Holocaust memorial contractor booted over Zyklon B connection

Work on Germany's national Holocaust memorial has been halted after a company supplying materials for it was linked to the cyanide the Nazis used to gas millions of Jews.

Degussa, which won a lucrative contract to coat the vast Berlin memorial with an anti-graffiti solution, was once part-owner of the producers of Zyklon B gas used in concentration camps. . .

Degussa used to own 42.2 per cent of Degesch GmbH, the producers of Zyklon B.

From the Telegraph; more on Zyklon B and Degesch here. Degussa is a huge company, that I happen to know as one of the main present-day makers of fountain pen nibs.

UPDATE: The Telegraph article makes some mention of Degussa's modern reputation as a company devoted to openness and atonement for its actions during the Nazi era. The NY Times now has a piece that covers this side of the story in greater depth:

. . . the decision on Degussa has provoked a debate in Germany on exactly the issue of line-drawing. It happens that Degussa, a company based in Düsseldorf that is the world's largest maker of specialty chemicals, employing some 48,000 people worldwide, has had an exemplary record in examining its wartime past and making restitution to victims of the Nazis.

Most important in this regard, Degussa was one of the 17 German companies that created the Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future, which raised millions of dollars for a special fund to be distributed to victims of concentration camp and slave labor during the Nazi period.

Posted by David on October 26, 2003 9:02 PM