A-Infos (en) corporate morality

[MichaelP <papadop@PEAK.ORG>]

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     A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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Doesn't this suggest that corporations' only responsibility is to make
money for the investors? Tell me I'm wrong!!

MichaelP
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London BBC   Monday, February 23, 1998 Published at 19:31 GMT

   Ford 'profited from Nazi slave labour'
   
   The Ford Motor Company is facing legal action in the United States for
   allegedly making a profit from its self-confessed use of slave labour
   during World War II. Its factory in Germany produced trucks for the
   Nazi war effort.
   
   American lawyers representing thousands of forced labourers are taking
   out a class action later this week .
   
   The BBC's Rob Broomby investigates (17'15") It is believed to be the
   first time a legal action has been brought for compensation against an
   American multinational for its activities in Nazi Germany.
   
   Ford has said it will fight the allegations vigorously.
   
   During the war, at least 1,200 of the workers at Ford's Cologne plant
   were Russian. They were considered by the Nazis as Untermenschen, or
   subhuman.
   
   [ image: Ilse Ivanova: traumatised]
   Ilse Ivanova: traumatised Among them was Ilse Ivanova, now 72 years
   old. She was taken from her home at the age of 16 and forced to work
   in harsh conditions. Now, she lives in Antwerp, Belgium.
   
   "The work was extremely hard and I am still traumatised today," she
   said. "The foreman was like a wild animal. He pushed us about. He wore
   a swastika on his uniform."
   
   Ford Cologne still stands on the banks of the Rhine. It is the
   company's biggest factory in Europe, turning out more than 350,000
   cars a year.
   
   Now, just as German companies must answer for their actions during the
   war, Ford must also come to terms with its past.
   
   New York lawyer Mel Weise is about to launch a battle for
   compensation.
   
   [ image: Weise: Ford
   Weise: Ford "were out for profit, pure and simple" He said that
   althought the parent company in America knew what had happened at its
   German plant, it never fully broke its connection with Germany and
   that it still re-employed key managers after the war.
   
   He said the firm has a responsibility to those forced to work in its
   name.
   
   "They were out for profit, pure and simple," he told the BBC. "They
   didn't care how it was earned and who was abused in the process."
   
   The Ford Motor Company has admitted forced labour was used at Cologne.
   But it denies any responsibility, blaming the Nazi government which
   they say comandeered the plant.
   
   [ image: Rintamaki:
   Rintamaki: "The German government is responsible" "They dictated what
   was going to be made, how it was going to be made, what the labour
   force looked like, the working conditions and so forth," said Ford's
   lawyer, John Rintamaki.
   
   Ford Cologne's head of production during the war, Hans Grundig, denied
   the Nazis were in control.
   
   "We on the [shop]floor didn't have the impression that we were owned
   by the government. We considered that we were still owned by the
   shareholders and that we were working for the Ford organisation in
   Germany," he said.
   
   Grandy, who was never a Nazi, went on to become Ford's European
   Vice-President.
   
   Ford was placed under a special government official known as a
   Reichscommisar, called Robert Schmidt. He retained the civilian
   management.
   
   [ image: Schmidt: Nazi member and factory director]
   Schmidt: Nazi member and factory director Historians said he had two
   masters -- Ford and the Nazis.
   
   As a Nazi party member, he made Wehrwirtschaftsführer, or economic
   leader. Schmidt was interrogated by the allies but stayed on at Ford
   and by the early 1950s was back in senior management as a director.
   
   Towards the end of the war with labour increasingly scarce, Ford's
   managers turned to the concentration camps for more workers. They paid
   the SS for a commando of 50 workers from Buchenwald -- with guards.
   
   Mr Weise is demanding to know what happened to profits made by Ford in
   enemy territory during the war. He thinks they were reinvested in the
   company and that America benefited in some way.
   
   But Mr Rintamaki downplayed the profits during and shortly after the
   war.
   
   "It would be of some value if the profits were reinvested into the
   company. But as we understand it I don't think there was much there to
   salvage. There was a lot of work we had to do it," he said.
   
   One thing is for sure. The battle for compensation will be a long one
   -- and every year there are fewer survivors left to claim.
   
=======================
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