"German tyre-maker Continental has revealed that it used concentration camp prisoners as slave labour during the Second World War. The firm said prisoners at Sachsenhausen concentration camp were forced to test boots with rubber soles that it manufactured, by marching around the camp in them. Prisoners were expected to walk up to 25 miles per day around a large gallows in the camp's parade ground, and if they fell down or refused then they were shot. Around 10,000 people were press-ganged into service for Continental, including testing the boots which were eventually be supplied to the Nazi army. The horrifying details were revealed in a review that the company ordered into its own past, in an attempt to own up to its deeds and make amends for them. Continental was the world's biggest producer of rubber materials at the time, and supplied the Nazi war machine as the horrors of the Holocaust unfolded." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8670395/German-tyre-firm-Continental-used-concentration-camp-prisoners-slave-labour.html
Good old DM - at least 4 year old news. The testing of the rubber boots detailed in 2016 if not before Cesarani David Final Solution the Fate of the Jews 1933- 49 William Henemann London 2016 Gerlach Christian The Extermination of the European Jews Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2016
Probably "known" for decades, but had been "forgotten." At least 3 satellite camps of Neuengamme concentration camp used slave labor to do work for Continental Gummi Werk AG. Likely, all large Germany companies did make use of slave labor later in the war at one time or another.
Probably the first time the company itself has acknowledged the fact, rather than it just becoming known. Still waiting on some of them claiming to have "helped Jews" rather than use slave labour.
Probably referring to this bit- "A foundation was set up in 2000 to pay compensation to former Nazi forced labourers or their families, in which the German government and industry contributed in equal measure to a more than five billion euro fund." -and an imminent massive contribution from them.
Not that it justifies the use of slave labor, but it is true. One of the local Holocaust survivors freely admitted that Siemens saved his life by taking him out of Auschwitz and putting him to work in one of their factories.
Horch 4x4 - Vincent Abbott German Infantrie Karren IF8 Manufacturer: JUG Year: 1941 Serial Number: 331 It's not like it was ever some sort of secret. Though I now feel broadly about this stuff as I do about the 'Hur Hur - DAILY MAIL SUPPORTED HITLER' brigade. Not the same people. In many ways not the same company. Do we continue to condemn all Germans for the country's stance 80 years ago? etc. I do like the way some companies have acknowledged that something very peculiar happened, and think they should now be allowed to move on. In short - funny old world, innit.
Well, Krupp had their own trial at Nuremberg. Damlier-Benz paid slave labor reparations in 1988. Never heard of KraussMaffei sa ying mea culpa.
Gerlach makes the point that survival almost always did depend upon being transferred for slave labour but only because this deferred death long enough for liberation!
