David de Jong on his book Nazi Billionaires and his call for Historical Transparency from Families that control brands like BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen, Dr. Oetker, Bahlsen, Allianz and Munich Re

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To learn more, please visit David de Jong's website.

Show Notes:

3:30 overview of Nazi Billionaires

5:15 families included in Nazi Billionaires control companies like BMW and Porche whitewashing patriarchs’ legacies

6:15 moral and historical reconstruction – acknowledging what’s transpired in history

9:00 Quandt dynasty and BMW Group

10:00 Flick dynasty and Daimler-Benz

11:10: Von Finck and Allianz and Munich Re 

11:45 Porsche-Piëch - Volkswagen, Porsche, Bentley                                                       

13:40 Oetkers - baking powder, cake mixes, Germany’s largest beer brewery, one of Europe’s largest sparkling wine manufacturers, luxury hotels

14:00 Flick’s conviction of war crimes and post-war business success

19:20 Flick released on good behavior and saw himself as wrongfully convicted

20:30 Ferry Porsche’s autobiography We At Porsche

22:30 Rosenberger’s post-war settlement with Porsche

23:30 Porsche Sales & Marketing Representative Joachim Peiper’s death sentence commuted for the Malmedy Massacre of U.S. Army POWs

24:45 English version of We At Porsche

25:30 German version of We At Porsche

26:00 Porsche AG spokesperson and head of Porsche Foundation Dr. Sebastian Rudolph 

28:30 research for Nazi Billionaires for 4 years starting in 2017 

29:00 archive availability and Fold 3 access

30:30 German academic reporting of Nazi family histories

32:00 breadth and depth of families’ collaboration with Third Reich

33:00 Reimann family emerge in 2019 as Germany’s second wealthiest family 

36:50 Reimann family’s Alfred Landecker Foundation 

38:20 German family Bahlsen’s study expected summer 2023

39:20 ignorant remarks by Verena Bahlsen

41:00 how current ignorance and historical distortion are related to overlooking war crimes

41:50 dynasties’ lean on notion of collective guilt

46:00 de Jong’s family experience 

47:00 Artist Max van Dam

49:30 his family experience makes him mindful of history 

51:00 his motivation to get these stories out

51:50 plans for a second book about dynasties that shaped the U.S. and the Netherlands 

52:50 evolution of his definition of justice over the course of writing Nazi Billionaires

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Music by Toulme.

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