Fashion powerhouse Hugo Boss issues formal apology for its Nazi past

[Scurrilous]

Source: Haaretz

According to recent study findings, the company forced a total of 140 Poles and 40 French prisoners of war to work for Boss during the Holocaust. They were housed in a camp in one area of the factory, and lived in extremely poor conditions.

<snip>

"German fashion house Hugo Boss, with stores in 110 countries around the world, is usually known for its high-end mens and womenswear: trendy, sometimes androgynous, typically classy. What it is less known for, and certainly less proud of, is its brown shirts. Yes, those brown shirts.

On Thursday, the fashion company issued a formal apology for its wartime record following the publication of a new book – one that they themselves commissioned-- which reveals new details of their Nazi past. The company wished to: "express its profound regret to those who suffered harm or hardship at the factory run by Hugo Ferdinand Boss under National Socialist rule,” they wrote on their web site.

The fashion house commissioned the book, explained Philipp Wolff, senior vice president of communications, after years during which they were periodically confronted with allegations and rumors suggesting their founder designed the Nazi uniform or was even Hitler’s personal tailor.



“We don’t want and have never wanted to hide anything, but rather want to bring clarity to the past. It’s our responsibility to the company, our employees, our customers and everyone interested in Hugo Boss and its history,” said Wolff in a statement."

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/fashion-powerhouse-hugo-boss-issues-formal-apology-for-its-nazi-past-1.386136

[villager]

1. Imagine if the Bush family ever did that!

n/t

[Kennah]

2. Imagine if the Bush family donned high-end, trendy, androgynous apparel?

Well, all I can say is, "Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!"

[villager]

3. You think they haven't at Bohemian Grove!? (While singing "Tomorrow Belongs To Me!?")

;-)

[Kennah]

4. I'm thinking ...

Laura Bush as Sally Bowles

Dubya as Brian Roberts

Cheney as Max

Rove as the MC

[villager]

8. And the line "You still think you can control them?" aimed at the Tea Party?

n/t

[No Elephants]

6. Same thing as Boss doing it: Way too little, way too late.

[No Elephants]

5. Excuse me if I don't applaud. Sometime, "better late than never" doesn't cut it.

Slave labor from death camps? Nazi uniforms?

And,70 years later they commission a book to fix their image because people started asking questions?

And only then, they issue an apology?

Hugo Boss died in 1948. They still used his name, doing business in Germany, from and after 1948. So, so what were they capitalizing on?


"In 1997, the company appeared in a list of Swiss dormant accounts, which stirred the publication of articles highlighting the involvement of Hugo Boss with the Nazis.<12><13><14> In 1999, American lawyers filed lawsuits in New Jersey, on behalf of survivors or their families, for the use of forced workers during the war.<15><16> The company did not comment on these law suits but reiterated an earlier statement that it would “not close its eyes to the past but rather deal with the issues in an open and forthright manner”.<15> It sponsored a research by German historian Elisabeth Timm.<10> Nevertheless, after Timm told the press of her findings, the company declined to publish them.<17> In December 1999, an agreement was reached between the German government and a group of American class-action lawyers, Jewish groups and the United States government to set a $5.1 billion fund, financed equally by German industry and the German government, to compensate slave laborers used by the Germans in World War II.<18> Hugo Boss agreed to participate to this fund,<19> for an amount which was estimated by some sources to be “about 752 000 €”,<20> while others considered the firm “finally paid an absolute minimum into the compensation fund”.<21>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Boss

Don't know what Hugo Boss made in 1999, but revenues in 2010 were €1.729 billion (2010) Id.



"Shift from Union Manufacturing

In March 2010, Hugo Boss was boycotted by actor Danny Glover after Hugo Boss announced plans to close an Ohio suit manufacturing plant reportedly after 375 employees of the Workers United Union rejected Hugo Boss proposal to cut the workers' hourly wage 36% from $13 an hour to $8.30.<22> After an initial statement by CFO Andreas Stockert that the company had a responsibility to shareholders and would move suit manufacturing from Ohio to other facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania<23> the company "succumbed" to the boycott and cancelled the project.<24>"

Id.


Fuck 'em twice.

[jberryhill]

7. Italy apologizes for Roman invasion of Gaul, says "never too late" /nt

[vets74]

9. Ha'aretz notes that Hugo Boss was an early Nazi.

His very earliest work included making Brown Shirt for Hitler in 1924. That would have been about the time the first several hundred thousand shirts -- surplus from WW I -- had been spread out to the SA. Hitler needed more Brown Shirts to get up to his 3,000,000 total SA members.

National Socialism had been generated as a faux-leftist False Front operation in 1919. Industrialist money came in under the table to siphon off working class males from the real Socialists.

Similar to what Ron Paul is doing today with "Libertarian" issues. Paul talks all leftie on issues of militarism and Homeland Security, then delivers votes 100% for corporatist Far Right candidates.

It has long been known and documented that Boss, who founded his company in 1924, provided uniforms to the Nazis, and after the war he was fined for his dealings with the party. But he always maintained, until his death in 1948, that he had only joined up to protect his business.

But, according to the book, “Hugo Boss, 1924-1945:The History of a Clothing Factory During the Weimar Republic and Third Reich,” written by Roman Koester, an economic historian at the German Armed Forces University in Munich, the fashion house’s involvement with the Nazis went further, with the firm not only providing uniforms for the Waffen SS, but also taking advantage of the Nazi campaign by using forced labor in its factory. ...

Koester does note that Boss tried to improve the workers living conditions and their food situation in 1944, a year before the war ended. "We can only repeat that the behavior towards the forced laborers was at times harsh and involved coercion, but that concern for their welfare was also displayed, rendering simplistic characterizations impossible," he writes. The author also notes that Boss was one of more than 15,000 German factories producing uniforms during that period. ...

[zonkers]

10. If Hugo Boss feels that bad then why not locate & compensate heirs of victims? Or

if that is impossible, donate a shitload of $$$t to a victims group. Or build a memorial.

[goforit]

11. Irony.....getting closer to a Nazi future with the tea party.

[jmowreader]

12. So when are ExxonMpbil and IBM going to apologize?