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8 Modern Day Brands That Actually Worked With Hitler & The Nazis





World War 2 was a scary time for everyone involved. Different countries were at each other’s throats because of different ideas. Whether it was the fascists or the bolsheviks, the war was going to be catastrophic. We have all heard war stories from history books and television documentaries, but WW2 was not started in a day.


 Nazis were very efficient at running the German Reich, which included its population and manufacturing industry. Germany did not become a war machine overnight because they had help from many major corporations.



We list down some popular brands from today that were responsible for Nazi Germany’s success. 



1. Hugo Boss


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© YouTube
Hugo Boss is widely considered as one of the biggest luxury fashion brands in the world. They are popular for making suits and menswear but do you know how Hugo actually started his business? 

Hugo Boss is responsible for designing and manufacturing the intimidating uniforms of the Waffen-SS. The SS acted as a death squad who were responsible for many lives lost in the Holocaust and the unjust treatment of war prisoners. Hugo Boss himself joined the Nazi Party and won the contract to design the uniform for Hitler’s army. 

The manufacturing of the Nazi Uniform went so well that Hugo Boss ended up using slave labourers from Poland and France in order to meet the Reich’s needs. 

2. Kodak


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© Kodak
Kodak has been responsible for some of the most memorable family photographs caught on film. However, Kodak was also one of the corporations that utilised slave labour in order to assist the Nazi Government during WW II. Kodak was not only manufacturing cameras back then, they were also making triggers, detonators and other military equipment for the Germans.


3. Fanta


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© Reddit, Fanta
Coca-Cola was one the few American companies that were allowed to operate in Nazi Germany during the war and in 1941, Fanta debuted on the German market. What you need to know is that Coca-Cola was not able to import the cola syrup from the USA due to trade embargoes. In order for Coca-Cola to remain operational, they invented a drink that used local ingredients and the end product turned out to be Fanta. 


4. BMW


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© BMW
BMW has admitted that the company used up to 30,000 slave labourers during the war in order to keep producing engines for the Luftwaffe (German Airforce). These labourers included POWs, inmates and political prisoners that were deemed undesirable by the regime. 

5. Siemens


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© Siemens, YouTube
Siemens used slave labourers during the Holocaust to construct gas chambers that were later used to kill them. These gas chambers were an efficient way to kill Jews and their families which eventually led to death of 6 million of them. 

In 2001, they even tried to trademark the word Zyklon (Which means cyclone in German) as they wanted to use that word for a line of gas ovens. Zyklon was the name of the gas that was used in their gas chambers to kill Jews at death camps like Auschwitz amongst many others across Europe. 

6. Ford


Brands That Worked With the Nazis© Ford
Henry Ford was infamous for being an anti-Semite and also blamed the Jews for WW I. He was Hitler’s most popular foreign supporter and on his 75th Birthday, Ford received a Nazi Medal for distinguished foreigners. 

He profited from both sides of the war i.e. he was making cars for both the Nazis and the Allies. 


7. IBM



© IBM
IBM was responsible for making machines for the Nazis that was able to track almost everything. These machines were used to track oil supplies, train schedules to death camps to even keeping track of individual Holocaust victims themselves. 
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it was reported that over 3 million Jews were going to be removed from society and exterminated. In an internal memo, IBM responded that due to the new ‘situation’, they had to speed up the production of high-speed alphabetizing equipment.



8. Bayer


© Bayer

Remember Zyklon B? The chemical gas, which was used in the gas chambers at Auschwitz? It turns out Bayer (Known as IG Farben back then) was the one responsible for manufacturing the deadly gas. They also funded Josef Mengele’s experiments on Jewish children and prisoners.

And in case you didn’t know, a Jewish Bayer employee, Arthur Eichengrun, founded Aspirin. However, Bayer did not want to admit to the public that a Jewish man invented one of their most successful product and still gives the credit to a German, to this very day.



SOURCE:MensXP
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