Русская версияThe Quandt family, which owns close to 47 percent of the shares in
German car maker BMW, had been maintaining a wall of silence
following the broadcast of a film that put the spotlight on the
stories of former Nazi prisoners who were forced to work in a
battery factory owned by magnate Guenther Quandt (1881-1954).
The workers recounted beatings, mistreatment and even deaths at the
factory in the film which premiered at the Hamburg Film Festival
last year.
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Stefan Quandt
Hoping to repair the family's damaged reputation, Stefan Quandt
used the recent award ceremony for the "Herbert Quandt Media Prize"
to undercut the documentary's integrity, German daily
FAZ
reported on Thursday, July 31.
"The allegation that the family's assets can be traced back to the
time of the Third Reich defrauds fifty years of entrepreneurial
success on the part of my great grandfather Emil and my grandfather
Guenther Quandt before the year 1933," he was quoted as saying.
Integrity of media prize questioned
The documentary's broadcast has tarnished the Quandt moniker to
such an extent that three prominent members of the board of
trustees responsible for awarding the prize resigned their posts.
Mathias Müller, Editor in Chief of
Der Spiegel
, Gabriele Fischer, Editor in Chief of
Brand Eins
and Christoph Keese, former Editor in Chief of
Welt am Sonntag
and current CEO of Public Affairs for the publishing giant Axel
Springer have called for the cancellation of the prize until the
family's role during the time of the Nazis was clarified.
But the Quandt family is determined to see the media prize live on.
After the documentary was aired, the family hired historian Joachim
Scholtyseck to spend three years exploring the family history.
Scholtyseck's findings may lead the Quandts -- one of Germany's
last corporate dynasties that has not dealt with its past -- to
finally face the skeletons in the family closet.
Nazi ties misjudged
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Through her re-marriage to Joseph Goebbels, Magda Quandt directly
linked the family to the Nazi regime
In addition to being one of the most important German arms
producers during World War II, the Quandt family also had a private
connection to the Nazis.
Guenther Quandt's first wife Magda Ritschel married Joseph
Goebbels, Hitler's future propaganda minister, two years after
divorcing Guenther.
Their first son Harald then lived with her and
Goebbels.
Stefan Quandt, however, found fault with the documentary for
leaving out a very important aspect of the Quandt-Goebbels
connection: the fact that Guenther Quandt took legal action against
Goebbels in 1934 in order to gain custody over Harald.
"The court did not accept the claim against the influential
Minister Goebbels and the lawyer representing my grandfather was
removed from his leading position in the lawyers' association," he
said.
He also reminded critics that his family members were only human
and that the circumstances of their time were largely beyond their
control.
"Some people followed national socialism from conviction," he said.
"Some agreed to small or large compromises. Others were forced. In
a world of fear and instability, it wasn't any different for
Guenther and Herbert Quandt as entrepreneurs."
(Deutsche Welle)
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