On the Origin of German Wealth (II)
2009/02/27
Needing Supplementation
In reaction to german-foreign-policy.com's recently published research, the Schaeffler enterprise issued a statement last Wednesday,[1] in which the company's spokesperson announced the publication of detailed reports on the company's history to counter allegedly "false allegations".[2] The public now has access to a four page study by the historian Gregor Schoellgen, published in the latest edition of a magazine.[3] This study largely confirms german-foreign-policy.com's research. According to company circles, the Schaeffler Group will have to supplement the official version of its history with its prehistory during the Nazi period.[4]
Jewish Property
Schoellgen's study confirmed the Jewish past of the former Schaeffler AG, focusing on the "David und Co." enterprise, founded in 1850 in Berlin. The enterprise began producing rugs in 1907 in the Silesian town Katscher (today's Kietrz) and expanded through several take-overs between 1929 and 1931. When the Nazis came to power, Ernst Frank, the enterprise's Jewish owner, was compelled to flee Germany. Under the name "Davistan AG", his firm came under the control of a consortium of banks, among them the Dresdner Bank. In October 1940, Wilhelm Schaeffler, an employee of the Dresdner Bank acquired 67 Percent of the shares at a price "approx. 30 Percent below the rated value", writes Schoellgen.[5] In 1942, the Davistan AG was renamed "Schaeffler AG".
Arms Production
Schoellgen also confirms Schaeffler's extensive arms production. His study shows that this entrepreneurial family in Katscher received orders from the Wehrmacht since 1942, beginning with "launching mechanisms for the Luftwaffe", then "armored combat vehicles" and "assault guns" finally "air-surface bombs and their casings" as well as machine spare parts.[6] Of particular importance were the needle roller bearings for tank tracks that could serve also otherwise. They were very important for Schaeffler's post-war success, based on needle roller bearings for not only the German auto industry but also for the US Armed Forces. Schoellgen confirms german-foreign-policy.com's assessment: Schaeffler's post war "success is based on the machines and materials salvaged from Katscher, employees who followed Schaeffler from Upper Silesia and on the know-how of needle roller bearings' industrial production."
Slave Labor
Schoellgen's study expands the knowledge particularly of Schaeffler's use of slave labor. "In spite of intensive research" the historian writes, the exact number and status "could not be ascertained". But it is "certain" that Schaeffler used Polish, French and Soviet slave laborers in the arms production. According to Schoellgen it is also "sure that Wilhelm Schaeffler has always been correct toward Poles, Jews and foreigners."[7] This had been "put on record in unison (...) after the war by several persons concerned".
Human Hair
Emphasizing exonerating statements by former slave laborers, Schoellgen does not acknowledge some of the incriminating eyewitness testimony, especially concerning the question of Schaeffler's business relations with the extermination camp in Auschwitz. Polish historians report that large amounts of human hair were found in one of the town's factories after the Wehrmacht had retreated from Katscher - approximately 1,950 kg. Scientists estimate that this would correspond to the hair of about 40,000 human beings. Scientists found traces of hydrogen cyanide in the human hair discovered in Kietrz. Hydrogen cyanide was an element of the "Zyklon B" poison gas, used by the Nazis to murder their victims in the gas chambers.[8]
Unresolved
The name of the textile factory in which the human hair, obviously stemming from Auschwitz, was found, is given by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum as "Teppichfabrik G. Schoeffler AG". There are no records in Katscher naming a "Schoeffler AG" but there is mention of a Schaeffler AG. According to information on the nationalization of the textile industry in Kietrz, the "Schoeffler AG" and the Schaeffler AG could be one and the same. After the war, the name "Śląskie Zakłady Pluszu i Dywanow" appears for both, the alleged "Schoeffler AG" as well as "Schaeffler AG". Schoellgen does not give a precise answer to this question; he even asserts that there are "no indications" for this suspicion: "Systematic research in German archives concerning the Schaeffler enterprise has not even hinted Auschwitz or the delivery of bails of hair. This is true for the archives of the enterprise as well as for the archives of the Dresdner Bank and the Federal Archives."[9] A glimpse into the relevant specialized literature on human recycling in Auschwitz would have been enough to find the indications. german-foreign-policy.com is documenting the sources.[10]
Untold
It remains unknown if Wilhelm Schaeffler, the founder of the enterprise, had committed other crimes in the course of his other activities in occupied Poland. According to Schoellgen, Schaeffler was imprisoned in Poland between November 22, 1946 and July 23, 1951. He was accused by the Polish court of having participated in the "liquidation of property owned by the Polish state and Polish citizens (...) in favor of the German Reich" and "in the name of the German government". It was later mentioned that this also involved "Jewish property". "This chain of events (...) has been researched, even though it cannot be reconstructed in all its aspects, and is a story unto itself," Schoellgen writes.[11] But he leaves that story untold.
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