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Historic Groups that Started Innocent then Took an Evil Turn

Khalid Elhassan November 8, 2020 32 min

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27. Siemens’ Boss Was BFF With the Head of the SS

Siemens head honcho Rudolf Bingel was a friend of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler. Siemens

Siemens’ general director, Rudolf Bingel, was a personal friend of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler. He made full use of his connections evil to ensure that Siemens did well under the Nazis. The company also profited from the Holocaust via the “Aryanization Program”, which expropriated Jewish businesses and properties, then resold them at fire sale prices to approved companies such as Siemens.

Unsurprisingly, Siemens did its best to forget its role during the Nazi era. However, reminders crop up from time to time. In 2001, in an astonishing display of obliviousness, Bosch Siemens Hausgeraete, the company’s consumer products arm, sought to trademark the name Zyklon. The same as in Zyklon B, the poison used in the Holocaust’s gas chambers. The company wanted to use the Zyklon name in a range of household products, including gas ovens. After a public outcry, Siemens did an about turn, and withdrew the trademark applications.

Also Read: These Corporations Committed the Ultimate Evil.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.