Out and About (Sort of): Superior, Tainted Cars by Howard Freedlander

I have ridden in Porsches, Mercedes, BMWs and Volkswagens and loved the driving experience. I have enjoyed the luxury and comfort. I have marveled at the superior engineering and thrust for excellence.

Still, my Jewish heritage and the Holocaust horror have colored my appreciation for some of the world’s best cars. Germany’s Third Reich and its insidiously deadly Nazism have diminished my awe for the German car industry and its first-rate products.

I have learned more, sadly so. The cars so admired by American consumers ride on complicity in the Nazi deadly assault on European Jews. The evidence is clear and concerning.

In a country dedicated to forthright remembrance, the history of the BMW and the Porsche automobile dynasties now are tainted by facts unearthed by David de Jong, author of “Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties” and recent essay in The New York Times. The corporate histories, as assessed by de Jong, are oblique. They skirt the inconvenient truth.

(My paternal grandmother, who died young, was German. My maternal grandfather was Austrian).

Ferdinand Porsche enjoined Adolf Hitler, creator of the murderous Third Reich, to enable the production of Volkswagen. His son, Ferry, willingly joined the SS in 1938, became an officer in 1941 and “lied about this for the rest of his life,” according to de Jong.

Porsche’s co-founder was a Jew, Adolf Rosenberger, whom Ferry Porsche accused of blackmail after he had to flee Germany and its purification crusade. In fact, Porsche received Rosenberger’s company shares after his father, Ferdinand, and brother-in-law, Anton Piech, bought out Rosenberger. paying way below market value for his shares. I would suspect that Porsche and Piech took full advantage of Rosenberger’s precarious position in Nazi Germany.

The Quandts, Gunther and his son Herbert, who founded BMW—and whose family also control Mini and Rolls-Royce—belonged to the Nazi Party. They “subjected as many as 57,500 people to forced or slave labor in their factories, producing weapons and batteries for the German war effort… Gunther Quandt acquired companies from Jews who were forced to sell their businesses at below market value and from others who had their property seized after Germany occupied their countries,” de Jong wrote.

Herbert Quandt also was responsible for planning, building and dissembling an incomplete concentration subcamp in Poland. He helped buy two Jewish-owned companies at below-market prices, benefitting from the distressful treatment of German Jews.

Accused of war crimes, Quandt avoided harsh treatment, saving BMW in 1960 from bankruptcy after inheriting his father’s fortune.

Some may wonder: why does the sordid history of incredibly successful car companies matter? American consumers love their cars. They are more than willing to pay for comfort and quality. So what, if the owners of premier auto makers were subservient to Hitler and his gang of criminals. accumulating vast fortunes, often on the back of Jews forced to work in their factories?

I for one would not buy a Porsche or Mercedes or BMW if I could afford to do so. These superb vehicles are tainted by abhorrent behavior by shrewd owners. The memory of the Holocaust haunts me. It always will.

Apologies and admissions by the German billionaires might change my opinion. The connection to Nazi Germany is fraught; obsequious deference to Hitler brought great riches. The sinful murder of six million Jews seemed irrelevant to the German oligarchs.

Cars are integral to our lives. They symbolize ingenuity and excellence. Inhumane practices in the past, however, matter to me. I can admire but not respect the founders of Germany’s prestigious autos.

Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.