Profits and Persecution: German Big Business and Holocaust Crimes - a Yad Vashem Podcast [On the Holocaust]

Before and during WWII, German corporations went from the abandonment of Jewish colleagues, through profiting off the dispossession and murder of Jews, to working Jews to death. The leading executives of these companies embodied the “thoughtlessness,” the indifference to the people on the receiving end of their deeds. The actions taken by most of them, weren't just a means to keep their businesses running , but an opportunity to profit and shine - a "banality of evil" with deadly and lucrative results. In this episode, we hear about some of these executives, and some of these companies - several of which still manufacture and distribute products we may find ourselves using today.

Featured guest: Peter Hayes, Emeritus professor at Northwestern University, and the former chair of the academic committee at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.