The German dynasty behind the Leibniz biscuit empire has admitted to its Nazi past after historians revealed the company’s widespread use of forced labour and financial support of Hitler’s regime during the Second World War.
The Bahlsen family has led the brand behind the iconic biscuits since it was founded by Hermann Bahlsen in 1891, and has now said that it had never posed ‘the obvious question of how our company was able to survive throughout WWII.’
The biscuit manufacturer came under increasing pressure to address its dark past in 2019, when Verena Bahlsen, daughter of owner Werner M Bahlsen, sparked outrage by suggesting the firm ‘did nothing wrong’ and treated forced labourers ‘well’.
Critics hit out at the wealthy heiress, who went on to apologise, with the family pledging to look into the company’s history around the world wars.
It commissioned historians Manfred Grieger and Hartmut Berghoff from the University of Gottingen, and their report has now revealed that the use of forced labour was more extensive than previously thought.
Verena Bahlsen (left) is one of four children of company owner Werner Bahlsen (right)
Most of the forced labourers at Hanover-based Bahlsen were women, many from Nazi-occupied Poland and Ukraine. Pictured: The Bahlsen production line in 1930s Germany
The Bahlsen family has led the company behind the iconic Leibniz biscuits for more than 130 years
They found that the company employed some 800 foreign workers between 1940 and 1945 – more than previous estimates of around 200.
Most of the forced labourers at Hanover-based Bahlsen were women, many from Nazi-occupied Poland and Ukraine.
This was common at factories in Germany during the war, with an estimated 13 million people from occupied territories forced to work to to mitigate the drain on the labour force.
The foreign workers were subjected to racial discrimination and harsh treatment, the report found.
They received lower wages, limited food rations and poorer medical care compared to other workers.
Polish women had to wear a purple and yellow P badge to mark out their nationality, and social contact with Germans was forbidden.
They were housed in barracks away from locals and Polish men who were found to have had sexual contact with German women were threatened with execution.
The family business also benefitted by taking over a biscuit factory in occupied Ukraine.
Three sons of founder Hermann Bahlsen, who sat on the board, were also members of the Nazi party and even supported the SS financially.
Verena Bahlsen previously said the firm, which employed some forced labourers during World War Two, ‘did nothing wrong’ then. Pictured: Workers at Bahlsen’s Hanover factory in 1929
After the war, their involvement was hardly questioned, not even by the Allies.
Mr Berghoff told The Times that Bahlsen took National Socialism ‘off like [an] old garment and within a few weeks excellent relations were established with the British Army, which, like the Wehrmacht, bought Bahlsen products in large numbers and frequented the factory’.
In a statement about the findings, the family said: ‘The research results show that our predecessors and protagonists of the time took advantage of the system during the Nazi era.
‘Their main motivation seemed to be to continue the company under the Nazi regime, with dire consequences.
‘People were harmed, in particular the over 800 forced labourers from 1940 until 1945. That is inexcusable.
The company has Verena Bahlsen’s great grandfather at the end of the 19th century, the biscuit company employed around 200 forced labourers, mostly women, between 1943 and 1945. The firm now has annual sales exceeding 500 million euros (£435million)
Three sons of founder Hermann Bahlsen (pictured) were members of the Nazi party
‘The truth about these events of the past is painful and uncomfortable. We deeply regret the injustice done to these people at Bahlsen. We also regret that we did not face up to this difficult truth earlier.’
Verena Bahlsen, who has since stepped back from the company, first attracted controversy with her unashamed claim of being a capitalist who ‘wants to make money and buy yachts with my dividends’.
As critics reminded her that her company profited from forced labourers, Ms Bahlsen, who is set to inherit a quarter of the family business, hit back.
‘That was before my time and we paid the forced labourers as much as the Germans and treated them well,’ she told German newspaper Bild, adding that the company had nothing to feel guilty about.
Werner Bahlsen has four children, with his sons Johannes and Andreas Bahlsen still members of the company’s board.
The family has now vowed to use the historians’ findings to help work towards a better future and as a mission to prevent a repeat of Nazi crimes by promoting a ‘culture of commemoration’.
Verena Bahlsen, the great grandaughter of the company’s founder, apologised after she sparked outrage for claiming her firm treated forced workers ‘well’ during World War II
Werner M Bahlsen is pictured in 2016. His company’s annual sales currently sit in the region of £450 million
However, it appears to have stopped short of offering further financial compensation to the victims of forced labour and their descendants.
A spokesperson told The Times that Bahlsen gave 1.5 million Deutschmarks to the German government’s official forced labour compensation fund in the early 2000s.
Bahlsen’s annual sales currently sit in the region of £450 million.
Germany has paid a total of €4.4 billion to more than 1.66 million people in almost 100 countries as compensation for forced labour, and concluded the payments in 2007.
According to the Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre, based in south-east Berlin, 26 million people including prisoners of war, concentration camp internees, Jews, Roma and Sinti worked against their will for the Nazi regime.
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