The top 10 still thriving corporations that once lent a hand to the Nazi regime still dominate global markets today. While their modern brands sparkle with innovation and profit, each harbors a darker chapter: involvement in the war effort, exploitation of forced labor, or direct collaboration with Adolf Hitler’s government. Below we break down the ten most prominent firms, detailing how they helped the Third Reich and what they’ve done – or failed to do – to reckon with that past.
Understanding the top 10 still Companies and Their Legacy
From news agencies to automobile giants, the list reads like a roll‑call of today’s household names. Some entered uneasy agreements under pressure, others profited outright from slave labor, and a few even supplied the very weapons that powered the Nazi war machine. Their stories are a reminder that corporate histories can be as complex and troubling as any nation’s.
10 Associated Press
The Associated Press, now synonymous with journalistic standards, actually struck a deal with the Nazis in the 1930s that allowed it to stay on German soil when other news services were expelled. By agreeing not to publish any criticism of Hitler’s regime, the AP became the sole foreign newswire operating legally inside the Third Reich.
To keep the arrangement, the AP hired reporters who were sympathetic to the Nazis and ran stories that echoed Nazi propaganda, including vile anti‑Jewish rhetoric. These pieces spread falsehoods and hateful tropes that bolstered the regime’s ideological campaign.
When the collaboration surfaced decades later, an AP spokesperson told The Guardian that the agency “rejects any notion that it deliberately ‘collaborated’ with the Nazi regime,” insisting it was merely “subjected to intense pressure” from 1932 until its expulsion in 1941.
9 Audi
Audi, today celebrated for luxury performance cars, operated under the Auto Union banner during World War II and signed a contract with the SS to employ concentration‑camp inmates in its factories. A 2014 investigation revealed that more than 3,700 prisoners were forced to work for the company, drawn from seven SS‑run labor camps.
Beyond those camp inmates, Audi also relied on an additional 16,500 forced workers from non‑camp sources in Zwickau and Chemnitz, plus another 18,000 in Bavaria—where roughly 4,500 died under brutal conditions. In total, about one‑fifth of the firm’s wartime workforce consisted of enslaved people, most of them Jewish.
After the revelations, Audi acknowledged that its modern leadership had been unaware of the full scope of the abuse. The company later set up a compensation fund in the early 2000s to provide restitution to former slave laborers and their families.
8 Bayer
Bayer, now a global pharmaceutical heavyweight, was a component of the IG Farben conglomerate that fully backed the Third Reich. Exploiting the regime’s legal blind spots, Bayer conducted horrendous medical experiments on unwilling subjects in the Dachau, Gusen, and Auschwitz camps.
In Auschwitz’s Birkenau sub‑camp, Bayer oversaw a chemical plant where scientists deliberately infected patients with diseases such as diphtheria and tuberculosis. The company also employed more than 25,000 slave laborers throughout the war, further entangling it with Nazi atrocities.
The company’s dark past resurfaced in 1999 when a lawsuit accused Bayer officials of bribing Nazi officials to gain access to concentration‑camp prisoners for experiments. The suit cited names like Dr. Koenig and even Dr. Mengele, linking Bayer directly to the “Angel of Death” and other notorious war crimes.
7 Chase National Bank
JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s largest banking institutions, ran a covert program in the 1930s and early ’40s that sold a special Reichsmark called the Rückwanderer to American citizens of German descent. The scheme was anything but above board.
The Nazis used these Rückwanderers to siphon money from Jewish refugees and other victims, funneling over $20 million (about $427 million in 2024 dollars) into the Nazi treasury. Chase’s involvement didn’t stop there; the bank also helped block French assets from reaching the United States, allowing the Third Reich to sidestep American sanctions.
Further, a senior Chase official in Paris actively obstructed Jewish funds and property, directly benefiting the Nazi regime. The bank’s wartime activities were finally exposed when the FBI declassified related records decades later.
6 Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank, a pillar of modern finance, was deeply embedded in the Nazi economic machine. Before and during the war, the bank assisted the regime by dismissing Jewish employees, confiscating Jewish assets, and handing those resources over to the Nazis.
As the Nazis expanded across Europe, Deutsche Bank seized control of banking operations in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, and other occupied territories. It also facilitated the sale of gold looted from European Jews, providing crucial financing for the war effort.
The bank’s wartime conduct came under scrutiny during a proposed merger with a U.S. firm. Chairman Rolf‑Ernst Breuer later expressed regret, stating, “We deeply regret the misery and injustice suffered… we acknowledge the bank’s ethical and moral responsibility.” Notably, Deutsche Bank also financed the construction of IG Farben facilities and the Auschwitz camp using stolen Jewish gold.
5 Ford & General Motors
American automotive titans Ford and General Motors, while famous for supplying the U.S. war effort, also ran extensive subsidiaries in Nazi‑occupied Germany that supplied the Third Reich. By 1939, these subsidiaries controlled roughly 70 % of the German auto market.
The German branches retooled their factories to produce military vehicles, trucks, and aircraft for the Nazis. In doing so, they relied heavily on forced labor, including thousands of Jewish prisoners, mirroring the exploitative practices of many European firms.
U.S. Army investigations after liberating these plants found that Ford’s German arm functioned as “an arsenal of Nazism,” while GM’s Opal subsidiary built trucks and aircraft for the Nazi war machine. Both companies later claimed loss of control over their German operations in 1941, attempting to distance themselves from culpability.
4 IBM
IBM, the pioneer of early computing, sold roughly 2,000 punch‑card machines to the Nazis in 1933. The regime used these devices to generate an astonishing 1.5 billion index cards that tracked individuals across occupied Europe.
These punch‑card systems became a vital component of the Nazi bureaucracy, allowing officials to catalog and manage Jews, Roma, and other targeted groups with terrifying efficiency. The technology was far from a mere accounting tool; it was a central instrument in the Holocaust’s logistical machinery.
IBM’s involvement, though often described as “involuntary,” was effectively complicit. Its Polish subsidiary, Watson Business Machines, directly assisted in the systematic liquidation of Poland’s Jewish population, making the company’s role in the genocide starkly evident.
3 Mercedes‑Benz
Mercedes‑Benz, known then as Daimler‑Benz AG, was a principal armaments supplier for the Nazi war effort. The company’s board featured numerous Nazi officials, and its factories churned out weapons, vehicles, and other military hardware.
To keep production humming, Daimler‑Benz employed a massive slave‑labor force composed largely of Jews, as well as prisoners of war and other persecuted groups. The firm even “loaned” enslaved workers to other companies for cash, fully participating in the Nazi slave‑trade network.
After the war, the company embraced accountability through the “Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future” initiative. In 1988, Mercedes‑Benz contributed $12 million to a fund administered by the West German Red Cross, providing reparations to thousands of former forced laborers and their descendants.
2 Porsche
Although Porsche officially emerged as a brand in 1950, its founder Ferdinand Porsche was already a key collaborator with Hitler before the war. He designed automobiles for the Führer and, once hostilities began, shifted his engineering talent to tanks and off‑road vehicles for the German military.
Ferdinand Porsche’s factories relied heavily on slave labor, forcing workers into cramped, rat‑infested quarters with scant food and brutal treatment. These enslaved laborers built everything from cars to armored vehicles, directly supporting the Nazi war machine.
Post‑war, Porsche contributed €2.5 million to a German reparations fund but has never fully acknowledged the extent of its wartime involvement. Nevertheless, the company’s legacy remains tarnished by its role in the Holocaust.
1 Volkswagen
Volkswagen, famed for the iconic Beetle, was originally a state‑backed project under Hitler’s direction. When the war erupted, the Fallersleben plant pivoted to military production, assembling vehicles and the infamous V‑1 flying bomb.
The company’s wartime workforce was dominated by forced laborers—about 70 % of its employees were enslaved individuals supplied by the SS from nearby concentration camps. Living conditions were horrendous, and investigations have shown that the firm “let babies die” amid the inhumane environment.
In 1998, Volkswagen established a $12 million reparations fund (equivalent to $23 million in 2024) to compensate victims of its WWII labor practices, acknowledging the grave moral failings of its past.