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History > WW2 > 1939-1945

 

Axis powers, Germany, Europe >

Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Nazi era,

Holocaust / Shoah, Samudaripen

 

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

 

Photograph: 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

 

Photograph: 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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
forced-labor-an-overview

 

 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
forced-labor-in-depth

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
flossenbuerg-freiberg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
subsequent-nuremberg-proceedings-case-5-the-flick-case

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/austria

 

https://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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
albert-speer

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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/

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
alfred-rosenberg-biography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
martin-bormann 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/
robert-ley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > History > 20th century > WW2 (1939-1945)

 

Germany, Europe >

Antisemitism,

Adolf Hitler,

Nazi Germany / era,

Holocaust / Shoah,

Samudaripen

 

 

 

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