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More Nazi forced labour found at German biscuit empire
'We are sorry our ancestors took advantage of the system in the Nazi period,' says the Bahlsen family who owns the company
Bahlsen, founded at the end of the 19th century, used forced labour to produce rations for German soldiers during the war. — Instagram
Germany's Bahlsen biscuit empire has apologised for the "painful" findings of a new report showing that it used several times more forced labourers 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 labourers 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 the forced labour 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 behaviour "unforgivable".
Verena Bahlsen swiftly apologised 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 mostly women labourers, who were made to work against their will by Hitler's regime between 1943 and 1945.
The new findings suggest forced labour was used over a longer period, between 1940 and 1945.
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