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| April 3, 2008 |
I wondered about this company and its history - so I looked them up on line. This is what I found.
"Was ist Coca-Cola?"
"Coke sponsored the 1936 Nazi Olympics where Hitler showcased his Aryan vision to the world"
Coca Cola (GmbH) were the German bottlers for Coke under the leadership of the CEO Max Keith (pronounced Kite). Coke sponsored the 1936 Nazi Olympics where Hitler showcased his Aryan vision to the world, while hiding the "Don't shop at Jewish shops" posters.
Coca Cola GmbH sought to be associated with the Nazis, it became a bit of a joke that if Hitler or a high ranking Nazi was on the front cover of a magazine Coke would advertise on the back. Coke advertised on billboards that were by the Berlin stadiums, so people attending Goebbel's rallies had to walk past them.
Coke financially supported the Nazis by advertising within Nazi newspapers. In one instance Coke published responses to accusations from rival bottlers that they were a Jewish company. These denunciations were placed in Nazi rags.
Coke advertised in the Nazi Army paper shortly after the invasion of Sudetenland. The ad was a picture of a hand holding a bottle of coke over a map of the world, the slogan was "Yes we have got an international reputation."
Coke opened up a bottling plant in Sudetenland shortly after the invasion.
Mark Prendergrast's book For God, Country and Coca Cola: "Later in the war, Keith used Chinese labor and "people who would come from anywhere in Europe-the war brought them from everywhere." For Keith to say blandly that "the war brought them" implies that they were willing refugees, which is somewhat misleading. In fact, the wartime railroads not only carried Jews, Gypsies and others to concentration camps, but some 9 million Fremdarbeiter, or forced foreign labor, who accounted for a fifth of the German labor force by 1944." Coke nearly certainly used forced labor.
*Coca Cola in the US have paid into a fund for the compensation of people who were forced to work for the Nazis.
As Max Keith's supplies of Coke dwindled in 1941 he gave his last batches to Nazi soldiers.
After the US entered the war in 1941 Max Keith couldn't get Coca Cola syrup from America to make Coke so he invented a new drink out of the ingredients he had available to him and made it specifically for the Nazi market and the Third Reich.
*The drink was called Fanta.