Hitler's American Business Partners

2 March 2008 | Dietre Scroeder and Joachiom Schroeder

This documentary uncovers the unholy alliance between Nazi Germany and some of the biggest corporations in the US — companies which were indispensable for Hitler to wage war. Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer; James D Mooney, the General Motors manager; and Tom Watson, the IBM boss were all awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle — the Nazi's highest distinction for foreigners for their services to the Third Reich.

In the statistics of the Reich they were referred to as enemy companies with American shareholders. In the war there were 553 of them, including such well-known names as Coca-Cola, Kodak and American Express; yet very few of them were enemies — some had close contacts to the Nazis. In the case of four large American companies and their German subsidiaries, Hitler was even able to regard the bosses as friends. Without them he would not have been able to wage war. They saw him as the man who would soon be in control of Europe.

At this time, in 1937 and 1938, Hitler's armaments industry was running at full speed. The German subsidiaries of these American companies — Opel, the Ford Werke AG and Dehomag — had willingly allowed themselves to be integrated into the “Führer's” war preparations. Without the trucks and track-laying vehicles produced by Opel and Ford, Hitler would never have been able to occupy Czechoslovakia or invade Poland and France.

Opel was also involved in the production of Ju-88, Hitler's most important bomber. Standard Oil of New Jersey supplied crude oil, special motor oil for tanks and lead additives for aircraft fuel right up to the first years of the war. The Hollerith machines of IBM, predecessor of present-day computers, were to help Hitler organise war and destruction.

The film concentrates on the companies which were indispensable for Hitler to wage war. The documentary is supported by new archive material, as well as interviews with contemporary witnesses and experts.