The Nazi Ties of the Family that owns Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread, and Peet's Coffee
As the owner of JAB Holding Company, the parent company of several major brands like Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread, Peet's Coffee, and Dr Pepper, the Reimann family is one of the richest families in Germany. But because of JAB Company's centuries-old legacy, predating even the Third Reich, the Company would naturally have had some connections to the Nazi party when it came into power.
The full extent of their involvement was thought to have already been known in the 1970s, but a few years ago, the Reimann family discovered documents indicating Albert Reimann Sr and Albert Reimann Jr, the father and son duo who ran the company during the Nazi's reign, might’ve had more ties to the Nazis than originally believed. But because Reimann Sr and Reimann Jr were both deceased, the family decided to commission a historian to investigate the family’s past in 2014.
In March of this year, the investigation published an interim report revealing much deeper ties to the Nazis than originally thought.
For example, Reimann Sr had begun donating to the Nazi party and Hitler’s SS starting in as early as 1931 (2 years before Hitler became Chancellor), and Reimann Jr even knew Heinrich Himmler on a personal level, as evidenced by several letters exchanged between the two before and during World War II.
But perhaps the biggest revelation was JAB’s usage of slave labor during World War II. 1/3 of JAB’s workforce in its chemical factories during WWII were either Russian civilian prisoners or French prisoners of war. After this report came out, the family has quickly pledged that it will donate $11 million to charity.
It is important to note that JAB holding company is not an exception in this situation. Several other companies, including BMW and Volkswagon, built military vehicles and engines using tens of thousands of slave laborers from concentration camps during WWII.
Many of these companies faced several class action lawsuits in the late 1990s, so the German government created the Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future Foundation to acknowledge and compensate the victims of forced labor during WWII (all the compensation up until that point had been to other victims of the Nazi regime, like Holocaust victims). After 4700 different companies contributed to the fund, including many that weren’t involved in slave labor practice in the first place, the fund was able to give up to $7500 in compensation to 1.7 million people in Europe, the US, and Israel. After that, it was agreed that the companies could no longer be sued for their involvement in slave labor.
This whole situation raises an interesting question similar to what was discussed in one of the documentaries we watched in class: “should you punish companies for a crime done so long ago? And if so, how?” There is no doubt that these companies have committed horrendous crimes, but when the perpetrators and benefactors of the crime have been dead for decades now, is it still right to punish them? What are your thoughts on this?
The full extent of their involvement was thought to have already been known in the 1970s, but a few years ago, the Reimann family discovered documents indicating Albert Reimann Sr and Albert Reimann Jr, the father and son duo who ran the company during the Nazi's reign, might’ve had more ties to the Nazis than originally believed. But because Reimann Sr and Reimann Jr were both deceased, the family decided to commission a historian to investigate the family’s past in 2014.
But perhaps the biggest revelation was JAB’s usage of slave labor during World War II. 1/3 of JAB’s workforce in its chemical factories during WWII were either Russian civilian prisoners or French prisoners of war. After this report came out, the family has quickly pledged that it will donate $11 million to charity.
Many of these companies faced several class action lawsuits in the late 1990s, so the German government created the Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future Foundation to acknowledge and compensate the victims of forced labor during WWII (all the compensation up until that point had been to other victims of the Nazi regime, like Holocaust victims). After 4700 different companies contributed to the fund, including many that weren’t involved in slave labor practice in the first place, the fund was able to give up to $7500 in compensation to 1.7 million people in Europe, the US, and Israel. After that, it was agreed that the companies could no longer be sued for their involvement in slave labor.
This whole situation raises an interesting question similar to what was discussed in one of the documentaries we watched in class: “should you punish companies for a crime done so long ago? And if so, how?” There is no doubt that these companies have committed horrendous crimes, but when the perpetrators and benefactors of the crime have been dead for decades now, is it still right to punish them? What are your thoughts on this?
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Despite having past ties with the Nazi Party during World War II, if the company no longer has any ties with any Nazi groups nowadays, I do not see a reason to not appreciate any of JAB's subsidiaries. I believe that the world was a different place 90 years ago during the rise of the Nazi Party. I'm sure there are many American institutions that may have donated money to the KKK, however if they longer have ties to the KKK, I do not see a reason to boycott their product.
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