Les anglonautes

About | Search | Grammar | Vocapedia | Learning | News podcasts | Videos | History | Arts | Science | Translate and listen

 Previous Home Up Next

 

History > 20th century > WW2 > Germany > Nazi era > Holocaust > Nazi industrialists, forced labor

 

 

 

Russian men

freed from a Nazi POW slave labor camp

eat bread and molasses from a cask

outside a looted liquor store

after their liberation

by advancing Allied troops

 

Location: Lippestadt, Germany

Date taken: 1945

 

Photographer: William Vandivert

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/9974631497198371.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hungarian Jew

showing identification tattoo on her forearm

given her by the Nazis

after she was rounded up

and forced into a labor camp.

 

Location: Stromberg, Germany

Date taken: March 1945

 

Photographer: William Vandivert

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f0b5dbb2c29416d8.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corporate fascism        Third Reich

 

https://fr.scribd.com/document/33501158/
Corporate-Fascism-Third-Reich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nazi Germany        Forced labor

 

Over 12 million people

were forced to perform

forced labor for Germany

in the course

of the Second World War.

 

In the summer

of 1944 alone,

in addition

to six million

civilian laborers,

two million

prisoners of war

and over

half a million

concentration camp

prisoners

were forced to work

in the German Reich.

 

Also

in the occupied territories,

a considerable number

of men, women and children

were forced to work

for the enemy.

 

It was the forced laborers

who kept the agricultural supply

and arms production going.

 

The industry profited

from the expansion

of production.

 

German employees

advanced

to supervisor positions.

http://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit/index.html

 

 

 

 

The Nazis subjected

millions of people

(both Jews

and other victim groups)

to forced labor

under brutal conditions.

 

From the establishment

of the first Nazi

concentration camps

and detention facilities

in the winter of 1933,

forced labor

—often pointless

and humiliating,

and imposed

without proper

equipment, clothing,

nourishment,

or rest—

formed a core part

of the concentration camp

regimen.

 

Even before

the war began,

the Nazis imposed

forced labor

on Jewish civilians,

both inside and outside

concentration camps.

 

As early as 1937,

the Nazis

increasingly exploited

the forced labor

of so-called

"enemies of the state"

for economic gain

and to meet desperate

labor shortages.

 

By the end

of that year,

most Jewish males

residing in Germany

were required

to perform forced labor

for various

government agencies.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005180

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005180

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007326

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labour_under_German_rule_during_World_War_II

https://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/

https://zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/archiv/en/map

http://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit/index.html

http://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit-2/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 1943 - May 5, 1945

 

Freiberg

 

 

In Freiberg

in December 1943,

preparations began

for a subcamp

of KZ Flossenbürg

to house an outside detail

at the Arado-Flugzeugwerke

(Arado Aircraft Factory).

 

The planning

and construction

of this housing subcamp

is a clear example

of the collaboration

between

the armaments

industry,

the SS,

and the Ministry

of Armaments.

 

The SS approved

the application

for the allocation

of a prisoner

work-detail

that Arado

had submitted

within the context

of the Jaegerstab's

(Fighter Staff's)

measures.

 

In its building application,

Arado was represented

by a building commissioner

of the Reich Ministry

for Armaments

and War Production

(RMfRuK)

based in Dresden.

 

The Reich Industry Group

(the lobbying organization

for the armaments industry)

for the Land of Saxony,

Regional Office Dresden,

undertook the planning

of the subcamp.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007297

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007297

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friedrich Flick        1883-1972

 

The Flick Concern

was a large group

of industrial

enterprises

including coal

and iron mines

and steel plants.

 

Friedrich Flick

and five other

company executives

were charged

with war crimes

and crimes

against humanity

for the use

of prisoners of war

and others

for slave labor,

the deportation

of civilians

from German-

occupied territories

to work in their

mines and factories,

and theft of property.

 

The court

convicted Flick

and two other

defendants.

 

Flick

was sentenced

to seven years

in prison;

 

the other two guilty

convicted,

Otto Steinbrinck

and Bernhard Weiss,

were given five

and two-and-a-half

year prison terms

respectively.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007134

 

 

 

 

La dynastie

industrielle

des Flick

a traversé un siècle

d'histoire allemande

au prix de

compromissions

qui n'ont affecté

ni son pouvoir

ni sa fortune.

 

[ . . . ]

 

Né en 1883

dans une famille paysanne,

Friedrich Karl Flick

révèle très tôt son don

pour les affaires.

 

Durant la Première

Guerre mondiale,

il s'intéresse

à la revente de ferraille

et à l'armement.

 

Sous la République de Weimar,

il se lance dans

la spéculation boursière

et crée un groupe

axé sur l'exploitation

des mines

et les machines-outils.

 

Il rêve de jouer

dans la même cour

que les Krupp

et les Thyssen,

les magnats

de la Ruhr.

 

Il rejoint rapidement

le parti national-socialiste,

rencontre Hitler et Göring.

 

Son groupe

est un rouage essentiel

dans l'économie

du Troisième Reich.

 

Flick profite

de la saisie

des biens juifs

et emploie

dans ses usines

des travailleurs forcés

et des détenus

des camps

de concentration.

 

Ce qui lui vaudra

de passer en jugement

au procès de Nuremberg.

 

Condamné

à sept ans de prison,

il sera libéré

au bout de trois ans.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/programmes/242,date=25/9/2012.html

 

 

 

 

Après sa sortie de prison,

Friedrich Karl Flick

rebondit très vite.

 

Contraint

par les Alliés

d'accepter

le démantèlement

de son groupe,

il réussit en fait

à le vendre

à des conditions

avantageuses

pour lui.

 

Avec les sommes

engrangées,

il réinvestit

dans la chimie,

le papier,

l'automobile

et l'armement.

 

Proche

des milieux politiques

influents à Bonn

grâce à ses dons

aux partis,

il est de nouveau

à la fin des années 50

l'un des hommes

les plus riches

d'Allemagne.

 

Il meurt en 1972

et son fils Friedrich

assure la relève.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/programmes/242,date=25/9/2012.html

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007076

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007134

http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/?content=force_labor

http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/publications/occasional/1998-02/paper.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fritz Thyssen        1873-1951

 

Fritz Thyssen,

the son

of the successful

industrialist,

August Thyssen

(1842-1926),

was born on

the 9th November,

1873.

 

He joined

the German Army

in 1896

and reached the rank

of second lieutenant.

 

In 1898

Thyssen joined

Thyssen & Co

a company

owned by his father

in the Ruhr.

 

By the outbreak

of the First World War

the company employed

50,000 workers

and produced

1,000,000 tons

of steel and iron

a year.

 

In 1923

(he) took part

in the resistance

against

the Ruhr Occupation

by Belgian

and French troops.

 

He was arrested

and received

a large fine

for his activities.

 

At a meeting

with General Eric Ludendorff

in October 1923,

Thyssen was advised

to go and hear

Adolf Hitler speak.

 

He did this

and was so impressed

he began to finance

the Nazi Party.

 

Thyssen inherited

his father's fortune

in 1926.

 

He continued

to expand

and in 1928

formed

United Steelworks,

a company

that controlled

more that 75 per cent

of Germany's

ore reserves

and employed

200,000 people.

 

By 1930

Thyssen was one

of the leading backers

of the Nazi Party.

 

The following year

he recruited

Hjalmar Schacht

(1877-1970)

to the cause

and in November, 1932,

the two men joined

with other industrialists

in signing the letter

that urged

Paul von Hindenburg

to appoint Adolf Hitler

as chancellor.

 

This was successful

and on 20th February, 1933,

they arranged a meeting

of the Association

of German Industrialists

that raised 3 million marks

for the Nazi Party

in the forthcoming election.

 

Thyssen

supported

the measures

that Hitler took

against the left-wing

political groups

and trade unions.

 

He also put

pressure on Hitler

to suppress

the left of the Nazi Party

that resulted

in the Night

of the Long Knives.

 

However,

as a Catholic,

Thyssen

objected

when Hitler began

persecuting people

for their religious

beliefs.

 

Thyssen resigned

as state councillor

in protest

against Crystal Night.

 

The following year

he fled to Switzerland

and Hitler promptly

confiscated

his property.

 

Thyssen

moved to France

but was arrested

by the Vichy government

and was returned

to Germany

where he was sent

to a concentration camp.

 

Thyssen

was freed

by Allied forces

in 1945.

 

Arrested

he was convicted

by a German court

for being a former leader

of the Nazi Party

and was ordered

to hand over

15 per cent of his property

to provide a (sic) victims

of Nazi persecution.

 

Fritz Thyssen

died in Buenos Aires

on 8th February, 1951.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERthyssen.htm

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/higher/history/nationalism/hitler/revision/2/

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 12, 1938

 

Anschluss

 

Annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime

 

 

 

 

A view of signs promoting Aryan businesses.

 

Location: Vienna, Austria

Date taken: 1937

 

Photographer: John Phillips

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=c43494d073aa4202

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005447

http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/index.php?content=anschluss

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/sceptred_isle/page/201.shtml?question=201

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert Speer        1905-1981

 

 

 

Hitler/Jaeger File

Top Nazi Party members march

in remembrance of 1923 Beer Hall Putsch

 

(front, L-R)

Friedrich Weber,

Hermann Goering,

Adolf Hitler,

unident. (Martin Bormann?),

Julius Streicher;

 

(back, L-R)

Albert Speer,

Walter Schultze,

Alfred Rosenberg

& unidents.

 

Location: Munich, Germany

Date taken: November 09, 1938

 

Photographer: Hugo Jaeger

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=4fbe3f8750ed6862

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adolf Hitler's

architect and armaments minister

 

 

Albert Speer

was a trained architect.

 

After joining

the Nazi party

in 1930,

Speer

became Hitler's

personal architect.

 

In 1942,

he was named

Minister

of Armaments

and Munitions,

assuming

significant

responsibility

for the German

war economy.

 

In this position,

Speer used

millions

of forced laborers

to raise

economic production.

 

Speer

was found guilty

on counts

three and four

(war crimes

and crimes

against humanity)

and sentenced

to 20 years

in prison.

 

He was released

in 1966.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007128

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007128

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/13/secondworldwar.kateconnolly

http://www.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit/zwangsarbeit-2/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wernher von Braun        1912-1977

 

German

rocket scientist

Wernher von Braun,

born in 1912

in Wirsitz, Germany,

took an early interest

in rockets

and the possibility

of space exploration.

 

As a young man,

he joined

the German Rocket Society

(Verein fur Raumschiffahrt).

 

In 1932,

von Braun joined

the German army to work

on the development

of ballistic missiles.

 

By 1937,

he was the head

of the Peenemeunde

Rocket Center

and leader

of the Nazi rocket program

that eventually developed

the V-1 “buzz bomb”

and the deadly V-2,

the world’s

first ballistic missile.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/features/hunt-for-nazi-scientists/wernher-von-braun/101/

 

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/features/hunt-for-nazi-scientists/wernher-von-braun/101/

https://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html  

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/us/18haeussermann.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fritz Sauckel        1894-1946

 

Plenipotentiary

General for the Deployment of Labor.

 

Sauckel was responsible

for providing forced laborers

to meet Germany's

increasing war production

needs.

 

Under his authority,

the Germans deported

millions of forced laborers

from the occupied territories

to Germany.

 

He was found guilty

on counts three and four

(war crimes

and crimes

against humanity)

and sentenced

to death.

 

Sauckel was hanged

on October 16, 1946.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/es/article.php?ModuleId=10007124

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/es/article.php?ModuleId=10007124

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alfred Rosenberg        1893-1946

 

official chief

Nazi philosopher,

head of the Nazi party's

foreign affairs department,

and Reich Minister

for the Occupied

Eastern Territories.

 

Rosenberg

established

an organization

whose mission

was to loot

and confiscate

cultural treasures

from all over Europe

and bring them

to Germany.

 

As Reich Minister

for the Occupied East,

he played a role

in the annihilation

of Soviet Jews

and the deportation

of other Soviet civilians

for forced labor.

 

Rosenberg

was found guilty

on all four counts

(conspiracy,

crimes

against peace,

war crimes,

and crimes

against humanity)

and sentenced

to death.

 

He was hanged

on October 16, 1946.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007123

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007123

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Bormann        1900-1945

 

 

 

Hitler/Jaeger File

Reichs Veternans Day. L to R:

Martin Bormann, von Epp, and Heinrich Himmler.

 

Location: Kassel, Germany

Date taken: June 04, 1939

 

Photographer: Hugo Jaeger

Hugo Jaeger was one of Hitler's personal photographers.

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1000272/in-gallery/27022

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=eddcfc03e70c95f7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Bormann

became the chief of staff

for Rudolf Hess,

Hitler's deputy,

in 1933.

 

Virtually unknown

to the German public,

Bormann

as a close assistant

to Hitler

was a powerful force

behind the scenes

in internal politics.

 

Following Hess'

flight to Great Britain,

Bormann

became head

of the Party Chancellery

(1941)

and, officially in 1943,

Secretary to the Fuehrer.

 

His hand

could be seen

in an array

of domestic policies,

including

the murder of the Jews,

the "euthanasia" effort,

the plunder of artwork,

and the expansion

of forced-labor programs.

 

He also signed

a series of edicts

ordering

deportations of Jews

to the east.

 

Bormann died

in an effort

to flee Berlin

in the last days

of World War II,

but was long thought

to be at large.

 

He was tried

in absentia at Nuremberg,

where he was sentenced

to death.

 

West German authorities

officially declared him dead

in 1973

after his remains

were discovered

and positively identified.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007106

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007106
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nazi Germany        Robert Ley        1890-1945

 

 

 

Hitler/Jaeger File

Robert Ley (rt),

Amman, Mrs. Ley ? in back.

 

Location: Berlin, Germany

Date taken: June 06, 1939

 

Photographer: Hugo Jaeger

Hugo Jaeger was one of Hitler's personal photographers.

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1000272/in-gallery/27022

Life Images

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1000272/in-gallery/27022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1933,

after all German

trade unions

were dissolved,

Robert Ley established

the Deutsche Arbeitsfront

(DAF; German Labor Front).

 

As head of the DAF,

whose membership

totaled 25 million,

Ley was known

as the "undisputed

dictator of labor"

in Germany.

 

Nevertheless,

he was overshadowed

on labor issues

during the war

by rivals like Albert Speer

and Fritz Sauckel,

his codefendants

in 1945.

 

Ley was indicted

on counts

one, three, and four

(conspiracy,

war crimes,

and crimes

against humanity).

 

Obsessed with the idea

of becoming a martyr,

Ley committed suicide

in his cell at Nuremberg

shortly before the trial began.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007118

 

 

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007118

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nazi Germany        Fritz Todt        1891-1942

 

Organisation Todt        Siegfried Line


 

 

 

Fritz Todt

March 1940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1969-146-01,_Fritz_Todt.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Todt

Primary source > Das Bundesarchiv

Original title: Reichsminister Dr. Todt.

Der Führer ernannte

den Generalinspetor für das Deutsche Strassenwesen,

Dr. Todt, zum Reichsminister für Bewaffnung und Munition.

23.3.40. Röhr[n?]-Weltbild

Archive title:

Porträt Fritz Todt in Uniform (Obergruppenführer)

Dating: März 1940

Signature: Bild 146-1969-146-01

Inventory: Bild 146 - Sammlung von Repro-Negativen

http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/archives/barchpic/search/
_1253394408/?search%5Bform%5D%5BSIGNATUR%5D=Bild+146-1969-146-01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_Todt

 

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=06f9b85a05014227&q
=martin%20bormann%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3D
martin%2Bbormann%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Dfr%26tbs%3Disch:1

 

http://resources.ushmm.org/inquery/uia_query.php/photos?hr=null&query=kw114598

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > History > 20th century

 

World War II > Germany, Europe

Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Nazi era, Holocaust

 

 

 

home Up