German car giant BMW apologises for its wartime past, admitting its 'profound regret' for supplying Nazis with vehicles and using slave labourers

The massive car manufacturer today apologised for its historic Nazi links

During the Second World War it supplied Hitler's regime with vehicles

BMW's major shareholding family had 50,000 forced labourers during WWII

Bosses today said they were 'facing up to this dark chapter of its past'

They expressed 'profound regret' for the company's role in Nazi atrocities

German car giant BMW used its 100th centenary celebrations today to apologise for its Nazi past. 

The apology and statement of ‘profound regret’ for its role in using forced labour to supply armaments and aero engines to Hitler’s Third Reich was made as it unveiled a vision of its next chapter of car development. It said it was ‘explicitly facing up to this dark chapter of its past’ in the city where the Nazi party had its origins. 

The apology and celebration also came just days after BMW and Rolls-Royce bosses last week became involved in a row over its support for the UK remaining in the European Union.

Critics accused the firm of pressuring staff to vote to remain in the EU after writing to them to warn that a British exit would harm the business, lead to trade barriers and affect the employment base.

BMW used the centenary event in Munich to unveil a radical new ‘Vision Vehicle’ concept car which it said pointed the way to the future of motor car development and mobility.

But BMW Group said it was also ‘facing up to the past’ noting: ‘As well as its many successes, the BMW Group has faced several major crises and challenges during its history.

It said: ‘Under the National Socialist regime of the 1930s and 40s, BMW AG operated exclusively as a supplier to the German arms industry.

'As demand for BMW aero engines increased, forced labourers, convicts and prisoners from concentration camps were recruited to assist with manufacturing them.

‘To this day, the enormous suffering this caused and the fate of many forced labourers remains a matter of the most profound regret.’

BMW bosses said that in 1983 BMW ‘became the first industrial corporation to initiate a public debate about this chapter of its history’ with the publication of a book entitled “BMW – A German History’, followed by several more publications on the subject.

It said: ‘The BMW Group is explicitly facing up to this dark chapter of its past and in 1999, it became a founding member of the foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” for the compensation of former forced labourers.

‘Since the 1990s, the BMW Group has been actively engaging in efforts to promote openness, respect and understanding between cultures’.

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