Continental Was 'Pillar' of Nazi War Machine, Study Says

   By Pietro Lombardi 
 

Continental AG played a key role in Nazi Germany's war efforts and used roughly 10,000 forced laborers, some of whom were exploited to death, during World War II, a study commissioned by the company found.

The German car-parts supplier "became a pillar of the National Socialist armaments and war economy and at the same time benefited economically from the regime's mobilization and armament policy," it said Thursday.

"The study shows that Continental was an important part of Hitler's war machine," Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart said. "We commissioned the study in order to gain more clarity about the darkest chapter in our company's history."

The study, authored by corporate historian Paul Erker, launched four years ago and included companies that weren't part of the group between 1933 and 1945.

The use of forced laborers varied significantly during World War II and included French and Russian prisoners of war, temporary workers from occupied Belgium and Italians.

"Gradually, the nature of their deployment became more and more radical," Continental said. Towards the end of the war, for example, concentration camp prisoners were used to produce gas masks.

The company's management played an active role in this process, according to the study.

The study, which focuses on the company's history between 1933 and 1945, also draws on previously unknown documents.

Continental said the results of the study will become part of Continental's corporate training, adding it would sponsor a scholarship to foster research on economic and corporate history during the Nazi period.

"The study is a consciously chosen opportunity and a renewed motive for us to face up to our responsibility and, on the basis of past experiences, to understand our identity more clearly and to create a better future," the CEO said.

"This is the duty of each new generation. So today we are by no means drawing a line under this responsibility."

Write to Pietro Lombardi at [e-mail]; @pietrolombard10

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 27, 2020 11:56 ET (15:56 GMT)

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