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It is one of the powerful dynasties of German entrepreneurs who owe part of their fortune to the Nazi regime, but the Quandt family, owners of automobile firm BMW, has always been discrete about this period, unlike other companies such as Deutsche Bank, Allianz or Volkswagen. Today, the heirs of the automobile manufacturer are "confronting their past," says the Financial Times Deutschland. They are doing it "late, too late, but in a substantial manner,"the financial daily adds. A recent study shows that the Quandt enterprises, a major arms supplier to Adolf Hitler, participated in the aryanisation of the population [extermination and despoilment of Jews], and employed over 50,000 people as forced labour, thousands of whom came from concentration camps. In 2007, following the broadcast of a television documentary criticising the role of the clan under the Nazi regime, the Quandt family appointed a historian to undertake a study and was accorded access to the family archives, which are now public.
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