German businesses try to deny mistreatment in WWII

For years people have known German big business complied with the Nazi persecution of the Jews, during and immediately before World War II, according to a Northwestern University professor of history and German.

Historians finally are beginning to understand why.

A lot of companies in Germany did not want the public – or even people within the companies – to know the extent of what they did between the years of 1933 and 1945. It has only been in the past 10 years that major companies have gone back and taken a look at archives they have long denied, Hayes said. snip

Instead, he said, the best interests of the company and protecting the shareholders were the reasons behind their complicity with the Holocaust.

Anti-Semitism wasn’t the rallying cry of most Germans, including these companies, he said. They were concerned more with the country’s economy.

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This sounds very familiar to what is going on in America right now. Too damn familiar.

Don