Royal Dutch Shell Group .com
CLASS ACTION STATEMENT BY US LAW FIRM COHEN, MILSTEIN, HAUSFIELD & TOLL
P.L.L.C: Slave Labor at Royal/Dutch Shell Group
Posted 10 May 04
Approximately 1,385 forced laborers worked at oil refineries and
petrochemical plants owned and operated by the Royal/Dutch Shell Group during
the Second World War. These workers, largely civilians from Eastern Europe and
the Low Countries of Western Europe, were compelled to work on the grounds of
Shell's German and Austrian subsidiaries, Rhenania GmbH and Shell Austria AG,
respectively. At these locations, the forced laborers toiled long hours under
the watchful (and often brutal) guard of Hitler's S.S. men. Deported from their
home countries by force, these workers were housed in filthy barracks, and were
denied freedom of movement and proper nutrition. For their work, which was
contracted from the S.S., the laborers received no pay from Shell or the German
Government.
Shell's ties with the Third Reich, however, were not limited to the use of
forced labor. It was also a founding partner in Deutsche Gasoline (25%), the
national German petroleum company explicitly crafted to give the Reich greater
control over domestic gasoline production - for both military and civilian
purposes. Shell additionally held the dubious distinction not only of having
collaborated with the Nazi Regime to bring Deutsche Gasoline into fruition, but
also of sharing control over the company with I.G. Farben Industrie - the
infamous producer of Zyklon B poison gas.
Despite its enormous wealth - as quantified by annual sales in excess of
$93 billion - Shell has failed to compensate any of the men and women who worked
on its grounds between 1943 and 1945.
Detailed information follows on the history of Shell's German and Austrian
subsidiaries, which aided the Nazi effort during WWII, and of the forced labor
that was utilized in their operations.:
Benzinwerke Rhenania, G.m.b.H
Company information:
In 1902, the Royal Dutch Oil Company established the Benzinwerke Rhenania,
G.m.b.H (Rhenania), as its "daughter company." Rhenania, which operated oil
refineries in and around Hamburg, produced gasoline for consumption in Germany
and the Netherlands. In 1924, it entered the gas station business and by 1929
it operated 149 such stations. During WWII, Rhenania produced fuel for the
German army, for the air force, and for civilian consumption - until much of
its production capacity was destroyed by Allied bombing. Following WWII, the
firm's name was changed to Deutsche-Shell, which is now one of Germany's
largest oil refining corporations (in addition to its interests in chemical
synthesis).
Slave Labor Information:
Approximately 1135 men and women labored on the grounds of Rhenania's oil
refineries and petrochemical factories in northwestern Germany. 150 forced
laborers worked at the Hamburg refinery between 1944 and 1945. They were
housed at the nearby Concentration Camp Hamburg-Hafen and worked under S.S.
guard cleaning debris from air raids, shoveling snow, felling trees, and
performing maintenance work. Ms. Zach, a claimant in our registry, was one of
the forced laborers who worked for Rhenania in Hamburg. She has attested to
the long hours, poor diet, and physical strain she endured during her time
with Rhenania.
Additional locations which housed Rhenania forced laborers:
Civilian Work Camp, Homberg, 420 persons; Civilian Work Camp, Hamburg, 175
persons; Concentration Camp, Schwelm, 380 persons.
Sources:
Das Nationalsozialistische Lagersystem, pp. 78-9, 410, 434, 482.
Shell Austria, AG
Company Information:
Shell Austria has been a full subsidiary of the Royal Dutch/Shell group since
its inception in 1923. Its business has consisted chiefly of refining crude
oil to produce gasoline, petrochemical products and fuel oil. It also runs a
chain of retail gasoline stations.
Slave Labor Information:
Between June 1944 and April 1945 approximately 250 forced laborers worked at
the Shell oil refinery in Vienna, Austria. The nature of work performed was
maintenance and construction. The laborers, exclusively civilians of East
European extraction, were interned at the Civilian Work Camp Florisdorf, which
was run by Hitler's Reichsfuehrer-S.S.
Sources:
Verzeichnis der Haftstatten unter dem Reichsfuhrer-S.S., p. 374.
Aggregate Shell Statistics:
