Date Posted: 23:50:03 01/25/04 SunAuthor: and is still engaged in illegal conductSubject: Re: forced use of as many as 20,000 slave laborersIn reply to: do you wonder why james dean died? 's message, "Re: Porsche was booted from the Frankfurt exchange's index of midsize companies because it refused to publish accurate financial reports" on 23:47:57 01/25/04 SunPorsche/VW was a relatively small company until Hitler entrusted it with making the "people's car" - the Beetle. Although designed before Hitler, the Beetle was produced as part of the Nazi Party's new economic policy called the "Motoriserung." Soon, its factories were also producing grenades, land mines and V1 rockets to help the Nazis fight the war. To speed along production, VW implemented the forced use of as many as 20,000 slave laborers - the vast majority being foreign prisoners from Russia, Poland, France, Belgium and Holland. At Volkswagen, the foreign workforce was subjected to incessant beatings, malnutrition and early death. VW's founder, Ferdinand Porsche, was an SS activist and chairman of the Panzer committee which developed innovations in armored vehicles, electrical components used in mines, bombs and other military machinery . He also played a key role in developing the Fi 103 flying bombs which were used to murder thousands of civilians. http://www.theawfultruth.com/salbmw/