When you think of big business, you might picture sleek boardrooms and relentless profit‑chasing. Yet a darker chapter of corporate history shows how some of the world’s most recognizable firms turned a blind eye—or even opened doors—to the Nazi regime, cashing in on a horror that still haunts humanity. Many of these giants have since paid multi‑million settlements, but the shadows of their wartime dealings linger.
Big Business and the Nazi Era
10 Kodak
Say “Cheese!”—or perhaps “Money, money, money?” Kodak’s legacy with the most terrifying regime of the 20th century is darker than a photographic negative.
Wilhelm Keppler, a top economic adviser to Hitler, whispered where Nazi gold should flow and even urged Kodak to dismiss its Jewish staff to “benefit” the firm. Keppler acted as a double‑agent, feeding intel to Kodak and a handful of smaller U.S. companies.
When the war erupted, Kodak’s German subsidiary forced concentration‑camp prisoners into slave labor and branched out into manufacturing triggers, detonators and other military components.
9 Chase Bank
Chase’s Paris branch struck deals with the Nazis, fully aware of the American headquarters, both before and after Pearl Harbor. The bank’s collaboration didn’t stop there.
Over the years, Chase was accused of freezing countless European Jewish accounts, effectively snuffing out many refugees’ chances of escape. A BBC investigation uncovered that up to 100 Jewish accounts were frozen by Chase during the war.
8 Nestlé
When you think of Nestlé, you probably picture chocolate bars, not concentration camps. Yet in 2000 the Swiss giant paid $14.6 million to a Holocaust survivors’ fund.
The settlement stemmed from its wartime subsidiary, Maggi, which exploited slave labor from camps near the German‑Swiss border. Even more unsettling, chocolate bars were used to lure young Jews into captivity before they were shipped to death camps.
7 BMW
During World War II, BMW’s workforce was largely composed of slave labor supplied by the Nazis—estimates run as high as 50,000 workers.
The company was owned by Günther Quandt, whose close ties with Hitler turned BMW’s factories into producers of aircraft and motorcycle parts for the war effort. Inmates were forced to work on Luftwaffe engines, notably the BMW 132.
The Quandts also profited from the expropriation of Jewish businesses. An internal report commissioned by BMW revealed wartime profits, and Gabriele Quandt later confirmed that many laborers perished while working for the firm.
6 Bayer
Reach for a Bayer aspirin? The “wonder drug” hides a grim past.
Bayer was once part of IG Farben, a German chemical conglomerate that manufactured Zyklon B—the gas used in Nazi death chambers. While the company’s wartime slave‑labor practices were already abhorrent, the fact that IG Farben produced the lethal gas adds a chilling layer.
In the 1890s, aspirin was invented by Felix Hoffman and his superior Arthur Eichengrun. When the Nazis rose to power, Bayer erased Eichengrun’s contribution because he was Jewish, effectively wiping his name from the company’s history.
5 Allianz
Allianz may be a household name in insurance, but its Nazi ties run deep.
Founded in 1890, the German insurer was perfectly positioned to profit from Hitler’s rise. CEO Kurt Schmitt also served as the Nazi economics minister, ensuring that major insurance contracts—including coverage for Auschwitz’s facilities and staff—went straight to Allianz.
Beyond that, Allianz sold life‑insurance policies to German citizens, many of whom were Jewish. The company collected premiums, but after the Holocaust, it retained the payouts and often denied surviving heirs’ claims, arguing that no death certificates existed—a convenient excuse given the Nazis never issued them.
4 Standard Oil
Before America entered World War II, Standard Oil cultivated a relationship with IG Farben and, anticipating U.S. involvement, signed an agreement to keep the partnership alive.
The oil giant supplied the Nazis with fuel for their U‑boats and occasionally handed them first pick of oil fields.
Nelson A. Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, grew angry at the profiteering. While serving as Coordinator of Inter‑American Affairs, he authored a scathing pamphlet titled “Sequel to the Apocalypse: How Your Dimes Pay for Hitler’s War,” which was discreetly sent to American embassies worldwide, exposing the oil‑Nazi link and prompting a breakup before the U.S. declared war.
3 Coca‑Cola
Coca‑Cola may be famous for fizz, but its German arm was cozying up to the Nazis in the 1940s, building bottling plants in occupied territories and even advertising in Nazi‑controlled press.
When the parent company halted syrup shipments to Germany in 1941, Max Keith, head of Coca‑Cola GmbH, improvised a new beverage from locally available ingredients. The result? Fanta—an entirely Nazi‑marketed drink.
2 Ford
Hitler idolized Henry Ford, mentioning him in Mein Kampf and hanging a portrait of the American industrialist above his desk. In 1938, the Nazi regime awarded Ford the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, its highest honor for foreigners.
In return, Ford’s German factories employed slave labor and supplied parts for the German war machine. Some American managers in Germany even agreed to produce military equipment for the Nazis, while similar requests from the Roosevelt administration were rebuffed at home. Moreover, German Ford sent the U.S. parent up to $60,000 annually between 1940 and 1943.
1 IBM
Computers may seem a modern convenience, but IBM’s punch‑card machines were crucial to the Nazis’ bureaucratic efficiency.
IBM built custom punch‑card computers that let the regime track train schedules and tally the number of Jews being shipped to death camps, enabling meticulous record‑keeping for Auschwitz, Treblinka and others.
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, IBM ramped up production, fully aware that the conflict would generate millions of victims. The company is also believed to have siphoned profits from its Polish operations.
IBM has long distanced itself, claiming its German branch was seized by the Nazis. Nevertheless, connections to its Geneva office during the war and generous Holocaust‑fund donations have kept the controversy alive.