” The research study is a purposely selected opportunity and a restored intention for us to face up to our duty and, on the basis of past experiences, to comprehend our identity more clearly and to develop a much better future,” Degenhart said in a news release. “This is the responsibility of each new generation.”.
The total study (in German) is available here.
Continental commissioned the report “to acquire more clarity about the darkest chapter in our businesss history,” Degenhart stated.
And it can not be overstated how dark that history is. Part of the 800-page book, for example, details a shoe sole testing track at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp outside Berlin. There, according to Deutsche Welle:.
Horrific was Continentals usage of slave labor. Heres how Continentals own summary of the study describes it:.
According to the research study, Continental utilized a total of around 10,000 required workers during the Second World War. In the last years of the war, for example, it was concentration camp prisoners who were utilized in the production of gas masks and in the moving of production underground. The Continental management was actively involved in this procedure and contributed to the gradual radicalization of the activated workforce.
Detainees were required to march 30 to 40 kilometers (19 to 25 miles) each day around the camps courtyard to the sound of German marching tunes– any prisoners who slowed down or fell were performed by the camps SS guards.
Continental also ordered unique tests involving forced marches on the snow and ice, with numerous prisoners marching without socks and some strolling up to 2,200 kilometers.
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Part of the 800-page book, for example, information a shoe sole screening track at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp outside Berlin. According to the research study, Continental used a total of around 10,000 forced laborers during the Second World War. Their origins were diverse and varied from Italian “young fascists” to short-term workers from occupied Belgium, and French and Russian prisoners of war. In the final years of the war, for example, it was concentration camp detainees who were used in the production of gas masks and in the moving of production underground. The Continental management was actively included in this process and contributed to the steady radicalization of the mobilized workforce.
Elmar Degenhart, the primary executive of Continental considering that 2009, stated the study was “past due” but might not describe why it had actually taken so long.
” We cant promote earlier generations of management and dont desire to make any allegations against them,” Mr. Degenhart said throughout a press conference Thursday.
However Continental couldnt discuss why it had actually taken decades to do so. Per The New York Times:.
Photo: Getty Images (Getty Images).
The German auto parts supplier Continental recently released a years-in-the-making study detailing its Nazi-era past, including making use of 10,000 servant workers at a time, CEO Elmar Degenhart said, when Continental “was a vital part of Hitlers war device.”.
The research was conducted by a historian, Paul Erker, a university professor in Munich. Continental states every “appropriate” document was made offered to him “completely and without restriction,” including a chest of formerly not available material.
The auto industry is rife with business that had ties to the Nazi program, obviously, including Daimler, Volkswagen, Porsche, BMW, GM and Ford, among others. Continentals release of the study remains in keeping with many German companies decisions to examine their relationships with the Nazis.
