German biscuit giant apologizes for larger-than-known Nazi-era slave labor force
Bahlsen heiress had sparked controversy for saying firm treated captives as well as Germans; 800 people were forced to make rations for German troops, 3 to 4 times previous estimate
FRANKFURT, Germany — Germany’s Bahlsen biscuit empire has apologized for the “painful” findings of a new report showing that it used several times more forced laborers than previously thought during the Nazi period.
The report was commissioned after family heiress Verena Bahlsen sparked outrage in 2019 by claiming that the firm “paid forced laborers as much as Germans and treated them well” during World War II.
But the study by two historians published this week identified almost 800 people — many from Poland and Ukraine — who were forced to work for the company, several times the previous estimate of between 200 and 250.
In a statement the Bahlsen family called the findings “uncomfortable and painful” and expressed regret that the company “didn’t confront this difficult truth before now.”
“We as a family did not pose the obvious question of how our company was able to get through World War II,” the statement said Tuesday.
The company, founded at the end of the 19th century, used forced labor to produce rations for German soldiers during the war.
“Our ancestors… took advantage of the system in the Nazi period,” the family said, calling the company’s behavior “unforgivable.”
Verena Bahlsen swiftly apologized for what she called her “thoughtless” comments in 2019. She left the firm three years later.
Founded by Verena Bahlsen’s great-grandfather at the end of the 19th century, the biscuit company was previously known to have employed several hundred laborers, mostly women, who were made to work against their will by Hitler’s regime between 1943 and 1945.
The new findings suggest forced labor was used over a longer period, between 1940 and 1945.
