Daimler-Benz AG
Even before the war, Daimler-Benz was heavily involved in the Nazi armaments industry. The company profited from Germany’s rearmament, which also enabled it to overcome its financial problems. By 1941, the company was producing almost exclusively for the Wehrmacht. In addition to its main factory in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, Daimler-Benz had seven other production sites in the German Reich. As the war progressed, the company expanded its activities into the annexed and occupied territories.
Daimler-Benz first used prisoners of war as forced labour in mid-1940. From around September 1940, the company also used the labour of foreign civilians. Some civilian workers had volunteered based on false promises, but the majority were forcibly recruited. Concentration camp prisoners worked in Daimler-Benz factories from 1941 onwards, and transports from the camps were organised especially for the company. Daimler-Benz also frequently sent its representatives to the camps to select suitable workers.
At first, the use of foreign workers was probably seen as a stopgap measure to make up for short-term labour shortages. However, when Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 led to the conscription of large numbers of men for the Wehrmacht and an increase in armaments orders, Daimler-Benz was faced with a huge labour shortage and increased production requirements. In order not to miss out on lucrative armaments contracts and to be able to expand during the war, the company deliberately and often emphatically demanded forced labour for all its production sites in Germany and the occupied territories. As the war progressed, the number of forced labourers used by Daimler-Benz rose sharply. At its peak at the end of 1944, they made up an average of 35 per cent of the workforce in its factories and showrooms in the German Reich; in the annexed and occupied territories, the figure was over 70 per cent.
Daimler-Benz set up its own camps for its forced labourers and was responsible for feeding and supervising its civilian workers. The supervision of prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners was largely the responsibility of the Wehrmacht and the SS. Daimler-Benz headquarters merely laid down general principles for the treatment of workers, which were to be followed by individual factory managers. Despite some differences in the way these were put into practice in the factories, most forced labourers suffered from poor living and working conditions, humiliation, homesickness and fear of air raids. Accommodation, food, clothing and hygiene were appalling in almost every factory. The behaviour of the German workers and office staff towards the forced labourers was mostly marked by racist prejudice and contempt. Maltreatment, especially of Eastern European workers, was the rule rather than the exception.
The Nazi leadership saw the forced labourers as a danger to the Volksgemeinschaft, the “community of the People”. They created a racist hierarchy that was reflected in the treatment of forced labourers at Daimler-Benz. At the bottom of this hierarchy were people from Poland and the Soviet Union. They were regarded as inferior. They were paid less, had to work longer hours, were less well fed and were housed in closed camps which they were not allowed to leave outside of working hours. Any violations of this restrictive regime for forced labourers were reported to the Gestapo by the factory security. The company also worked closely with the Gestapo in matters of accommodation and guarding.
Daimler-Benz profited enormously from the use of forced labour, without which it would have been difficult to maintain production, let alone increase it and make huge profits. Despite this, neither company management nor factory managers showed any interest in improving the lot of their forced labourers, even though the company could easily have done so by, for example, providing better food or taking action against mistreatment. The mistreatment of forced labourers by German employees ranged from insults and slaps to beatings and sexualised violence. Very few Germans showed any solidarity. The needs of production came first. What mattered to the Daimler-Benz company was the exploitation of labour, not the people.
