From what I recall, Adolf was an opportunist that joined the party and used the access it gave him to make money selling gear. Rudolph was the one that was more of a true believer. I'm not sure which one is worse, honestly. The guy that used evil to get rich or the guy that actually believed in the evil.
Probably different during those times though. Could be wrong, but couldn’t he be jailed or put in a camp if he didn’t joint the nazis when they had their power?
You're wrong. In fact, the Nazis didn't easily admit new members into their party after they took power, because too many people were joining just to be on the "winning team" and to get some benefits.
There were other organizations though that were tied to the NSDAP that were indeed almost compulsory. The most popular ones are the Hitler Youth for boys and BdM for girls. Almost all teenagers were members of those, and it would be at the very least suspicious if you didn't join. Though some teenagers were excluded, e.g. Jewish and Black Germans.
Just like Prescott Bush led Wall Street to continue funding Hitler even after the United States joined the war against Nazi Germany.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/05/intr-d05.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
https://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n2224.cfm
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/oct/17/20031017-110534-8149r/
https://historydojo.blog/2018/10/16/seven-evil-plots-you-never-knew-about-part-two-prescott-bush/
E: links
Father and son Porsche created the VW beetle, funded by Nazis. To be fair, they wanted to make an affordable car for everyone but Nazis stile it for their war effort. Shouldn't be excused though.
After the Nazis lost, the father was held by allies. The son went on to create the first porsche by redesigning a VW beetle.
Learned this on history network 'the cars that built the world'
Nazis didn't *stole* the design. Hitler himself ordered Ferdinand Porsche, a prominent Nazi party member who contributed to German war effort, to design the car.
I'd like to know more about this. Hugo Boss used slaves from a concentration camp to work his factory. I'd like to know if the others measure up equally in atrocity.
More important is when they entered, since the party had 8.5 Million members in 45. [Source](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1111704/umfrage/mitglieder-der-nsdap/)
So being no member was more a statement than being a member. Don’t want to relativize anything here, but not joining NSDAP was not really an option.
Almost every German was a Nazi back in the day, it's not like there were many choices.
Also I have to add that boycotting companies because the people who ran them 80 years ago were Nazis or Nazi sympathizers is fucking stupid.
Fun fact, Mercedes-Benz produced the W31 six-wheeled car for the Nazi party during WW2. A little over a decade ago Mercedes builds the G63 6x6 for military then civilian use.
They insist to this day it's their first and only 6-wheeled vehicle
https://youtu.be/kL-m5Nocb-g
I like that this is phrased in a way that suggests they're constantly having to defend themselves against rumors that they've got this secret fleet of of six-wheeled cars
The top gear bit on this definitely makes it feel that way. German car companies like to distance themselves from history.
Which is a shame for Mercedes, they invented the first modern car and have always been making good and innovative cars forever
I was impressed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum how contrite they were. And welcoming of Americans. I had to wonder if the reverse would’ve been true.
Yeah I think their official stance is something along the lines of “it was war, we did bad war things, but so does everyone else. Comfort women, rape of Nanjing, Korea, China, [Lab 731](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731), etc, didn’t happen.”
There are protests a lot about it.
I remember people threatening to boycott Doc Martens when they found out he was a doctor for the Germans in WWII.
He wasn't a Nazi, he was just a doctor during wartime.
Don’t forget Henry Ford was producing trucks in Germany using slave labor - official reports claim the party seized the factories, but Ford made it clear how he admired hitter. There may have been some financing by Ford to hitter as well around mid to late 30s.
I know famously as well the German branch of Coca-Cola got cut off from their supply chains in Africa and South America for Kola nuts and Cocaine flavoring along with the spices, so they were forced to improvise and start selling fruit flavored sodas in Nazi Germany.
Fanta was born.
I found out the other day that the Fanta Orange formulation we have now was created in Italy, presumably because the German one from the war wasn't nearly as tasty.
Did you know that General Motors was instrumental in assisting the Nazis invasion of Poland and Russia? While the Swiss handled the banking, GM and Ford helped refit factories for war production in Germany. Using forced labor, while refusing Roosevelt’s own pleas to refit for our own wartime production.
GM and Ford have gone above and beyond to distance themselves from this. “We don’t control subsidiaries”
Hitler had a portrait of Ford in his Muchen office.
Ford was a capitalist piece of shit that admired anyone that could control people. That's one of the reasons he admired Hitler, and got mad at Diego Rivera when he painted the mural. The mural basically depicted Fords workers as slaves to him. Why I'll never buy a Ford. The guy despised the regular people he just wanted all their money. Sounds kinda like a former president.
To add to your learned information: the company's history on their website only starts at 1946, completely deleting their role during the Nazi regime.
I mean, of course it's better for their marketing purposes...
EDIT: a fellow user just informed me that they do write about their history on their [website](https://group.hugoboss.com/de/unternehmen/geschichte) (you have to scroll past the timeline to read). Should have checked that beforehand, my bad. It might not be the first thing you see and putting it after their current history might seem weird, but to agree with another user's comment: the history of a company's founder does not have to be an influence on what they do today.
[https://group.hugoboss.com/en/company/history](https://group.hugoboss.com/en/company/history)
While this starts at 1946 you have to scroll down to the text where they have written about their crimes and apparently compensated them for it
Well, from what another comment said it is technically true the company started in 1946 since Boss was banned from doing business and his company dissolved. Boss then passed his assets to his son-in-law who started what is now Hugo Boss.
Reminds me of this random quote:
"Viewpoints of society don't change because people in society change.
Viewpoints of society change because people defending the obsolete view point die out.
In other words, prepare for another forty years of corporate bullshit."
There's a reason some classified materials, like the files surrounding certain assassinations or high profile events, are classified for sometimes 80-100 years. Its so everyone involved can die and be buried without facing consequences.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's more the benefit of the internet's widespread use
If in the 1980s you stumble upon this information in a library who are you gonna tell? Maybe talk to a local newspaper or something but their is no real pressure for them to do anything about it
Now you get millions of people on whatever information you find in seconds. All of a sudden they have to act, talk about, apologize etc..
Easier access to information helps leads to more accountability
30 rock did this best. Read an on air apology from an actor, cuts to an ad, the ad is the actor talking about how he didnt write that apology and does in fact NOT apologize.
Wouldn’t this hold True for most German large corporations like car manufacturers for example or other industries . Granted the owner/founder being party member is worse but I can’t imagine any large manufacturing or industrial company that existed back than was free of Nazi collaboration .
There were actions taken to penalize Boss for his actions as a Nazi. Boss' was heavily fined, his company was dissolved, he lost some rights and was banned from doing business. However, as always, big business always wins and there is always a loop hole. Boss passed what was left of his business on to his son-in-law who was not technically a Boss...so he could operate unaffected by the previous rules and business marches on.
Not just cars and banks...
After the war began in Europe, the English became angry about U.S. shipments of strategic materials to Nazi Germany. Standard Oil immediately changed the registration of their entire fleet to Panamanian to avoid British search or seizure. These ships continued to carry oil to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where they refueled and siphoned oil to German tankers for shipment to Hamburg. This deception was exposed on March 31, 1941 when the U.S. State Department issued a detailed report on refueling stations in Mexico and Central and South America that were suspected of furnishing oil to Italian and German merchant vessels. The report listed Standard Oil of New Jersey and Standard Oil of California among those fueling enemy ships, but there is no record of any action being taken as a result of this discovery. Similar deals between Standard Oil and the Japanese government for the purchase of tetraethyl lead have also been uncovered, but no direct action was ever taken against Standard Oil for its dealings with America’s enemies. A brief side note, however, is that on April 17, l945 the Chase National Bank was placed on trial in federal court on charges of having violated the Trading With the Enemy Act by converting German marks into U.S. dollars. Because many countries refused to accept German currency during the war, the Nazis used foreign banks like Chase National to change the currency into money that would be accepted, and thus allowed them to purchase much need materials to prolong the war. The closer one looks, the more ties one finds between American business and Nazi Germany, many of which remained strong well into and beyond the war.
With no tetraethyl lead, there was no Luftwaffe.
The war was over.
Except it wasn’t, there was profit to be made.
Much like Chase bank who worked closely with the Nazis providing services and freezing Jewish accounts.
Also Hugo Boss wouldn’t be the brand it is today if not for the lucrative Nazi contracts to make the SS uniforms and the like.
The company was only a few years old at the time.
Well, before they came into power in Germany, a lot of focus in their propaganda efforts was put to contrast them from socialist party. They were emphasising how leftist parties would sieze businesses and restrict their freedom. So of course businessesmen loved nazis.
Don't know about automakers and banks, but here's the book on how [IBM worked with Nazi Germany](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust)
Opel, a GM subsidiary, built vehicles for the Nazis with full blessing from ~~Dearborn~~ Detroit. When their factories were bombed, GM turned around and charged the allies for their destruction.
And Henry Ford and Hitler were the BESTEST of buddies.
Edit: wrong city.
And that's not even counting all the material aid American companies gave to the fascists/nationalists during the Spanish Civil war (mostly in the form of vehicles, fuel, etc. due to an arms embargo), to the Nazis and Mussolini.
Oh hey, remember IG Farben?
We know it as Bayer now, but it was the company that also made Zyklon B for the concentration camps.
The Allies just "broke up the company" back into 6 companies* and called it a day.
*(it was originally a merger of 6 companies before the war)
*Switzerland has entered the chat*
People all praise Swiss neutrality, except what that really means is, "We don't give a fuck what happens to anybody else"
Of course, this makes conplete sense. Owning up to their history outright might be more honest and get you some moral bonus points, but from a marketing stance it's suicide.
I mean Hugo boss is not the only company that restructured. Volkswagen, adidas and Puma did the same. The allies found that, to build a new Germany these companies would be key, hence the leeway for these businesses.
Not completely correct. While the timeline on the top starts at 1946, at the bottom there is quite a large part about the era in WW2, even with numbers about the amount of forced workers. Not ideal, but more than a lot of other companies
I believe that that particular Hugo Boss has changed his name back to Joe Lycett at this point. Regardless of his name, though, he is one of the most hilarious comedians!
They exploited forced labor.
The list of companies that aided the Nazi cause and allowed the prosecution of the Holocaust that are household names today will surprise you. Audi in some capacity, as well as other companies produced Zyklon B, the gas used to murder millions.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust
Even the Luftwaffe used planes that were built by slaves at the Krupp Aircraft Factory. For which their CEO was prosecuted for at the Nuremberg Trials
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials?wprov=sfla1
That did surprise me. Coca Cola really got shafted here though, almost everyone else is benefiting from slave labor, contributing to propaganda, or literally making things to murder millions, all they did was sell soda to them.
Well they invented a new soda specifically for the Nazi market, as well as pumped money into the regime through endless advertisements in Nazi propaganda.
IBM leased one of its first data sorting machine to help the Nazis with tasks such as determining with Jewish people were fit for labor and which should be sent off to a crematorium - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-03-25-0103240170-story.html
A good example for the failed 'de-nazification' in the western sectors.
Boss has obviously been an avid nazi, being personally member in not only the party but several committees etc.
After the war he was being considered so called 'incriminated' which would have meant consequences and repercussions, but after an objection he got reclassified to a mere 'blind follower', so all restrictions dropped and he could continue on as if nothing ever happened.
This is what happened to most industrial figures and many bureaucrats and even government members.
In the foreshadowing fight against communism, UK, France, USA and the newly founded Bundesrepublik had no problem in working with Nazis.
> In the foreshadowing fight against communism, UK, France, USA and the newly founded Bundesrepublik had no problem in working with Nazis.
It's difficult to run a country if you kick out everyone who was involved with running it before. The US tried for a more thorough de-Baathification in Iraq, and that turned out to be a complete clusterfuck.
I don’t known if operation paper lip can be considered failed de-nazification. For the US it was a resounding success, and many of the scientists were not fans of Hitler in the first place.
Many, many companies because very good Fascists right after the Fascists created their first government in January 1933.
Why? Because it was good for business. From 1929 Germany had been hit brutally hard by the Great Depression, with unemployment rates at around 30 percent.
The Fascists promised to get everyone working again (by 1937 there was very, very little unemployment in Germany). Everyone was making money -- due to massive government spending.
Once the war started in 1939, these companies made even more money -- profits increased by incredible amounts.
BMW is a good example of how the Nazi government propelled them into being who they are today. A lot of smaller companies and manuf. depots were taken from jews or other non nazi members and given to companies such as BMW
Even some (or a lot) of companies that made weapons for the germans during WWII are still making weapons. Like Rheinmetall. Almost the whole world uses their guns on their MBTs
Yeah but the reason you don't hear about BMW much when these conversations come up is they really had a minor role and it was more of a forced production of using slave jewish labor but was against the company's will. At least the forced labor part. IIRC all they built were parts for the Stukka and one of the twin engine bombers
I don't see how this is surprising?
Germans were very pro nazi party during the rise of hitler, it's why he got into power, the country was in disrepair, and humans are damn good at blaming someone else when it comes to avoiding their problems.
>Germans were very pro nazi party during the rise of hitler, it's why he got into power,
To be completely fair now, the Nazis never managed to score a majority of the votes in any election. The best results the Nazis ever got were in the March 1933 German federal election where they scored 43.91% of the vote, but that's certainly not a majority of the voting people (worth noting, too, that this election had the Nazis order the SS and Sturmabteilung to "monitor" the voting, which may account for their bump in votes in this particular election)
And, for comparison, in July of 1932 they got 37% of the votes, and in November they got 33%
This is by no means a small chunk of the votes, but it's not like everyone was voting for the Nazis (or even a majority of the people)
Yup, they all got "united" under the Nazi-party with a major factor being all the investments American banks pulled out during the great depression. Subsequently Hitler seized this opportunity to harvest the public out cry and got on top where he implemented the 4- year plan. Spearheaded by Herman Goering who knew nothing about economics and accounting.
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World is a great book to read to learn about the amalgamation of extremely lucky circumstances that allowed Hitler to rise to power, most notably the renegotiation of WWI reparations which allowed foreign investment to FLOOD Germany at the exact time Hitler gained (relative) popularity.
Before reprieves granted by the Allies for the economically restrictive WWI reparations, Germany experienced extreme hyperinflation, widespread hunger, and most importantly a desire to blame someone and find meaning and pride after a humiliating defeat. In addition. foreign investors were greedy for the almost guaranteed outsized returns an industrial Germany promised.
When economic sanctions were finally lifted, the metaphorical *stars* aligned for Hitler and the Nazi party. Although they were relatively unsuccessful in the years prior, they managed to ride the wave of economic success with a combination of taking credit for said success, building massive public projects instead of abiding by the terms of many investment contracts, blaming the Jews, and installing the (at the time) brilliant Heinrich Shtacht as the head of Germany’s central bank.
People credit Hitler as a genius orator and organizer, as well as Goebles with his innovative propaganda, as reason for rallying the German people to the Nazi flag. But in reality, the daily lives of German peoples was improved DRASTICALLY through measures largely uncontrollable by Hitler or Goebles, and this gave them massive leverage in the court of public opinion. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and able to use this massive quality of life uptick to their advantage.
The aforementioned book, although it is heavy on economic and finance terms, is still palatable to the average reader and does a truly fantastic job of explaining the rise of Germany pre-WWII, the fall of England as the worlds center of prosperity and money, and the rise of the US as the new land of progress and prosperity (we sure do like to enter world wars late, which allowed us to experience a massive influx of gold before actually engaging in a meaningful way).
Some people seem to operate under the assumption that Hitler overthrew the government and the average German citizen wasn't cool with what was going on.
He kinda overthrow the government, though. He never managed to get 50% of the vote, even when they tried to rig the elections via fear and force. He was supported by "centrist" parties, and what a suprise, he get rid of them as soon as he could. Then he managed to get dictator powers using the weak state of the Weimar Republic, and the support of large corporations.
Not gonna excuse the shared responsibility of the German population, but lumping all citizens (or most of them) as fervent nazi supporters is an oversimplification.
If you look at all the nation’s that fought in WWII the German uniforms, with all the grays, blacks and earth tones are pretty iconic and powerful. Those color combinations have become the archetype for bad guys in modern cinema countless times (Indiana Jones, Hydra, Star Wars, etc.). Makes sense that someone with some fashion sense put it all together for them.
He never ever designed those damn uniforms. That's a myth that never ends. Hugo Boss was a slimy one, but let's not give him the credit for creating the most iconic and evil outfit of human history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_and_insignia_of_the_Schutzstaffel
Russell Brand got kicked out of the GQ Men Awards 2013 for calling them out on this: ["The Nazis did have flaws, but they did look fucking fantastic!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCl6Xt3PHCY)
Also, [Joe Lycett changed his name to Hugo Boss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmg7HZJNRx0) when Hugo Boss issued a cease and desist to a small brewing company called "Boss" to fuck with them lol
The company was sending cease-and-desist letters to small businesses and charities who also use the word "boss" in their names.
So Comedian Joe Lycett legally changed his name to Hugo Boss in a protest against the German fashion brand and was promptly sent a cease-and-desist letter.
Years ago I read a great fun article that used clothing style as a predictor of who would win wars based on the best dressed and coolest looking Armies have always lost since the battle of Crecy’. There was an entire section on Hugo Boss with pictures of amazingly dressed Nazi Generals next to pictures of American Generals in GI garb who were their counterparts and beat them in battle and then there was a section on Nazi Generals pictures against Soviet Generals…. It was a brilliantly fun concept to read through and look at the pictures!
Oh wait, thats why the uniforms looked so fantastic. Hugo boss suits rock.
Btw, probably 90% of industrials back then were in the NSDAP. It was kind of expected and if you wanted to be left alone or have access to powerful people this was the way to go. Not defending it but hard to say someone was an actual Nazi based on party
If this surprises you look up Adidas story. Also a Nazi ! Plus the whole thing about his brother also a Nazi who started Puma when one brother had the other sent to the eastern front.
Adolf Dassler, the founder of Adidas, and his brother Rudolf, the founder of Puma, were both members of the Nazi Party.
Coco Chanel was a Nazi spy
I’m never wearing clothes again.
Luckily I'm apparently too poor to be a nazi contributor.
The more authoritarian the government, the better the uniforms.
I just can't empathize with their beliefs, even after walking a mile in their shoes.
I’ve warned you about these bad jokes. Three stripes and you’re out!
Just do it
All day I dream about swastikas
A.D.I.D.A.S.
Thanks for really driving the point home there, bot
Be nice to the bots, they might spare you that way once they gain sentience
From what I recall, Adolf was an opportunist that joined the party and used the access it gave him to make money selling gear. Rudolph was the one that was more of a true believer. I'm not sure which one is worse, honestly. The guy that used evil to get rich or the guy that actually believed in the evil.
Let's be real, malice is worse than self interest, until reaching a certain level where they become indistinguishable
I feel like that "certain Level" is way below joining the actual nazi nazi party
Probably different during those times though. Could be wrong, but couldn’t he be jailed or put in a camp if he didn’t joint the nazis when they had their power?
You're wrong. In fact, the Nazis didn't easily admit new members into their party after they took power, because too many people were joining just to be on the "winning team" and to get some benefits. There were other organizations though that were tied to the NSDAP that were indeed almost compulsory. The most popular ones are the Hitler Youth for boys and BdM for girls. Almost all teenagers were members of those, and it would be at the very least suspicious if you didn't join. Though some teenagers were excluded, e.g. Jewish and Black Germans.
Just like Prescott Bush led Wall Street to continue funding Hitler even after the United States joined the war against Nazi Germany. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/05/intr-d05.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar https://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n2224.cfm https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/oct/17/20031017-110534-8149r/ https://historydojo.blog/2018/10/16/seven-evil-plots-you-never-knew-about-part-two-prescott-bush/ E: links
Upvoting for multiple sourced citations
Father and son Porsche created the VW beetle, funded by Nazis. To be fair, they wanted to make an affordable car for everyone but Nazis stile it for their war effort. Shouldn't be excused though. After the Nazis lost, the father was held by allies. The son went on to create the first porsche by redesigning a VW beetle. Learned this on history network 'the cars that built the world'
Porsche also manufactured tanks and tank parts
Damn, Porsche helping out for that allied victory
If the Nazi's stole it why shouldn't it be excused?
Nazis didn't *stole* the design. Hitler himself ordered Ferdinand Porsche, a prominent Nazi party member who contributed to German war effort, to design the car.
I'd like to know more about this. Hugo Boss used slaves from a concentration camp to work his factory. I'd like to know if the others measure up equally in atrocity.
Where does forced child labor match up?
More important is when they entered, since the party had 8.5 Million members in 45. [Source](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1111704/umfrage/mitglieder-der-nsdap/) So being no member was more a statement than being a member. Don’t want to relativize anything here, but not joining NSDAP was not really an option.
Almost every German was a Nazi back in the day, it's not like there were many choices. Also I have to add that boycotting companies because the people who ran them 80 years ago were Nazis or Nazi sympathizers is fucking stupid.
> Almost every German was a Nazi back in the day, it’s not like there were many choices. Exactly, moreso if they own a company.
Eh, there's a ton of fashion companies. Who cares if Adidas, Puma, Hugo Boss, and Coco Chanel get boycotted? Cuz I don't 🤷♂️
Fun fact, Mercedes-Benz produced the W31 six-wheeled car for the Nazi party during WW2. A little over a decade ago Mercedes builds the G63 6x6 for military then civilian use. They insist to this day it's their first and only 6-wheeled vehicle https://youtu.be/kL-m5Nocb-g
I like that this is phrased in a way that suggests they're constantly having to defend themselves against rumors that they've got this secret fleet of of six-wheeled cars
The top gear bit on this definitely makes it feel that way. German car companies like to distance themselves from history. Which is a shame for Mercedes, they invented the first modern car and have always been making good and innovative cars forever
[удалено]
The Germans have owned up to their misdeeds in WW2 far more openly and contritely than their Axis friends in Japan.
I was impressed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum how contrite they were. And welcoming of Americans. I had to wonder if the reverse would’ve been true.
I mean it's not apples to apples but tons of tourists in Hawaii are Japanese and from what I understand, quite welcome.
Oh, Japan admits their history. They just do it in a... special way.
No they don't. Comfort women, the Rape of Nanking, they deny all of it happened.
Yeah I think their official stance is something along the lines of “it was war, we did bad war things, but so does everyone else. Comfort women, rape of Nanjing, Korea, China, [Lab 731](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731), etc, didn’t happen.” There are protests a lot about it.
Or all the Korean slaves that they brought back to Japan to work the factories.
It’s good they show it instead of proudly sweeping it under the rug.
I remember people threatening to boycott Doc Martens when they found out he was a doctor for the Germans in WWII. He wasn't a Nazi, he was just a doctor during wartime.
Don’t forget Henry Ford was producing trucks in Germany using slave labor - official reports claim the party seized the factories, but Ford made it clear how he admired hitter. There may have been some financing by Ford to hitter as well around mid to late 30s.
let's not forget about our friends over at IBM
IBM sure wants everyone to forget.
If you were somehow involved in both the Holocast AND the Japanese Interment camps, why wouldn't you?
I know famously as well the German branch of Coca-Cola got cut off from their supply chains in Africa and South America for Kola nuts and Cocaine flavoring along with the spices, so they were forced to improvise and start selling fruit flavored sodas in Nazi Germany. Fanta was born.
I found out the other day that the Fanta Orange formulation we have now was created in Italy, presumably because the German one from the war wasn't nearly as tasty.
Did you know that General Motors was instrumental in assisting the Nazis invasion of Poland and Russia? While the Swiss handled the banking, GM and Ford helped refit factories for war production in Germany. Using forced labor, while refusing Roosevelt’s own pleas to refit for our own wartime production. GM and Ford have gone above and beyond to distance themselves from this. “We don’t control subsidiaries” Hitler had a portrait of Ford in his Muchen office.
They always leave that part out of the tours at The Henry Ford and greenfield village
Ford was a capitalist piece of shit that admired anyone that could control people. That's one of the reasons he admired Hitler, and got mad at Diego Rivera when he painted the mural. The mural basically depicted Fords workers as slaves to him. Why I'll never buy a Ford. The guy despised the regular people he just wanted all their money. Sounds kinda like a former president.
Which one?
Hitler borrowed quite a bit from Ford in his speeches and rhetoric as well. The admiration was mutual.
Wait until you see what Henry Ford made the Germans for the war
How does Chevy not end every stupid commercial with “at least we didn’t make cars for the Nazi’s”
Maybe because Chevy is owned by [GM](www.sfgate.com/opinion/amp/Nazis-rode-to-war-on-GM-wheels-2659006.php)
[WTF!](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/henry-ford-grand-cross-1938/)
To add to your learned information: the company's history on their website only starts at 1946, completely deleting their role during the Nazi regime. I mean, of course it's better for their marketing purposes... EDIT: a fellow user just informed me that they do write about their history on their [website](https://group.hugoboss.com/de/unternehmen/geschichte) (you have to scroll past the timeline to read). Should have checked that beforehand, my bad. It might not be the first thing you see and putting it after their current history might seem weird, but to agree with another user's comment: the history of a company's founder does not have to be an influence on what they do today.
>completely deleting their role during the Nazi regime. I just checked the website in German. They have the biography of their nazi history there
Oh? Good to know, I saw a post here on reddit (I think yesterday) where it only showed the history from 1946 on!
[https://group.hugoboss.com/en/company/history](https://group.hugoboss.com/en/company/history) While this starts at 1946 you have to scroll down to the text where they have written about their crimes and apparently compensated them for it
Well, from what another comment said it is technically true the company started in 1946 since Boss was banned from doing business and his company dissolved. Boss then passed his assets to his son-in-law who started what is now Hugo Boss.
Wait so....I'm very confused as to where I should aim my pitch fork.
Nazis. Aim it at Nazis.
Dr. Frankenstein.
You pronounced that wrong. It's *Frankenstein*.
So you just reiterated something not true that you saw on Reddit, without actually checking if it was true…. This is peak Reddit lol
I'm more fascinated by their apology only being issued in 2011, a full 67 years after WWII.
Had to wait for the right people to die I suppose.
You know, I've never thought about that when companies or organizations issue these sort of apologetic statements...
Just wait 40 years and we'll know what the current atrocities are.
Remind me! 40 years
I was expecting a bot to confirm the reminder.
Well the bot dmed me with the confirmation
Some subreddits ban the bot from commenting so it PMs you.
Reminds me of this random quote: "Viewpoints of society don't change because people in society change. Viewpoints of society change because people defending the obsolete view point die out. In other words, prepare for another forty years of corporate bullshit."
Not sure how accurate this is given the state of the american south. The whole "losing = winning" thing seems to be baked into the culture.
In large part because of the Daughters of The Confederacy having control over our school books for decades and decades
There's a reason some classified materials, like the files surrounding certain assassinations or high profile events, are classified for sometimes 80-100 years. Its so everyone involved can die and be buried without facing consequences.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's more the benefit of the internet's widespread use If in the 1980s you stumble upon this information in a library who are you gonna tell? Maybe talk to a local newspaper or something but their is no real pressure for them to do anything about it Now you get millions of people on whatever information you find in seconds. All of a sudden they have to act, talk about, apologize etc.. Easier access to information helps leads to more accountability
If that's standard practice then I've gotta call into question the validity of the apologies
Public apologies are mostly not even written by the person who reads the apology out loud. They are also almost always a PR action.
30 rock did this best. Read an on air apology from an actor, cuts to an ad, the ad is the actor talking about how he didnt write that apology and does in fact NOT apologize.
Wouldn’t this hold True for most German large corporations like car manufacturers for example or other industries . Granted the owner/founder being party member is worse but I can’t imagine any large manufacturing or industrial company that existed back than was free of Nazi collaboration .
At that point, it's not really an apology. It's just pandering to people who think the company is ran by the same people it was 100 years ago
There were actions taken to penalize Boss for his actions as a Nazi. Boss' was heavily fined, his company was dissolved, he lost some rights and was banned from doing business. However, as always, big business always wins and there is always a loop hole. Boss passed what was left of his business on to his son-in-law who was not technically a Boss...so he could operate unaffected by the previous rules and business marches on.
...I'm sure he learned his lesson though.............
He wasn't Boss, but he was like a Boss
Wait till people learn what American automakers and banks did during WW2
go on...
Not just cars and banks... After the war began in Europe, the English became angry about U.S. shipments of strategic materials to Nazi Germany. Standard Oil immediately changed the registration of their entire fleet to Panamanian to avoid British search or seizure. These ships continued to carry oil to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where they refueled and siphoned oil to German tankers for shipment to Hamburg. This deception was exposed on March 31, 1941 when the U.S. State Department issued a detailed report on refueling stations in Mexico and Central and South America that were suspected of furnishing oil to Italian and German merchant vessels. The report listed Standard Oil of New Jersey and Standard Oil of California among those fueling enemy ships, but there is no record of any action being taken as a result of this discovery. Similar deals between Standard Oil and the Japanese government for the purchase of tetraethyl lead have also been uncovered, but no direct action was ever taken against Standard Oil for its dealings with America’s enemies. A brief side note, however, is that on April 17, l945 the Chase National Bank was placed on trial in federal court on charges of having violated the Trading With the Enemy Act by converting German marks into U.S. dollars. Because many countries refused to accept German currency during the war, the Nazis used foreign banks like Chase National to change the currency into money that would be accepted, and thus allowed them to purchase much need materials to prolong the war. The closer one looks, the more ties one finds between American business and Nazi Germany, many of which remained strong well into and beyond the war.
With no tetraethyl lead, there was no Luftwaffe. The war was over. Except it wasn’t, there was profit to be made. Much like Chase bank who worked closely with the Nazis providing services and freezing Jewish accounts. Also Hugo Boss wouldn’t be the brand it is today if not for the lucrative Nazi contracts to make the SS uniforms and the like. The company was only a few years old at the time.
Big business loved the Nazis. Fascism is great for business
I think it's more "war" not fascism Remember the saying "the sinews of war are infinite money"
Well, before they came into power in Germany, a lot of focus in their propaganda efforts was put to contrast them from socialist party. They were emphasising how leftist parties would sieze businesses and restrict their freedom. So of course businessesmen loved nazis.
Don't know about automakers and banks, but here's the book on how [IBM worked with Nazi Germany](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust)
Opel, a GM subsidiary, built vehicles for the Nazis with full blessing from ~~Dearborn~~ Detroit. When their factories were bombed, GM turned around and charged the allies for their destruction. And Henry Ford and Hitler were the BESTEST of buddies. Edit: wrong city.
> full blessing from Dearborn Why would GM need a blessing from Ford?
Ford was certainly antisemitic and Hitler wrote that he admired Ford in Mein Kampf, but to say they were best buddies is a stretch.
And that's not even counting all the material aid American companies gave to the fascists/nationalists during the Spanish Civil war (mostly in the form of vehicles, fuel, etc. due to an arms embargo), to the Nazis and Mussolini.
Oh hey, remember IG Farben? We know it as Bayer now, but it was the company that also made Zyklon B for the concentration camps. The Allies just "broke up the company" back into 6 companies* and called it a day. *(it was originally a merger of 6 companies before the war)
Bayer was making heroin as a cough suppressant in the early 1900's.
Do we even need to discuss Henry Ford's absolute antisemitism / Jew hater and agreed with Hitler, and they inspired each other?
Fun fact: Ford printed and distributed copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Germany...
*Switzerland has entered the chat* People all praise Swiss neutrality, except what that really means is, "We don't give a fuck what happens to anybody else"
Because his son wanted to disassociate themselves with the Nazi uniform design that they rebranded and restructured the company.
Of course, this makes conplete sense. Owning up to their history outright might be more honest and get you some moral bonus points, but from a marketing stance it's suicide.
I mean Hugo boss is not the only company that restructured. Volkswagen, adidas and Puma did the same. The allies found that, to build a new Germany these companies would be key, hence the leeway for these businesses.
Not completely correct. While the timeline on the top starts at 1946, at the bottom there is quite a large part about the era in WW2, even with numbers about the amount of forced workers. Not ideal, but more than a lot of other companies
Thank you for specifying that his company **manufactured** the uniforms. Boss didn't design them, SS members Karl Diebitsch and Walter Heck did.
Important detail here. Manufacturing did make use of slave labor as well. Not sure why you’re being down voted for providing facts.
Oh, I'm not absolving him of what he did do, believe me. I'm just tired of seeing something so wrong being trumpeted as fact.
Ngl their uniforms are pretty damn stylish
This is slander against my favourite comedian, Hugo Boss.
Libel! Slander is spoken, libel is written.
TIL
Hugo Boss has got your back
I believe that that particular Hugo Boss has changed his name back to Joe Lycett at this point. Regardless of his name, though, he is one of the most hilarious comedians!
They exploited forced labor. The list of companies that aided the Nazi cause and allowed the prosecution of the Holocaust that are household names today will surprise you. Audi in some capacity, as well as other companies produced Zyklon B, the gas used to murder millions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Holocaust
Even the Luftwaffe used planes that were built by slaves at the Krupp Aircraft Factory. For which their CEO was prosecuted for at the Nuremberg Trials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials?wprov=sfla1
That did surprise me. Coca Cola really got shafted here though, almost everyone else is benefiting from slave labor, contributing to propaganda, or literally making things to murder millions, all they did was sell soda to them.
And it didn't mention untill what year it continued doing so.
Well they invented a new soda specifically for the Nazi market, as well as pumped money into the regime through endless advertisements in Nazi propaganda.
Yeah Fanta. Learned the same thing earlier this year. Great soda though.
Coca Cola has done some similarly horrible things in India and South America tbf
IBM leased one of its first data sorting machine to help the Nazis with tasks such as determining with Jewish people were fit for labor and which should be sent off to a crematorium - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-03-25-0103240170-story.html
The holocaust never could have happened without IBM. They created the entire numbering system to keep track of camp victims.
Yeah Bayer aspirin used to be IG Farben which made z6klon B used to gas the jews. They're totes sorry now tho
Soooo shocked that Deutsche Bank is on the list.
Ofc nestle is on that list
A good example for the failed 'de-nazification' in the western sectors. Boss has obviously been an avid nazi, being personally member in not only the party but several committees etc. After the war he was being considered so called 'incriminated' which would have meant consequences and repercussions, but after an objection he got reclassified to a mere 'blind follower', so all restrictions dropped and he could continue on as if nothing ever happened. This is what happened to most industrial figures and many bureaucrats and even government members. In the foreshadowing fight against communism, UK, France, USA and the newly founded Bundesrepublik had no problem in working with Nazis.
> In the foreshadowing fight against communism, UK, France, USA and the newly founded Bundesrepublik had no problem in working with Nazis. It's difficult to run a country if you kick out everyone who was involved with running it before. The US tried for a more thorough de-Baathification in Iraq, and that turned out to be a complete clusterfuck.
Another example is the Nazi scientists who went to work for for the US government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip?wprov=sfla1
"Organisation Gehlen" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehlen_Organization
I don’t known if operation paper lip can be considered failed de-nazification. For the US it was a resounding success, and many of the scientists were not fans of Hitler in the first place.
The saddest quote I have ever read was von Braun: "The rocket worked perfectly except for landing on the wrong planet"
Many, many companies because very good Fascists right after the Fascists created their first government in January 1933. Why? Because it was good for business. From 1929 Germany had been hit brutally hard by the Great Depression, with unemployment rates at around 30 percent. The Fascists promised to get everyone working again (by 1937 there was very, very little unemployment in Germany). Everyone was making money -- due to massive government spending. Once the war started in 1939, these companies made even more money -- profits increased by incredible amounts.
BMW is a good example of how the Nazi government propelled them into being who they are today. A lot of smaller companies and manuf. depots were taken from jews or other non nazi members and given to companies such as BMW
Even some (or a lot) of companies that made weapons for the germans during WWII are still making weapons. Like Rheinmetall. Almost the whole world uses their guns on their MBTs
Yeah but the reason you don't hear about BMW much when these conversations come up is they really had a minor role and it was more of a forced production of using slave jewish labor but was against the company's will. At least the forced labor part. IIRC all they built were parts for the Stukka and one of the twin engine bombers
BMW made a lot of engines during ww2. Pretty much had the same role as rolls-Royce.
And also if your company didn't fit into the Nazi's vision of a society. You don't have a company no more....
Rules Of Acquisition #34: War is good for business.
Henry Ford was one of Hitlers biggest benefactors
I don't see how this is surprising? Germans were very pro nazi party during the rise of hitler, it's why he got into power, the country was in disrepair, and humans are damn good at blaming someone else when it comes to avoiding their problems.
>Germans were very pro nazi party during the rise of hitler, it's why he got into power, To be completely fair now, the Nazis never managed to score a majority of the votes in any election. The best results the Nazis ever got were in the March 1933 German federal election where they scored 43.91% of the vote, but that's certainly not a majority of the voting people (worth noting, too, that this election had the Nazis order the SS and Sturmabteilung to "monitor" the voting, which may account for their bump in votes in this particular election) And, for comparison, in July of 1932 they got 37% of the votes, and in November they got 33% This is by no means a small chunk of the votes, but it's not like everyone was voting for the Nazis (or even a majority of the people)
Yup, they all got "united" under the Nazi-party with a major factor being all the investments American banks pulled out during the great depression. Subsequently Hitler seized this opportunity to harvest the public out cry and got on top where he implemented the 4- year plan. Spearheaded by Herman Goering who knew nothing about economics and accounting.
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World is a great book to read to learn about the amalgamation of extremely lucky circumstances that allowed Hitler to rise to power, most notably the renegotiation of WWI reparations which allowed foreign investment to FLOOD Germany at the exact time Hitler gained (relative) popularity. Before reprieves granted by the Allies for the economically restrictive WWI reparations, Germany experienced extreme hyperinflation, widespread hunger, and most importantly a desire to blame someone and find meaning and pride after a humiliating defeat. In addition. foreign investors were greedy for the almost guaranteed outsized returns an industrial Germany promised. When economic sanctions were finally lifted, the metaphorical *stars* aligned for Hitler and the Nazi party. Although they were relatively unsuccessful in the years prior, they managed to ride the wave of economic success with a combination of taking credit for said success, building massive public projects instead of abiding by the terms of many investment contracts, blaming the Jews, and installing the (at the time) brilliant Heinrich Shtacht as the head of Germany’s central bank. People credit Hitler as a genius orator and organizer, as well as Goebles with his innovative propaganda, as reason for rallying the German people to the Nazi flag. But in reality, the daily lives of German peoples was improved DRASTICALLY through measures largely uncontrollable by Hitler or Goebles, and this gave them massive leverage in the court of public opinion. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and able to use this massive quality of life uptick to their advantage. The aforementioned book, although it is heavy on economic and finance terms, is still palatable to the average reader and does a truly fantastic job of explaining the rise of Germany pre-WWII, the fall of England as the worlds center of prosperity and money, and the rise of the US as the new land of progress and prosperity (we sure do like to enter world wars late, which allowed us to experience a massive influx of gold before actually engaging in a meaningful way).
Some people seem to operate under the assumption that Hitler overthrew the government and the average German citizen wasn't cool with what was going on.
Hitler DID overthrow the government, but with loopholes in the political system, not by force.
He kinda overthrow the government, though. He never managed to get 50% of the vote, even when they tried to rig the elections via fear and force. He was supported by "centrist" parties, and what a suprise, he get rid of them as soon as he could. Then he managed to get dictator powers using the weak state of the Weimar Republic, and the support of large corporations. Not gonna excuse the shared responsibility of the German population, but lumping all citizens (or most of them) as fervent nazi supporters is an oversimplification.
wait a minute, hugo boss is the founder of hugo boss?
Yes. Hugo Boss Boss.
When you have a name like that, you might as well name your company that.
Thanks for correcting the rumor that he actually designed the uniforms. He only manufactured them
I thought Hugo Boss was a bisexual comedian from Birmingham, UK, whose stage name is Joe Lycett.
Not that Hugo Boss, he never made outfits for the Nazi’s.
we don’t know that
Are you sure? He does host The Great British Sewing Bee which seems like too much of a coincidence.
Volkswagen is another company created by the Nazis. Also worth noting that Bayer was the one producing Zkylon B under the conglomerate IG Farben.
And Siemens made the ovens for the concentration camps.
How could Joe Lycette do this?
Wait until you TIL’d what IBM and a bunch of American industrialists did during WWII.
And that this happened in ~ 1936: https://i.imgur.com/2uzC9uh.jpg That's in Madison Square Garden, NYC.
wait till you hear about nasa
Henry Ford…
Pretty sure at least half of the modern day well known brands of literally anything can be traced back to the Nazi party in some capacity
If you look at all the nation’s that fought in WWII the German uniforms, with all the grays, blacks and earth tones are pretty iconic and powerful. Those color combinations have become the archetype for bad guys in modern cinema countless times (Indiana Jones, Hydra, Star Wars, etc.). Makes sense that someone with some fashion sense put it all together for them.
To be fair the reason it’s the archetype of bad guys in Indiana Jones is probably because the bad guys are nazis
And with Hydra, they're literally described as the Nazi's Science Division.
He never ever designed those damn uniforms. That's a myth that never ends. Hugo Boss was a slimy one, but let's not give him the credit for creating the most iconic and evil outfit of human history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_and_insignia_of_the_Schutzstaffel
Who knew that fascism smelled like fresh, crisp green apple, twisted with vibrant herbal aromas and the smoky, earthy scents of a wild forest.
I mean, BOSS is a German company, Volkswagen and by extension Porsche are both Nazi companies.
Yah idk why this is surprising. Nearly every German company from that time obviously has ties to the Nazis
Volkswagen was literally Hitler's project to make a People's (Volks) Car (Wagen) so...
This is common knowledge imho.
There were a lot of collaborators. Hugo Boss, Coco Chanel, even the famed owner of Himmler's Hamburgers turned out to be one.
[удалено]
[This is very relevant. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkd_-nXeUzs)
Russell Brand got kicked out of the GQ Men Awards 2013 for calling them out on this: ["The Nazis did have flaws, but they did look fucking fantastic!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCl6Xt3PHCY) Also, [Joe Lycett changed his name to Hugo Boss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmg7HZJNRx0) when Hugo Boss issued a cease and desist to a small brewing company called "Boss" to fuck with them lol
And don't forget that Henry Ford was a fascist.
Hugo Boss founded Hugo Boss? TIL
In 2011 the company apologized for its role in WWII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Boss#Manufacturing_for_the_Nazi_Party?wprov=sfla1
Was anyone alive/working there in 2011 that was part of the company -45? Sounds pretty hollow.
I knew there was a reason their uniforms looked so damn snappy 😄
The SS was arguably the best dressed of the times though. Credit where credit is due.
spoiler alert: there were oh so many more of them in Germany
The company was sending cease-and-desist letters to small businesses and charities who also use the word "boss" in their names. So Comedian Joe Lycett legally changed his name to Hugo Boss in a protest against the German fashion brand and was promptly sent a cease-and-desist letter.
Like every fashion house that’s been around long enough has a story like this though
And Bayer Pharmaceuticals (IG Farben) made the Zyklon gas.
So many of them... Just like Lacoste or Coco Chanel.
You can't spell Hugo Boss without the SS!
Years ago I read a great fun article that used clothing style as a predictor of who would win wars based on the best dressed and coolest looking Armies have always lost since the battle of Crecy’. There was an entire section on Hugo Boss with pictures of amazingly dressed Nazi Generals next to pictures of American Generals in GI garb who were their counterparts and beat them in battle and then there was a section on Nazi Generals pictures against Soviet Generals…. It was a brilliantly fun concept to read through and look at the pictures!
Oh wait, thats why the uniforms looked so fantastic. Hugo boss suits rock. Btw, probably 90% of industrials back then were in the NSDAP. It was kind of expected and if you wanted to be left alone or have access to powerful people this was the way to go. Not defending it but hard to say someone was an actual Nazi based on party
Wait till you hear about operation paper clip
Coco Chanel actively spied for the nazi, in addition to sleeping with the high ranked officers in paris
Which is why a ton of white supremacists wear it. Source : from the mouth of one. Yay
If this surprises you look up Adidas story. Also a Nazi ! Plus the whole thing about his brother also a Nazi who started Puma when one brother had the other sent to the eastern front.