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”There can be no discussion about the closeness of Auto Union to [the Nazis].” Auto Union was “firmly ensnared in the National Socialist regime”.

– Rudolf Boch, a University of Chemnitz historian and co-author of the 500 page report, ”Wartime Economy and Labour Deployment by Auto Union AG Chemnitz during World War II”, which was commissioned by Audi’s own history department.

Audi works council head Peter Mosch said, “I’m very shocked by the scale of the involvement of the former Auto Union leadership in the system of forced and slave labor. I was not aware of the extent.”

The corporate predecessor of Audi, Auto Union, had close ties to the Nazi regime and had exploited at least 20,000 slave laborers, holding “moral responsibility” for the deaths of about 4,500 inmates of the Flossenbürg concentration camp who worked at a sub-camp operated for Audi in Leitmeritz, Bavaria. They died and were murdered while slaving for the German automaker. During the war some of the Auto Union plants were turned over to military production, churning out tanks and air-craft engines. Company founder Dr Richard Bruhn was largely responsible for the firm’s large-scale exploitation of forced labour, allowing Auto Union to build its success on the back of human misery and suffering;

Audi’s predecessor used forced labor of Nazi concentration camp inmates – study

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Audi exploited Nazi slave labor during World War II: report

NY Daily News

Audi employed thousands of concentration camp inmates during Second World War and was ‘firmly ensnared’ in Nazi regime, shocking investigation finds

Daily Mail

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Audi has looked into its predeccesors’ Nazi affiliations, and the results are fairly damning

Metro Weekly

Audi “Shocked” by Study on Slave Labor During Nazi Era that Finds Auto Union ‘Morally Responsible’ for 4,500 Deaths

The Truth About Cars