Kühne+Nagel wants to shed light on its Nazi past
Keystone-SDA
Kühne+Nagel, a Swiss logistics firm with German roots, intends to shed full light on its activities during the Second World War, particularly its links with the Nazis.
The Schwyz-based company has confirmed statements to this effect made by its chair, Jörg Wolle.
“There is no doubt that we need to address this issue. I believe this would be in keeping with Kühne’s wishes,” Wolle told the German-language magazine Bilanz. The details of this project and start date have yet to be determined.
The board of directors will consider the matter in the near future, a spokesperson told the AWP business news agency.
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The focus is expected to be on the company’s role in the expropriation of property belonging to Jews. Adolf Maass, a Jewish partner at Kühne+Nagel, was forced to relinquish his 45% stake in the company in 1933.
Maass was subsequently deported by the Nazi regime to the Auschwitz concentration camp, from which he never returned.
During this period, Kühne+Nagel is also said to have been involved in the transport of movable property confiscated from Jews who were fleeing or had been deported. These activities are said to have been carried out under the direction of Alfred Kühne, the father of Klaus-Michael Kühne, the long-standing majority shareholder who recently passed away.
During his lifetime, Klaus-Michael Kühne had opposed an in-depth historical investigation into the company’s history during the Nazi era. According to Bilanz, he was particularly unwilling to fund an expert report that would have taken a critical look at his father’s role.
Founded by August Kühne and Friedrich Nagel in 1890 in Bremen, in the German state of Lower Saxony, the company began by transporting coffee, cocoa, wool, cotton and cereals. It now describes itself as a “global logistics player”.
Kühne+Nagel’s presence in Switzerland dates back to 1975, when the group opened a branch in the canton Schwyz municipality of Pfäffikon. In 1992, the head office was moved to Schindellegi, in the same canton. It has remained there ever since.
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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
