5 Disturbing Secrets About BMW’s Quandt Family
Little-known dark and dirty facts are hidden behind this fame and relevancy — that possibly hints at ties with the Nazis!
First off, let’s begin with introductions as I’m sure having a little insight into the Quandt family and its history will provide some more context to the plethora of plot twists that are about to come!
So the Quandt family was the biggest industrialist during WWI because that is the time when Günther Quandt made good money by selling uniforms to the German Empire. After the war ended, he diversified his business, started buying out other companies, and tapped into almost every manufacturing industry i.e. electronics, crude oil, weapons, and batteries.
1- Involvement with the Nazis
The Quandt family first started being associated with the Nazis when Günther Quandt’s second wife, Magda Ritschel divorced him and got engaged to Joseph Goebbels, the very man who was destined to lead the Ministry of Propaganda of Nazi Germany.
One may think that Günther Quandt would have developed some sort of one-sided beef with Goebbels but surprisingly he did the complete opposite! Günther Quandt, you see, was a resourceful man and where most would have seen enmity and vengeance, he saw an opportunity. And decided to seize it.
Günther Quandt showed great support and friendliness for the newly wedded couple and went as far as to even give up his own mansion for their wedding ceremony. And I’m sure you all can imagine Quandt’s great delight when the best man at Magda and Goebbels’ wedding was none other than Adolf Hitler himself. Quandt could see the vision and he decided to remain on close terms with his connection.
2- What Was Hidden behind the Walls of Quandt’s Factories?
Very soon, after the election of March 1993 when the Nazi Party won Günther Quandt gave up some of his factories as an aid to the Nazis and slowly rose to the highest ranks of Hitler’s allies.
His factories became a huge support for the Nazis and Hitler even ended up appointing him as the leader of the war economy. And this is where the story begins!
While forced labor was much normalized in German businesses at the time, the Quandt factories gained a reputation for being particularly harsh and oppressive.
Jewish workers in particular were treated unreasonably brutally and were provided no work security or protection and a good majority of them also ended up dying of lead poisoning in the coming years. In later years many former workers also admitted to beatings, torture, and death threats being given on a regular basis and often recounted how torturous it was to work for them.
This went on for years on end and even after Günther Quandt’s son Herbert Quandt took over, things remained barbaric. Herbert even took it a single step and assisted the Nazis in creating a concentration camp directly alongside the factories. This brutality continued for the entirety of the Nazi rule and only ended once the Allies defeated Germany.
3- Suspicious release of Günther Quandt
Being such a close ally and a big name for the Nazis, it makes sense to expect that Günther Quandt would have been one of the first in line to get indicted. Suspiciously, he did not. He was arrested at first and put into Camp Moosburg, which was one of the Nazis’ own war camps until the Americans rehabilitated it.
However there was reportedly insufficient evidence against him and not as much political connection as others, so the Americans let him go after a year and a half.
There are many theories and speculations as to why he was let go so easily but one, in particular, that takes the crown is that he was seen as a crucial element in rebuilding Germany’s economy due to his entrepreneurial skills and experience in running businesses.
Günther Quandt passed away in 1954 and the Quandt fortune and business were left for Herbert Quandt to manage.
4- The BMW Takeover
Remember how we mentioned in the beginning that Günther Quandt had a thing for diversifying and buying out other companies?
Yeah, he must have passed it on to Herbert because when Herbert came across the then-dying BMW. BMW, unlike the Quandt business, had not managed to survive the hit that came after WWII and was barely getting along by producing kitchen equipment at best.
In fact, when Herbert bought out BMW, the company was at its lowest and was close to bankruptcy.
It ended up being Herbert Quandt’s massive capital investments into the company that supported it enough to release the BMW 1500. This new model paved the way for all modern BMW designs and was the first of the many stepping stones that brought BMW into the limelight it’s in today.
But what was to become of the Quandt family’s extremely shady history?
5- The Final Reveal
The Quandt family remained silent throughout the years and watched all other major Nazi supporters come out with apologies, explanations, and statements in the 1900s and 2000s.
It wasn’t until a particularly explicit documentary exposed their history in October of 2007 that the Quandt family was forced to speak up. Most of their public statement addressing the matter consisted of them excusing their forefathers’ deliberate actions to support the Nazis under the guise of being forced to make compromises.
In Closing — Cruelties Forgiven In The Face Of Luxury?
Today the Quandt descendants all remain extremely rich and highly influential individuals of Germany. In fact, Herbert’s son Stefan is the largest shareholder of BMW while his daughter Susanne is the wealthiest woman in Germany.
While it is understandable that one shouldn’t hold the current members of the Quandt family accountable for what their ancestors did, it sure gives us some insight into how the richest companies got where they are today.
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