10/10/2022
A large investment in BMW by Herbert Quandt and Harald Quandt resulted in the company surviving as a separate entity. The Quandt's father, Günther Quandt, was a well-known German industrialist. Quandt joined the N**i party in 1933 and made a fortune arming the German Wehrmacht, manufacturing weapons and batteries.[6][better source needed] Many of his enterprises were appropriated from Jewish owners under duress with minimal compensation. At least three of his enterprises made extensive use of slave laborers, as many as 50,000 in all.[7][better source needed] One of his battery factories had its own on-site concentration camp, complete with gallows. Life expectancy for laborers was six months.[8] While Quandt and BMW were not directly connected during the war, funds amassed in the N**i era by his father allowed Herbert Quandt to buy BMW.[5]
