The link in the article to Rheinmetall’s history page is particularly interesting. They tell it straight like it was.
Volkswagen is much less upfront about it. Lotta talk about the fun “people’s car” but not the slave labor making Nazi vehicles.
They make no secret out of that, where things get dicey is the role of the Porsche/Piëch clan which ate itself back into the company. That’s also where the “close German factories” drive is coming from, they want their dividends so they don’t have to sell stock to cover some credit or the other.
As a German defence company, we feel a special responsibility to contribute to the culture of remembrance and commemoration in the context of the Second World War. We have thoroughly examined and documented our role and our transgressions during the Nazi era.
German philosopher Hans-Georg Moeller: Guilt Pride: A German Vanity Project Conquering the World
Who would have thought it was the yanks drinking the fascist koolaid this time around.
Nobody should be surprised. The Nazi’s ideas of eugenics were born in America. In 1939 the second-largest Nazi party was in America. A lot of Americans at the time thought we should be fighting for the other side.
I think this is one of those “disappointed but not surprised” situations for many of us.
I’m an American, but given the last decade, that’s precisely how I feel. Infuriating to watch my country sleepwalk into fascism.
History never repeats, but it rhymes.
The denizens of Muskyland will be pointing and shouting about Nazi’s if VW plants start making armaments.