German biscuit heiress apologizes for Nazi labor claim

An heiress of the Bahlsen biscuit empire in Germany has apologized for claiming her company treated forced laborers “well” during World War II, and said she should learn more about her firm’s history.

Verena Bahlsen, who owns a quarter of the company, said she “deeply regrets” comments she made about people forced into working at the biscuit factory during the Second World War under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.

“It was a mistake to amplify this debate with thoughtless responses. I apologize for that,” she says in a statement on the Bahlsen family’s website.

“Nothing could be further from my mind than to downplay national socialism or its consequences.”

The 25-year-old had dived headlong into controversy first with her unashamed claim of being a capitalist who “wants to make money and buy yachts with my dividends.”

As critics reminded her on Twitter that her company profited from forced laborers during Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, she hit back, telling newspaper Bild that “we paid forced laborers as much as Germans and treated them well.”

Her comments drew a furious outcry from politicians and historians alike.

— AFP