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Company behind Pret admits to Nazi past

The Reimann family is the second richest in Germany, with stakes in major brands like Pret and Krispy Kreme. Now they have found evidence of a dark Nazi past. How should this make us feel? "Reimann Senior and Reimann Junior were guilty," said Peter Harf, spokesman for one of the richest families in Germany, the Reimanns. "The two men have passed away, but they actually belonged in prison." The men were in charge of the family's investments company JAB Holdings during the 1930s and 40s. The family hired a historian to look into their past and has discovered that the Reimanns were committed Nazis who relied heavily on forcedMade to do something. labourBritain's main left-of-centre political party. during the Second World War. The details were first reported in the German newspaper Bildn on Sunday. Today, JAB Holdings owns stakes in well-known brands like Pret a Manger, Dr Pepper and Krispy Kreme. Back then, it owned an industrial chemicals company in Germany. In 1941 it was deemed a "crucial" firm for the war, as it produced items for Germany's weapons industry. By 1943 it was using 175 forced labourers, including Russian civilians and French prisoners of war. Meanwhile, Albert Reimann Sr and his son Albert Reimann Jr were both anti-Semites and Hitler supporters. Reimann Sr donated to the SSShort for the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organisation in Nazi Germany that directly served Hitler and his party. as early as 1931. In 1937, Reimann Jr wrote a letter to Heinrich Himmler describing them as a "purely Aryan family business". Reimann Jr also wrote a letter to a local mayor complaining that the company's forced labourers were not working hard enough. The current family members were "ashamed and white as sheets" when they found out the details of their past, said Harf. "There is nothing to gloss over. These crimes are disgusting." Now, the family is pledging to donate 10 million (8.5 million) to a charity which supports former slaves. But JAB Holdings is far from the first company to reckon with a Nazi past. Hugo Boss designed Nazi uniforms before turning to men's fashion. German car companies BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen all used forced labourers, including concentration campA large prison for people held without legal justification, such as political prisoners or persecuted minorities. The first concentration camps were built by British colonial rulers in South Africa, but the term is most associated with Nazi camps, some of which were used to execute Jewish and other inmates as well as to imprison them. prisoners. The news organisation Associated Press fired its Jewish employees in Germany and complied with Nazi censorship when other news companies refused. And Coca-Cola deliberately marketed itself as pro-Nazi, particularly among the Hitler Youth. Reckoning How should we feel about these companies now? Some may feel uneasy buying a sandwich from Pret knowing that it is partially funded by a family which profited from - and collaborated with - one of the most evil regimes in history. Can anything truly make up for the damage that was done? Others may be impressed by the family's honesty. Germany is particularly good at facing up to its mistakes. It even has a word for the process: "Vergangenheitsbewaltigung", meaning "overcoming the past". It is only by reckoning with history, rather than sweeping it under the carpet, that we can move forward. KeywordsForced - Made to do something.

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