Volkswagen is once again examining its role in history. This time its involvement in the former military dictatorship in Brazil.
Volkswagen has commissioned Professor Christopher Kopper of Bielefeld University in Germany “to clarify the group’s role during the military dictatorship in Brazil,” according to a report by the French news agency Agence France Presse.
The controversy surrounding VW’s involvement with the military dictatorship in the South American country is rooted in the aftermath of World War II when thousands of Germans, including a substantial number with backgrounds linked to Nazi crimes across Europe, emigrated to Brazil and other South American countries where they never bothered to hide their authoritarian sympathies.
Before being abducted by Israeli intelligence and police officers, Adolph Eichmann was employed as foreman in a factory belonging to Mercedes-Benz.
In a controversial case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, former Mercedes-Benz employees identified for the junta and ultimately tortured or killed, lost their bid for compensation from Daimler AG in the U.S.
The original order to finger the employees for the Argentine authorities came from a Daimler executive, who had been a SS officer during World War II, according to German press accounts.
The SS, special military units linked to the Nazi hierarchy, was involved in some of the worst atrocities of World War, including the Holocaust, which involved the systematic massacre of Jews in both Eastern and Western Europe.
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The Volkswagen announcement comes after departure last month of VW’s longtime chief historian Manfred Grieger, who had led efforts to shed light on the group’s actions in Nazi Germany.
Grieger’s departure apparently came after he criticized a study into the past of VW’s Audi subsidiary, which he said downplayed its Nazi links, DPA news agency reported.
Some 75 researchers and historians wrote an open letter this week in Grieger’s defense and warned VW against trying to cover up the “dark pages” of its history.
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VW has denied that Grieger was dismissed or forced out. “We are surprised by these assumptions. They are not based on anything,” it said in a reaction sent to AFP.
“Volkswagen has consistently and honestly worked through its corporate history, and will continue to do so,” it added.
In 1938, Adolf Hitler himself laid the foundation stone for a Volkswagen factory in the Wolfsburg in northern Germany, with the aim to build an affordable car for all Germans — which would go on to become the iconic Beetle.
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The Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, the automotive genius, who is one of Volkswagen’s founding fathers. Subsequent research, however, suggests the design of the Beetle originated with one of Porsche’s subordinates, who also happened to be Jewish.