(JTA) — Some 3,700 concentration camp inmates were forced to work in Audi factories during World War II, the German automaker revealed.
Audi on Monday published findings of a report it commissioned on its activities under Nazi Germany.
The car manufacturer had previously acknowledged its role in exploiting forced labor, paying millions of dollars into a fund set up by the German government to compensate victims, according to the Daily Mail. But the new report shows the extent of Audi’s complicity with Nazi Germany.
In a deal brokered with the Nazi SS, Audi had a total of 20,000 forced laborers working in its factories. The SS had six labor camps built for the company, which was then known as Auto Union.
The company also used its factories to build tanks and aircraft engines for the Nazis, according to the report.
“I’m very shocked by the scale of the involvement of the former Auto Union leadership in the system of forced and slave labor,” Audi works council head Peter Mosch told the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche, according to the Times of Israel. “I was not aware of the extent.”
The German automakers BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen had previously commissioned reports on their activities under Nazi Germany.
