the plastic parts in BMW or Mercedes now? Even Maybachs are fragile shit. VW really hasn’t kept up scamming with it’s brothers.
Dieselgate was a pretty big scam. Though they bought back my old car for the original purchase price so I’m not mad.
VW were also building V-1 bombs.
The machinery paid for with money scammed from people who thought they were buying VWs built V-1s.
A British officer was actually the one to get the factory to start making cars.
Say what? Who did they scam?
The German people. They had coupon books where you could save up for a car or a vacation but used all that money to build factories to build war materiel. They never actually built a single consumer car.
https://www.volkswagen-group.com/en/volkswagen-chronicle-17351/1937-to-1945-founding-of-the-company-and-integration-into-the-war-economy-17354
Damn. Nazis gonna grift, I guess.
Yeah. The current crop of fascists would be proud. I got the same sort of vibe when I was asked to create a “Trump account” for my kid when I was doing my taxes.