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Who else feels weird about shopping at stores owned by former Nazi German Soldiers (Aldi, Trader Joes, etc)?
- Thread starter Masoyama
- Start date
i cannot say this question has ever crossed my mind in the 37 years I've been on the planet. Shop at both stores frequently.
if you want to hang these corporations out to dry for being owned and operated by former German Soldiers or maybe "Nazis", then you might wanna throw your smartphone that is built by slave labor then sold for an obscene price in the West out the nearest window.
In the light of the 10s of millions lost in WW2, the argument of "fearing for our lives" seems pretty quaint. Germans were the Nazi party's first victims and it wasn't in secret. Their evil was broadcasted and celebrated in Germany from the onset. Which moves to my next point:
This is missing the lesson on WW2 and the rise of Nazisim and fascism in general. It isn't that there were some bad guys and the rest were innocent and without agency. The lesson is that it needs to be confronted at the very start. The complacency is what led people, who are usually decent, to aid and commit evil acts. Which is why I don't see distinction between regular military men and women who served and aided the Reich and Nazi party members.
This isn't a hard concept, unless they were in concentration camps or ghettos forced to make Wehrmacht arms and supplies; aiding the Reich was still aiding the Reich. Their brutality and evil was not a secret.
I get OP's discomfort but I'm much more bothered by organizations such as Nestle that are at bond-villain levels of shit (rather literally given the inspiration of Nestle's moves to privatize water sources for Quantum of Solace)
The whole "clean Wehrmacht" thing is a myth. The regular German military committed countless war crimes and there is plenty of evidence regarding just how much the rank and file bought into Nazi ideology.
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That's too many what ifs, could'ves, and assumptions for me. I'll just say I love Aldi's low prices, would love to see them actually have 3 checkout lanes open at once though.
I never associated any of those stores with Nazi Germany, and really think its a stretch, so, I don't feel anything about shopping at Trader Joe's other than I like their prices and food quality, and they seem to treat their employees well.
It doesn't bother me to shop there. It's been 70 years since World War II, and I assume that if the founder of Trader Joes still had Nazi sympathies -- as opposed to just being born in Germany and being ~14 when Hitler took over -- then he'd have a very hard time operating his business in the US.
It doesn't bother me to shop there. It's been 70 years since World War II, and I assume that if the founder of Trader Joes still had Nazi sympathies -- as opposed to just being born in Germany and being ~14 when Hitler took over -- then he'd have a very hard time operating his business in the US.
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It was war. Everyone committed horrible crimes. The very act of war itself is a crime against humanity. We shouldn't just assume that the entire German military were supportive of Hitler because we know they weren't.
The second World War was never about fighting Germany. It was about fighting the Nazis that controlled it.
Obviously some people did buy what the Nazis were selling but, shit, how many millions of Americans bought what Trump was selling? How many British fell for the lies of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage? Times haven't changed. It's still easier to turn people against each other than convince them to work together and it wasn't until the message of the Nazi party changed from "Jews are stealing your jobs" to "we should kill Jews" that people began to realise that maybe this wasn't exactly what they had signed up for. By then it was too late.
How many tens of thousands of German soldiers do you think it took to be charged with treason or just shot on the front line for desertion before it became a matter of falling in line or being killed by your own people?
Yup. If you want to poliiticize your dollar, avoid nestle products (and there are a fuckload), and move all of your money from major banks to credit unions, and even then, be careful with who.
Personally, I find this to be a difficult way to live life, but you do you. Just keep in mind, that every product you consume, and every video game you play, and every move/tv show you watch has a rapist, abuser, trump supporter, or line cutter somewhere in the long line of people that sign off and fund these things. I try to avoid nestle products because of the real world damage they cause today, but if I slip up and find out I accidentally ate a chocolate bar by a subsidiary of a subsidiary owned bu Nestle, it never crosses my mind again.
Alternatively, go start a self-sustaining commune somewhere and avoid everything. That's basically the logical endgame of what you're asking.
No everyone did not commit horrible crimes (especially at such a large scale). And the German army was very supportive of Hitler, that's why they enthusiastically committed war crimes throughout the war.
It was more then just the controlling people, many Germans supported the Nazis.
Are you seriously trying to compare those and the Nazis seriously... Just wow.
Please post examples of soldiers being severly punished for not committing war crimes (hint it didn't really happen)
It's amazing how you quoted a post talking about the clean Wehrmacht MYTH and the went all in on clean Wehrmacht.
Wait, you actually think German soldiers weren't shot by their superiors for deserting and that Germans who refused to join the war effort weren't murdered and put on display in their hometowns as an example to others who might do the same?
I specifically was talking about being punished for not committing war crimes not happening, because there were plenty of soldiers who would do it willingly and enthusiastically. Which goes against the whole "most of the German army not being Nazis" idea / Clean Wehrmacht.
Not everything has to be political. Sometimes I just want to go buy some Doppelkeks. Aldi's German snacks are made there and are actually very good quality!
In much the same way when I am craving a chicken sandwich, I don't think twice about going to Chick-Fil-A because they have the best-tasting one My gay friends agree and go there too! And that's much more relevant since the owner/founder is still alive and spouting his beliefs vs. guys needing to be punished now for "being affiliated" with the world's equivalent of the Galactic Empire 70 years ago. Take Finn as another Star Wars example - not everyone involved in the German War Effort knew the true scope of what was going on or fully supported it!
Mitsubishi made many of the planes that bombed Pearl Harbor yet we all went gaga when we could start buying the Evo here. ThysenKrupp made Panzer IVs but now they make elevators used the world over. If you look at the world of heavy industry especially, you'd be surprised at how many companies that make products we use every day once made war machines.
It's absolutely silly to go back and boycott or punish companies today for the actions of their founders half a century ago.
In much the same way when I am craving a chicken sandwich, I don't think twice about going to Chick-Fil-A because they have the best-tasting one My gay friends agree and go there too! And that's much more relevant since the owner/founder is still alive and spouting his beliefs vs. guys needing to be punished now for "being affiliated" with the world's equivalent of the Galactic Empire 70 years ago. Take Finn as another Star Wars example - not everyone involved in the German War Effort knew the true scope of what was going on or fully supported it!
Mitsubishi made many of the planes that bombed Pearl Harbor yet we all went gaga when we could start buying the Evo here. ThysenKrupp made Panzer IVs but now they make elevators used the world over. If you look at the world of heavy industry especially, you'd be surprised at how many companies that make products we use every day once made war machines.
It's absolutely silly to go back and boycott or punish companies today for the actions of their founders half a century ago.
Yes there is. When you are 15 and have the choice of hiding and probably starving to death if you can't steal enough, or getting forcibly drafted and die for a cause you don't believe in, you aren't fighting to advance anyhing, you're fighting because you don't want to get killed. Smh at some people in here.
The choice of companies is a bit weird to me; there are far worse examples of companies directly profiteering from Nazi policies such as providing slave workers or buying Zyklon B. You can always take a look at whether these companies own up to their history, though.
I understood this reference.
I know that not all the wermacht soldiers were necessarily nazis, but let's not ignore that a good chunk of the wermacht and that the general population of germany was very into the whole nazi thing until they started to suffer from it.
That being said, I agree with the sentiment that is better to boycott companies that are clearly supporting nazis instead of companies that may or may not been founded by fervant nazis. At least are there records of the founders being active party members?
That being said, I agree with the sentiment that is better to boycott companies that are clearly supporting nazis instead of companies that may or may not been founded by fervant nazis. At least are there records of the founders being active party members?
IT IS IN THE LIGHT
The people who founded those companies are (probably) long dead, and it is not like they glorify their service to the Nazi regime. So, no biggie.
I'm always surprised by the amount of people who think the space race was some noble effort in the name of science. It was a popular way to get to fully working ICBMs with a bonus of Cold War prestige, any and all science done on the way was a byproduct at best.
My bernie or bust mother in law told me she was banning trader Joe's for this reason. Lasted a week if even that, she can't go without there amazing snacks
Not blind to that, however haven't seen any evidence that anything that came from NASA work was derived from war crimes. NASA is not guilty of war crimes but a shit ton of capitalism electronics derived from it.
Wernher von Braun, the guy who shot you guys on the moon, build the V2 for Hitler. He used KZ-inmates to create these weapons.
I don't know if you're being facetious with your overall post or not, but "Coke purchased them" isn't accurate; the brand was created by the non-Nazi employees of Coca Cola's German operations when it was cut off during the war; it was always a Coke product.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-reich-stuff/
I don't think any money spent there is going to fund the Nazi ideology, seems like a moot concern.
This is 100% the type of shit we should be worried about instead
Thanks to that I discovered that there are two new videos. "Real sleep" is proper creepy. And the other one features the moon!
They're both dead, but not actually for that long; it's nine and five years, respectively. As for their actions during WWII, there's not much, so who knows. There are definitely far worse people out there who came out of it all unscathed.
Well, depends on how you define that. NASA only really worked when they brought Wernher von Braun in and he used forced labour and his work prior to NASA was used to bomb London.
It also inspired my favourite XKCD comic every, which is also mildly topical:
I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the advances specifically made as a result of the tech NASA developed.
Hugo boss suits
I got a redonkulous lucky bargain at Nordstrom Rack a few weeks ago. Someone had bought and tailored a classic dark blue two button wool blend Hugo Boss suit with flat front pants at regular Nordstrom and returned it without even taking off the chalk and tickets. I was desperate for a suit for an unexpected emergency event - but too cheap to buy full price so I tried it on. Almost perfect. Just sleeves and the hems too long - at that exact moment the tailor walked by and did that actual chef's kiss - I said "almost but too bad it won't work - the event is tomorrow morning." This was six pm. He said "oh give it here! Come back in an hour!" He chalked me and took it away and tailored it to perfection an hour later - for free! The suit itself was reduced from well over a grand to just shy of $100 because it had already been tailored once.
I will never own anything nicer off the rack unless that happens again.
I don't wear suits enough to have one made these days, but it's obviously the better way to go if you can afford it or your physique doesn't vacilate constantly between skeletor and Kirby like mine does.
But to the topic at hand - I wouldn't buy anything from a current nazi and the successful normalization of Germany and Japan after WWII should be a matter of international and domestic pride -- and a caution that we can never let it happen again. Our record on nation building has fallen a loooong way since then.
It's interesting history but the way companies like VW evolved is also something commendable at least initially.
I personally didn't know about trader Joe's until this thread tho.
Again, not talking about the rocket tech that made the space race possible. I'm talking about all the communications tech, computer tech, navigation tech, food tech, and all the other stuff that has been turned into or derived into other commercial products.Thanks to that I discovered that there are two new videos. "Real sleep" is proper creepy. And the other one features the moon!
They're both dead, but not actually for that long; it's nine and five years, respectively. As for their actions during WWII, there's not much, so who knows. There are definitely far worse people out there who came out of it all unscathed.
Well, depends on how you define that. NASA only really worked when they brought Wernher von Braun in and he used forced labour and his work prior to NASA was used to bomb London.
It also inspired my favourite XKCD comic every, which is also mildly topical:
Who's talking about average here? You talked about there being no difference between the people who fought on the German side in that war, which is a gross overgeneralization. You weren't talking averages, you were talking everyone.
Considering that serving in the German military was not a choice, political dissent of any kind had you thrown in a concentration camp, the vast majority of German soldiers fought and died in a war they had no say over and didn't participate in war crimes, and these founders are pretty much all dead...I don't see the issue. I mean this argument is like a hair's breadth away from "purge the earth of all German people because they are descended from people who lived in Nazi Germany"...which is complete bullshit.