Munich Waits for You?

Billy Joel famously wrote and sang "Vienna Waits for You,?" to celebrate his ability to go home again; to reunite with his father and brother, who live in Vienna, Austria:?

Shifting Gears

Proof of Concept - Part 1

The proof of concept of any energy-related technology is its ability to power autos.?

A Little History of BMW

It is not surprising that what and the way someone drives tells so much about their level of intelligence and their character. The way that people drive reminds me of Churchill:

who wrote: If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35, You Have No Brain.

Driving

I observe that the immature race up to red lights. They no longer signal lane changes, stop at stop signs; slow at yellow lights or feel obligated to obey any motor vehicle driving rules or regulations.?

A Little Local History?

When I assumed the responsibility of leading the international business center of Chemical Bank on Long Island, before Chemical took over Chase, I sat down with the bank’s chief economist, a man aptly named Solomon. He informed me of the great entrepreneurial spirit of Long Islanders…and of their great flaw. As soon as they make a few bucks, he advised, they are compelled to buy two Mercedes and to place them in the driveway so that their achievements became obvious to everyone. All is vanity, he repeated.?

Fast Backward

Wikipedia: Herbert Quandt?

Herbert Werner Quandt?(22 June 1910 – 2 June 1982) was a German?industrialist?credited with having saved?BMW?when it was at the point of bankruptcy[1] and made a huge profit in doing so. Quandt also oversaw the use at his family's factories during World War II of tens of thousands of?slave labourers, many of which perished.

A Little History

It is as Brent Staples wrote, "History is the only education. All the rest is just training."??Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It is not even past."?

Nazi Period

The?Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award-winning documentary film?The Silence of the Quandts[4][5] by the German public broadcaster?ARD?described in October 2007 the role of the Quandt family businesses during the?Second World War. The family's Nazi past was not well known, but the documentary film revealed this to a wide audience and confronted the Quandts about the use of?slave labourers?in the family's factories during World War II. As a result, five days after the showing,[6] four family members announced, on behalf of the entire Quandt family, their intention to fund a research project in which a historian would examine the family's activities during?Adolf Hitler's dictatorship.[7] The independent 1,200-page study that was released in 2011 concluded: "The Quandts were linked inseparably with the crimes of the Nazis."[6] As of 2008, the family has not paid any compensation to surviving victims and no proof of apology can be found nor cited.[5]

Slave labor

After extensive training at the family's companies at home and abroad, Quandt became a member of the executive board of AFA, later?VARTA?AG, in 1940. Quandt was the director of Pertrix GmbH, a Berlin-based subsidiary of AFA. During the war Herbert Quant was the director of personnel at his family factory. During his time as director, he personally oversaw the deaths of 40 to 80 people each month through the use of slave labor with each slave staying alive approximately 6 months.[8] This turnover was due in large part to the concentration of acid gas in the air of the factory in which the slave labor was forced to work. Slave labor was used extensively throughout the Quandt factories and as early as 1938.[8] Known factories where slave labor was used include three factories in Hanover, Berlin, AFA's Stocken and Hagen plants, and Pertrix GmbH.[8] Concentration camps were set up on the grounds of the AFA at Hanover which included an execution area.[8] According to the Scholtyseck report, there were over 50,000 slave laborers at the Quandt factories during war time.[9] Herbert Quandt was not tried after the war, though his father was interned until 1948 while he was investigated.[5]

Benjamin Ferencz, now 103, a US prosecutor at the?Nuremberg trials, was asked about Herbert. He mentioned that Herbert kept quiet about any evidence that could have been used to prosecute him or his father. Ferencz was convinced that if what is known about them today had been known at the end of the war, both Herbert and his father would have been prosecuted for crimes against humanity.[5]

Part 2: Saving BMW?

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