17. A Fashion Icon’s Use of Slave Workers
As WWII raged on, Hugo Boss used hundreds of slave workers in his factory, mostly from Poland and France, to meet increased wartime production demands. The slave laborers’ working conditions were dreadful. They were insufficiently fed, received inadequate medical care, and were made to live in insanitary 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 run away were sent to even more dreadful places if captured, such as Auschwitz.
After the war, Germans were subjected to a de-nazification process, and the Nazi fashion designer did not fare well. He was heavily fined, stripped of his voting rights, and prohibited from running a business. Boss appealed and managed to get the penalties reduced, but the business ban remained. So he was forced to transfer ownership and management of the company to his son in law. In the years since Hugo Boss has, understandably, not been keen to celebrate its founder or discuss its prewar history. In 1999, the company finally agreed to contribute to a fund to compensate its former slave workers.
