The Dark Story of Günther Quandt, Major Shareholder of BMW

BMW is considered one of the most prestigious cars in the world and pretty much everyone will know the brand. Everyone will have a dream of owning this german made car. The company is more focused on selling its cars to the younger generations and it seems that the company itself has dominated the luxurious car market.

Despite all the good things about the company, there is always a dark side to it and this also includes the company BMW.

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Background of the Quandt Family

This family has an outstanding history especially when it comes to the person who actually made BMW go all the way to the top that we see today. The family responsible for this is the Quandt Family who actually owns the majority of the BMW shares.

This family is an industrialist that started with a person named Günther Quandt. At first, he started his business in textile and not automotive.

When the first world war erupted, Günther Quandt was the one responsible for providing military uniforms for the German army at the time. He managed to accumulate a huge sum of wealth from the sales of his uniform and expanded his business empire by buying one of the battery factories in Hagen.

The 1930s when Hitler once became the supreme leader of Germany was the time of a new era in Günther Quandt's life. Similar to other industrialists, Günther Quandt helped the German Nazis in preparing weaponry through his factory during the second world war.

After the fall of Germany in World War II, Günther Quandt was arrested by the Allied forces. After intense interrogation, it was found that Günther Quandt was innocent and his belongings including his factory were allowed to operate as usual.

The allied forces gave permission to Günther Quandt to run his business for the purpose of improving the economic growth of Germany which was once at its peak before. People like Günther Quandt needed to rebuild back Germany's economy in this dire situation.

Continuing the Legacy

In the year 1954, Günther Quandt passed away and his running legacy was continued by his son Herbert and Herald who is also an industrialist. Herbert Quandt at that time has bought many companies that have financial problems and one of them happens to be BMW.

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BMW had a huge problem in terms of its finances and it was nearly bought by one of its competitors Daimler AG, which is popular with the brand Mercedes. However, it was rejected by most of the shareholders of BMW.

With the financial aid of the Quandt family, BMW managed to be saved. They also had a clear vision that has led BMW towards success with many outstanding technologies that have just been introduced.

In the year the 1970s, Herbert Quandt managed to establish a strong financial status in BMW, and not just that but Herbert Quandt was also involved in the pharmaceutical business with the firm, Altana. Herbert passed away in 1982 and left his business legacy to his family.

However, in the year 2007, his family was involved in a very controversial situation that impacted his family's name. A documentary known as The Silence of the Quandt has shown how his family was involved in forced labor during World War 2.

It was believed that most of the factories owned by the Quandt family were practicing forced labor involving the prisoners of war or the Jews and the workers were also tortured.

Afterward, the Quandt family decided to publicly apologize to the whole world regarding the vicious act towards the workers by their ancestors especially the ones being tortured. Now, the Quandt family is the richest family in Germany with an estimated net worth of $42.7 billion USD.

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