10 Most Unethical Business Actions

#2 Siemens: The Nazy Icon

Siemens is a company that survived even after the World War II. During War period, it played a major role in the Nazification of Germany. It helped in rebuilding the army, creating a giant infrastructure: railways, communications and power generation.

Their significant contribution for the Nazi regime was factories at the camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald. The camps witnessed, the Jewish slave workers, who were condemned to build electrical switches for Siemens in the morning, being snuffed out in a Siemens-made gas chamber in the afternoon. The war ended up the allies destroying four fifths of Siemens operated buildings, wiping out the entire Nazi brand.

Siemens is one of the few companies that could survive to exist today, with the same name. Though, they are still paying up in lawsuits filed by holocaust survivors. As a last move, indeed destined for failure, the company tried to trademark the name “Zyklon” in 2002 with the intent of marketing a series of products including gas ovens.