GERMANY: Biscuit heiress sparks row over Nazi-era labour

A German biscuit heiress has sparked outrage by saying the company “did nothing wrong” in its use of forced labour during Nazi rule. Verena Bahlsen, 25, was responding to an earlier controversy when she made the comment about forced workers. Bahlsen, which makes Choco Leibniz, employed about 200 forced labourers between 1943 and 1945 – […]

A German biscuit heiress has sparked outrage by saying the company “did nothing wrong” in its use of forced labour during Nazi rule.

Verena Bahlsen, 25, was responding to an earlier controversy when she made the comment about forced workers.

Bahlsen, which makes Choco Leibniz, employed about 200 forced labourers between 1943 and 1945 – most of whom were women from Nazi-occupied Ukraine.

Critics have accused Ms Bahlsen of being “oblivious to history”. The company itself has since distanced itself from her comments.

The controversy started last week, when Ms Bahlsen told delegates at a marketing conference: “I’m a capitalist. I own a quarter of Bahlsen, that’s great. I want to buy a sailing yacht and stuff like that.”

German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the audience clapped and laughed along with her.