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Porsche, BMW and other famous German brands must come to terms with their past
A new book urges companies to square with their past in order to move forward with their future
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Cars being transported by rail at the production site of German carmaker Volkswagen in Emden in northern Germany last week.
PHOTO: AFP
On Feb 20, 1933 at 6pm, about two dozen of Nazi Germany's wealthiest and most influential businessmen arrived, on foot or by chauffeured car, to attend a meeting at the official residence of Reichstag president Hermann Goring in the heart of Berlin's government and business district.
The attendees included Gunther Quandt, a textile producer-turned-arms and battery tycoon; Friedrich Flick, a steel magnate; Baron August von Finck, a Bavarian finance mogul; Kurt Schmitt, chief executive of insurance behemoth Allianz; executives from chemicals conglomerate IG Farben and potash giant Wintershall; and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, chairman through marriage of the Krupp steel empire.
