Interesting story - Ferdinand Porsche's Nazi ties

[LeeH]

http://news.yahoo.com/nazi-past-overshadows-genius-porsche-050139724.html

[enzo1]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Extraordinary-Life-Josef-Ganz/dp/1614122016

[Sunroof]

Lots of stuff about Ferdinand Porsche on the web............

"Ferdinand Porsche was long viewed as an unwilling participant in Hitler's war machine but a recent investigation suggests he and his company may have been in deeper than was previously thought. A five-year study by a team of German historians found that as much as 80 percent of VW's wartime workforce of 16,000 may have been slave laborers.

In 1991 the head of the investigative team, Bochum University history professor Hans Mommsen, declared at a symposium, "It's quite clear that Porsche was responsible for hiring concentration camp inmates for the factory's labor camp." Porsche contacted SS leader Heinrich Himmler directly to request slaves from Auschwitz, Mommsen said.

It should be noted that the investigation was commissioned by Volkswagen itself. The company has dedicated a stone memorial to the slave laborers at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, and I suppose we shouldn't hold current management responsible for crimes committed 50 years ago. But the whole business does put the funky Beetle of one's youth in a new light".

Years ago the story came out that Mercedes-Benz was commissioned by the Nazis to build the ovens for the Nazi concentration camps and Porsche designed the ignition (lighting) system). Maybe they did not know the intended use of the ovens at the time.

Crazy!

[intakexhaust]

Look up Steyr - Daimler in Austria during the war. Same scenario.

[Tilikum Turbo]

What I find fascinating about the Jews is they believe they have a monopoly on misery.

Those 50 million people who disappeared during the Stalin Blood purges...and countless other atrocities on a massive scale in the 20th Century including the slaughter of the Chinese by the Japanese, Kahner Rouge, etc...ALL of it seems to be marginalized in history, or just footnotes.

But for some reason, we keep coming back specifically to the 3rd Reich.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by intakexhaust

Look up Steyr - Daimler in Austria during the war. Same scenario.

Volkswagen wasn't the only automaker with war blood on its hands. One of the most profitable companies to emerge from World War II was SS aider and abetter Daimler Benz whose production skyrocketed thanks to arms contracts, tax breaks, and tens of thousands of slave laborers. BMW similarly exploited 25,000-30,000 forced workers to repair airplane engines for the Nazi war machine.

Read more: Skeletons In The Corporate Closet: Volkswagen | Business News | Minyanville's Wall Street

[rusnak]

People today are so dramatic and over the top. Out to re-write history in a zero tolerance mode for hurty feelings.

Let's forget the fact that the entire country of Germany was either Nazi or in jail. You either supported Hitler and worked for him or you didn't support Hitler and still worked for him but in a prison yard. Oh God, they breathed the same air. Oh no, Porsche must be a Nazi because he engineered stuff and Hitler paid him.

Sorry that's just dumb.

[Noney]

Originally Posted by Tilikum Turbo

What I find fascinating about the Jews is they believe they have a monopoly on misery.

And when one brings this up, one is usually labeled an anti-Semite. I'm sure someone will reply soon and attach that very label to you. Just last week I was told that because I didn't agree with Netanyahu's stance on settlement building I was probably anti-Semitic.

But seriously, when Adolf Hitler calls you up and asks you to do something for him, is saying no really an option?? I suppose you could just do $hitty design work for him or build design flaws into your projects, but an outright "No" would probably get you and your family sent to the firing squad.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Tilikum Turbo

What I find fascinating about the Jews is they believe they have a monopoly on misery.

Those 50 million people who disappeared during the Stalin Blood purges...and countless other atrocities on a massive scale in the 20th Century including the slaughter of the Chinese by the Japanese, Kahner Rouge, etc...ALL of it seems to be marginalized in history, or just footnotes.

But for some reason, we keep coming back specifically to the 3rd Reich.

I think it is interesting when someone makes a statement based entirely on personal perception and opinion and appears to believe it is fact.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Tilikum Turbo

What I find fascinating about the Jews is they believe they have a monopoly on misery.

Those 50 million people who disappeared during the Stalin Blood purges...and countless other atrocities on a massive scale in the 20th Century including the slaughter of the Chinese by the Japanese, Kahner Rouge, etc...ALL of it seems to be marginalized in history, or just footnotes.

But for some reason, we keep coming back specifically to the 3rd Reich.

Maybe that's because Porsche was a friggin German, and not a farging Russki.

Nor was he making cheap rubber duckies for effing MAO...

You seem to be the one who decided to take this directly to the Jews, from Engineers and businesses collaborating with the Nazis.

That would be like me responding to your post about Jews and misery, and somehow likening that to the resemblance some people have with a blood clot.

Because you see, that isn't really rude or personal either, but some people will choose to take it that way.

[kach22i]

GOING TO WORK AS A SLAVE IN A FACTORY PROBABLY BEATS OUT GOING INTO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP'S OVEN.

Oops sorry about the caps.

The movie Schindler's List was based on this very concept, wasn't it?

[rusnak]

I'll just reiterate my point about people being dramatic and over the top.

[Sunroof]

Lets see, where is this all this going? My guess it will digress into someone blaming others besides the old Nazi Ferdinand himself for war crimes. But, pointing fingers at Jews or anyone else who suffered during the war at the hands of the Nazi's just shows ignorance.

Stick with Porsche and his hidden life and agenda

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Noney

But seriously, when Adolf Hitler calls you up and asks you to do something for him, is saying no really an option??

Um, yeah... Albert Einstein saw the writing on the wall and got the heck out... as did a bunch of other smart people.

So genocide is OK now "because everyone was doing it!"?

The greatest generation are rolling in their collective graves.

[rusnak]

In Einstein's case, he was Jewish. Born smack in the middle of the German empire.

Since other Jewish people were being arrested, harrased, beaten up, killed, etc., it would not take an...um...Einstein to see that he'd be next. I suspect that was an easy decision in other words. You might make a better comparison to Werner Von Braun or go the other way and ask if Oppenheimer was a mass murderer.

[Noney]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

So genocide is OK now "because everyone was doing it!"?

Please point out where I said that genocide is OK.

[willtel]

When Porsche built it's new US HQ in Atlanta the City of Atlanta refused to let them re-name the street the HQ is on to Ferdinand Porsche Avenue. They eventually settled on Porsche Avenue and don't seem to have any issues collecting tax revenue from the company he created.

Atlanta slams brakes on naming street after Ferdinand Porsche, famed auto engineer and former Nazi | Atlanta News & Opinion Blog | Fresh Loaf | Creative Loafing Atlanta

[911_Dude]

Yawn....

[intakexhaust]

Take a look at the early days of NASA. Thank goodness for those Nazis as the Red's might have had a MUCH upper hand over the US. thank you

[nota]

what was mr P sr job during the war

he did work on the KDF-VW car design pre-war
but did he have a director/manager role in running KDF day to day
ie anything to do with slave labor ?

afaik he drew designs for his porsche design office
along with others who work for him at the office
I think there were no slaves at a design office ?

he drew or directed the plans for the elifant tiger1-2 ect
did he have a roll in building these beasts as a manager or director of the CORPs
who did the actual building work and employed slaves or any other war crimes ?