February 21, 2006
Dresdner Bank, one of Germany's leading retail banks, helped to finance the crematoriums at the Auschwitz death camp, according to a study commissioned by the bank. During the Nazi era, Dresdner Bank was part of a construction company that built the crematoriums at the death camp in Poland, according to a 2,374-page-long study commissioned by the bank and authored by independent historians that was released last week after seven years of research. The company also financed weapons plants and did business with Nazi-linked authorities in Eastern Europe. Dresdner Bank, now part of the Allianz insurance group, owned 26 per cent of Huta, the construction company that built parts of Auschwitz. There were also close connections between Dresdner directors of the day and IG Farben, the company that made the gas for Hitler's extermination camps. “We accept these truths, even if they are painful,” said Wulf Meier, a member of Dresdner’s board.
