State corportate crime - Essay Example

German Company and American Corporations in Holocaust - Holocaust during the World War II sounded the death knell for the Jews as well as for some ofthe Russian communities. Among the organizations which played roles in the time of Holocaust which was done following the directions of the Nazi Party of Hitler, the German companies and American corporations are important. In this article we will discuss in brief about three of them.First of all we will discuss about Dailmer-Benz Company from Germany.

This company is hugely known for the manufacture of some of the best cars in the world. But, despite this pristine appearance which the company has at present, there is an unavoidable bleak history that is associated with the company’s name. Dailmer-Benz came into existence in the year 1926. It was mainly because of the Nazi Party’s help the company was successful to make a rapid growth in the world market. Warfare was the main thing which helped the company in its business. In any case, the company took a safe side of an opportunist organization during the World War II.

This is why it was successful in remaining untouched even in the time of Allied Force’s recurrent bombing. As far as we can know from the company’s history, labor exploitation had reached to its zenith during this time and the most unfortunate Jews were the preys to that situation. (“American Supporters of the European Fascists”, 2004)On the other hand, some American corporations were too clever to stand by both the Americans as well as the Nazis. This was done for the fulsome benefit which they had prospected in the warfare.

We get two of the major American automobile companies’ name in this context; they are: General Motors and Ford. Expansion was an ever going process for these companies from the early 1930’s. But, with the beginning of World War II, they realized the golden chance to make the best use of the troublesome market. Many of us will be shocked to know about their deeds in that period. Ford and General Motors were directly involved in helping the Nazis in the warfare. Both the companies supplied 90% of the vehicles, especially trucks, used by the Nazi Army.

There were two types of trucks which were built by these corporations. They were the “mule” trucks and “heavy-duty” trucks. Nazi German Eagle was an award which was given by the Nazis for any help or patronizing from somebody or some organization. It will almost unnerve us to know that the very first person to get this award was the Chief Executive of Ford, although being an American company. The nation America was fighting against the Nazis to save the lives of Jews and on the other hand, some of the corporations from the same country were supplying the opponent with well manufactured “troop transport” vehicles.

Moreover, with the break of World War II in 1939, both General Motors and Ford got the added scope to expand in some other territories of business. This time they also started making aircrafts for the Americans and very ironically, for the Nazis, too. American intelligence agencies have reported later on that the vehicles which were provided by General Motors and Ford during the Holocaust acted as the backbone of the German Nazi Army. Not only that, the United States Government had to give repairing money to both the corporations for the damages which the US Army had done in Germany during their bombing sessions.

(Mazal, 1999)References1. “American Supporters of the European Fascists”, (2004), Rational Revolution, available at: http://rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm (accessed on September 27, 2008)2. Mazal, H.W. (1999) “Corporations and Cooperation with the Nazis”, Holocaust-History, available at: http://www.holocaust-history.org/questions/corporations.shtml (accessed on September 27, 2008)