Tag Archives: Fanta

Funding the Holocaust.

The picture above is of an Opel Bliz troops transporter, Opel is one of the companies that provided the Nazi regime with equipment but also with funding.

But Opel was not the only company. Funding the Nazis already started early 1930s.

Nineteen representatives of industry, finance, and agriculture signed a petition on November 19, 1932 where they requested for German President Paul von Hindenburg to make Adolf Hitler the German Chancellor.

On February 20 a secret meeting held by Adolf Hitler and 20 to 25 industrialists at the official residence of the President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring in Berlin. Its purpose was to raise funds for the election campaign of the Nazi Party.

The German elections were to be held on 5 March 1933. The Nazi Party wanted to achieve two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act and desired to raise three million Reichsmark to fund the campaign. According to records, 2,071,000 Reichsmarks (equivalent to about €9,000,000 in 2022) were contributed at the meeting. Together with the Industrial petition, it is used as evidence to support the idea that big business played a central role in the rise of the Nazi Party.

These are just some of the men and companies that supported the Nazi regime, financially and often also in equipment and services.

Ernst Brandi, chairman of Bergbauverein
Karl Büren, director general of Braunkohlen- und Brikettindustrie AG, board member of Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände
August Diehn , board member of Wintershall AG
Ludwig Grauert
Guenther Heubel , director general of C. TH. Heye Braunkohlenwerke AG, board member of Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
Hans von und zu Loewenstein, executive member of Bergbauverein
Fritz von Opel, board member of Adam Opel AG
Günther Quandt, major industrialist, later appointed Leader of the Armament Economy (Wehrwirtschaftsführer)
Wolfgang Reuter , director general of Demag, chairman of Vereins Deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten, presidential member of Reichsverbands der Deutschen Industrie
August Rosterg, director general of Wintershall AG
Hjalmar Schacht
Georg von Schnitzler, board member of IG Farben
Eduard Schulte, director general of Giesches Erben, Zink und Bergbaubetrieb
Fritz Springorum , Hoesch AG
Hugo Stinnes Jr. , board member of Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie, member of the Supervisory board of Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate
Ernst Tengelmann, CEO of Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG
Albert Vögler, CEO of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG
Ludwig von Winterfeld , board member of Siemens & Halske AG and Siemens-Schuckertwerke AG
Wolf-Dietrich von Witzleben , head of the office of Carl Friedrich von Siemens

Some other companies and how they contributed

AEG -Germany Forced labour from concentration camps.
Allianz -Berlin, Germany Provided insurance for facilities and workers at concentration camps.
Associated Press – New York, United States Censorship and cooperation with Nazi Germany.
Audi- Zwickau, Germany Forced labour from concentration camps.
-Bahlsen- Hannover, Germany Employed about 200 forced labourers between 1943 and 1945 – most of whom were women from Nazi-occupied Ukraine.
BASF -Ludwigshafen, Germany Collaborated with Degussa AG – now Evonik Industries – and IG Farben – to produce sodas used in Zyklon B – utilized in Concentration Camps to commit mass murder. The BASF built the chemical factory IG Auschwitz.
Bayer- Barmen, Germany Forced labour and medical experimentation in concentration camps,production of the chemicals and pharmaceuticals supplies of Nazi Germany.
BMW-Munich, Germany Forced labour from concentration camps, produced fighting sidecar motorcycles BMW R75 and aircraft engines.
Carl Walther GmbH-Germany Produced Gewehr military carabines and Walther handguns.
Chase National Bank-Manhattan, New York State, USA Assisted in the sale of Nazi war bonds (Rueckwanderer Marks) to German Americans.
Degussa AG (now Evonik Industries)-Frankfurt, Germany Zyklon B pesticide production used for executions in gas chambers.
Dehomag (a subsidiary of IBM)-Germany Provided data computers for the Gestapo state police notably for arrests.
Deutsche Bank-Germany Provided construction loans for Auschwitz.
Deutsche Bergwerks- und Hüttenbau- Germany Mine and quarries.
Dresdner Bank- Dresden, Germany Major stakeholder in the construction company for Auschwitz.
Eisenwerke Oberdonau- Germany Steel production. Part of Reichswerke Hermann Göring.
Flugmotorenwerke Ostmark-Lower Austria Engine production mainly for aircraft.
Focke-Wulf- Germany Produced Focke-Wulf military planes.
Franz Eher Nachfolger- Germany Produced books and the famous Mein Kampf under the control of the Nazi party.
General Motors- United States Automotive industry, provided passenger vehicles for the SS, Wehrmacht and the Nazi party.
Hoesch AG-Dortmund, Germany Mines and steel productions.
Hugo Boss- Metzingen, Germany Produced propaganda items, uniforms for Nazi State and Vichy Collaborating State.
IBM-New York, USA Produced early computers utilized in the pursuit of the Holocaust by Nazi Germany.
IG Farben-Frankfurt am Main, Germany Zyklon B main manufacturer.
Krupp (now part of ThyssenKrupp) – Essen, Germany Zyklon B was produced by the company along with other ones. Some more of the productions were Panzer Tank Series, U-boats, military ships, artillery guns.
Maggi (now owned by Nestlé) – Switzerland Benefited from slave labour.
Mercedes-Benz -Stuttgart, Germany Forced labour from concentration camps, produced turret for tanks. Also were the limos of choice of Nazi leaders such as Hitler, Göring, Himmler, and Heydrich.
Porsche- Stuttgart, Germany Forced labour,created design for the first version of the outgunning heavy Tiger tank series: the Tiger I despite the trials it was not retained for further production.
Puma -Herzogenaurach, Germany As Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory, with Adidas. Shoe supplier to Hitler Youth.
Reichswerke Hermann Göring- Berlin, Germany State-owned steelworks.
Siemens-Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany Forced labour, Trucks possibly other productions as trains.
Standard Oil- Cleveland, Ohio Provided fuel for U-boats.
Steyr Arms-Steyr, Austria Forced labour in the Steyr-Münichholz subcamp, production of weapons.
Steyr-Daimler-Puch- Steyr, Austria Constructed military facilities and military vehicles as the light RSO Raupenschlepper Ost (with cargo, self propelled antitank and traction versions).
Stoewer- Stettin, Germany Used forced labour in its factory. manufacturer leichter geländegängiger Einheits-PKW, a versatile four-wheel drive car, for Wehrmacht.
Swarovski-Wattens, Austria Members of the executive board were members of the Nazi Party.
Thyssen AG (now part of ThyssenKrupp)- Hamborn, Germany Produced steel, machines, weapons and steelworks.
Topf and Sons- Erfurt, Germany Designed, manufactured and installed crematoria for concentration and extermination camps.
Volkswagen Group- Berlin, Germany Forced labour from concentration camps. Produced V-1 flying bomb and Kübelwagen military vehicles.

These were not the only companies, Coca Cola created the Fanta brand for the German Army, due to some sanctions not all ingredients to manufacture Coca Cola were available in Germany

Henry Ford was a great admired of Hitler and also funded the Nazi party, it is alleged that Henry Ford sent Hitler a cheque of $50,000 on Hitler’s birthdays.

Not only did these companies fund the Nazi regime and therefore by association the Holocaust, they also profited from the death and destruction caused by the Nazis. Many of them went on to become global marker leaders in their fields and some are now known as manufactures of luxury goods.

sources

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1841917

https://dbpedia.org/page/Secret_Meeting_of_20_February_1933

https://www.ns-archiv.de/nsdap/foerderung/eingabe-hindenburg.php

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Fanta and the Third reich

fanta-1

Prior to the outbreak of the second world war, Coca-Cola’s only unqualified success on the international scene was its bottling operations in Nazi Germany. Sales records were being set year after year in that venue, and by 1939 Coca-Cola had 43 bottling plants and more than 600 local distributors in that country.

cola

Fanta originated as a result of difficulties importing Coca-Cola syrup into Nazi Germany during World War II due to a trade embargo.To circumvent this, Max Keith, the head of Coca-Cola Deutschland (Coca-Cola GmbH) during the war, decided to create a new product for the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at the time, including whey and apple pomace – the “leftovers of leftovers”, as Keith later recalled. The name was the result of a brief brainstorming session, which started with Keith’s exhorting his team to “use their imagination” (Fantasie in German), to which one of his salesmen, Joe Knipp, immediately retorted “Fanta!”

The plant was effectively cut off from Coca-Cola headquarters during the war. After the war, the Coca-Cola corporation regained control of the plant, formula, and the trademarks to the new Fanta product—as well as the plant profits made during the war.

During the war the Dutch Coca-Cola plant in Amsterdam (N.V. Nederlandsche Coca-Cola Maatschappij) suffered the same difficulties as the German Coca-Cola plant. Max Keith therefore also put the Fanta brand at the disposal of the Dutch Coca-Cola plant, of which he had been appointed the official Verwalter (caretaker). Dutch Fanta had a completely different recipe from German Fanta, elderberries being one of the main ingredients.

fanta

Fanta production was discontinued when the German and Dutch Coca-Cola branches were reunited with their parent company. Following the launch of several drinks by the Pepsi corporation in the 1950s, Coca-Cola competed by relaunching Fanta in 1955. The drink was heavily marketed in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

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I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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