{"id":402706,"date":"2019-04-08T19:21:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/what-an-empire-built-on-nazi-collaboration-says-about-our-economy\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T19:21:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:21:47","slug":"what-an-empire-built-on-nazi-collaboration-says-about-our-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/what-an-empire-built-on-nazi-collaboration-says-about-our-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"What an Empire Built on Nazi Collaboration Says About Our Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coffee drinkers and donut eaters learned something troubling recently. The owners behind JAB Holding Company \u2014 the German firm that owns or controls Krispy Kreme; Panera Bread; several coffee brands, including Keurig Green Mountain, Peet\u2019s and Caribou; Pret a Manger and Einstein Bagels \u2014 revealed<\/a> that the family fortune was in no small part built on their mid-century ancestors\u2019 enthusiastic collaboration with the Nazi regime, including the use of forced labor<\/a> in their factory and home.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an open question whether the $11 million or so the Reimann family has promised to donate to an as-yet-unspecified organization is enough to atone for this shameful corporate heritage. But let\u2019s, for the sake of argument, take the Reimanns\u2019 denials of prior knowledge and their willingness to face their family\u2019s awful history at face value.<\/p>\n

What does it say about our economy when capital\u2019s provenance is so opaque that even the direct descendants inheriting it did not understand where it came from, let alone the consumers whose relationship with that capital is mediated almost entirely through the artificial distinctions of brand identity?<\/p>\n

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