10. Hugo Boss Made the Nazis Look Snazzy
Fashion designer Hugo Ferdinand Boss was an enthusiastic Nazi who devoted his talents to making Nazis look dapper. He founded a textile factory in 1923, and one of his early big contracts was to supply uniforms to the Nazi Brown Shirts. He joined the party, and when the Nazis took power, Boss was on the inside track when the new regime began awarding clothing contracts. By the time WWII began, Hugo Boss was outfitting the SS, SA, Hitler Youth, German rail workers, postal employees, as well as the German army, navy, and air force.
He used hundreds of slave workers to meet wartime production demands. Working conditions were dreadful, and the slave laborers were insufficiently fed, received inadequate medical care, and lived in unsanitary barracks infested with lice and fleas. During air raids, they were not allowed into shelters but had to remain in the factory. Those who tried to flee were sent to even more dreadful places if captured, such as Auschwitz. After the war, Hugo Boss was fined, and prohibited from running a business, so he was forced to transfer the company’s ownership and management to his son in law.
