Boycotting Companies

Common, agree in general. Case for modern Germany is somewhat complicated: on 1 hand, emotionally, they are all responsible, on 2 hand, they are educated for several generations about the crimes their elders committed, on 3rd hand, who knows what they continue thinking…

A less emotional case can be made for countries that did/do a lot of evil and did not try to mend their ways, even when they did not targets Jews, or target them together with others (which Germans also did): think Chinese solar panels, Cuban cigars, Russian vodka, Iranian carpets …

yes, from Germans during WW2 and from Russians during WW1 and WW2. As I said, I fully understand your emotions an do not disagree. Still, not all Germans, Russians and even more Poles or Hungarians were involved in atrocities … Would you hold, for example, Frau Merkel accountable – when she went to such length protecting Syrian refugees (I am not touching here on the wisdom of her policy, just on her sentiment here)

Is there a Halacha that you have to buy an inferior product because one type of goyim were worse to Jews? Japan fought with with the Nazis and Ford supported them. Maybe ride a horse and buggy.

I can’t understand why Jews still go to Ukrane & Poland two countries that to this day still hate Jews. Thousands of Jews go there every year subsidizing the economy.

My mother was in Aushwitz and lost family members and father was in Mauthausen and lost family members. I would say if you get personel benefit from the merchandise. you are not supporting them but yourself.

Gadol you can’t boycott everyone and most likely most companies/people hate or dislike Jews whether they make it known or not.

However these companies who directly assisted in the Holocaust or profited by it probably should be avoided. Such as IBM who set up machinery and systems to track down Jews and keep track of the systematic killings and operation of the Holocaust, which btw have not apologized till this day. So what does that tell you about how they feel towards what they’ve done.
Bayer directly produced the Zyklon-B gas for the chambers.
Volkswagen especially the beetle was a design produced by Porsche and Hitler yimach shemam. The name as well was thought of by him, “people’s car”.
When the Germans ran out of coca cola, coca cola Germany created Fanta Orange which was known as the Nazi drink.
The list goes on and on such as Chase Bank freezing Jewish accounts, Kodak, Hugo Boss who made uniforms for the soldiers and was a Nazi member himself, even GE who used Jewish slaves to build Gas Chambers and the list goes on and on.
Avoid what you can. There’s a difference between a company/people who dislike Jews and companies that actually aided and profited in the extermination of Jews.

Rightwriter: Per my post, I agree with your distinction between legal entities who directly participated in the atrocities, and those that were simply facilitators or stood by with their implicit anti-semitic beliefs. The issue I was trying to raise was for the first group of companies, who were directly involved, when (if ever) does the dilution in their upstream ownership, changes in domicile and control reach a point where the “zachor” element becomes moot as a practical matter. Otherwise, I have a very long memory and trying to convey that memory to the next several generations.

“I don’t really understand the reason for boycotting companies ”

That’s because you are approaching it wrong.
It isn’t a rational decision it is an emotional one. And it isn’t about “punishing” the company nor its long dead previous owners, it is about the purchasers feeling uncomfortable driving/using etc said items

It might make more sense to focus on supporting companies that do something right, since at this point the shareholders and employees of all companies are different than what they were a century ago. Should be boycott British (including Canadian and Australian and the United States) goods over the expulsion from England in 1290, or boycott Spain and its former colonies of 1492.

Should we boycott southern states over the Leo Frank lynching (which, BTW, is a major reason why secular Jews with American roots predating the World Wars tend to perceive the American south as inherently hostile to Jews)? Should we boycott Ford since the company’s owner pre-World War II was openly anti-Jewish, or forget about that since post-World War II Ford was a leading company in refusing to boycott Israel? What about General Motors (which technically is only about 10 year old since the original GM went under and the new company owns the name but is not the same corporation)? Should we prefer Leica’s very excellent but overpriced cameras since the owners of the company during the 1930s “outplaced” their Jewish employees into jobs in the industry in places outside of Germany? Should we boycott all the countries that refused asylum to Jewish refugees during the holocaust (which included the United States and the British Empire)?

While it is good to know the past, it is counter0productive to live in the past.

It’s one thing to ‘punish’ aforementioned companies for the part they played 70 years ago. It’s doubtful that they will feel the pinch or notice that a they are losing out from a potential client base,
but I CANNOT UNDERSTAND how Jews frequent the concentration camps in the thousands,making a huge difference to the economy of these countries, and they are making a huge profit directly from the [parts that they played in] the Holocaust. Even if visiting the camps themselves is entirely free (it is not, the film costs etc.) just the plane tickets, transport, food, hotels etc. are a huge boon to the countries, and it is visibly Jewish money. Personally i could buy a BMW or Hugo Boss but could not tour Germany or Poland, certainly not the concentration camps.
I don’t know if it’s advisable to antagonize those who hate us, but if i could, i would insist that no-one spends a single tourism dollar until a fund is set up and for every tourist in Auschwitz (etc.) the government has to pay $50 (which they are unlawfully gaining from the Holocaust) towards compensating Holocaust survivors, paying back to victims’ inheritors, and donating to causes that benefit the Jewish Nations eg. Hospitals, Hatzolo etc. .

the last word, whatever your feelings are, it is somewhat strange to put Poland in the same line as Germany here.

Boycotts are what the Reform leaders such as Stephen Wise initiated against Nazi Germany.

The result was the Nazis killing more Jews.

CS: That doesn’t change my point.

CS: It’s a fact that the Nazis killed Jews in retaliation of Stephen Wise’s Nazi boycott.

I can remember when my father needed something that was only made in Germany which was needed for his business, asking his Rabbi if he could buy it. To this day I wouldn’t buy anything made in Germany.
At least the Germans tried to attone for their sin of killing Jews, but most of the Eastern European countries haven’t even done that. Yet each year thousand of Jewish Holocust survivors their families and even ordinary Jews visit these countries and support their economy, becuase they want to visit the “old country”. They (the citzens of these countries) still hate Jews it’s just that they want the Jewish tourist money to continue flowing which prevents them attacking the Jewish tourist.

CS I am not sure what you mean by”it took years to get to go to blood soaked soil of Poland…” Before the 1990 it was behind the Iron Curtain and you weren’t supposed to go there. It’s only in the last twenty years that it’s been popular to go there.
Both Slovakia and Romania were allies of Germany during World War II while Poland was captured by Germany so I am not sure how you can say they were less friendly to the Nazis.
I have never visited Europe except as a stop over from or to Isreal so I am not familiar with driving regulations, but here in the USA you can not sleep in your car in a rest stop or on the shoulder of the road. A Police Officer or State Tropper will tell you to move and find a room or arrest you.

I am puzzled, here and in other places, when people connect Poles to murders of Jews during WW2 .. Poland was the first country to be attacked from two sides, and Polish Jews – as non-Jews – were sure that Polish cavalry will repulse the attack. Warsaw Jews record the shock when they realized that planes in the air are not Polish … We may be victims of an echo of old Soviet propaganda that was accusing pre-Soviet Polish government of all kind of crimes while covering their own. Remember Katyn where Soviets killed 22,000 Polish officers, half of all officers, 8% estimated Jewish, blamed Nazis for that, and Jewish organizations supported Soviet lies over the years. Even in 2020, there was an issue at Yad Vashem where they presented a pro-Russian exhibit.

Justd looked it up, USHMM still omits who killed Chief Rabbi of Polish Army:
“Rabbi Steinberg was later killed in Katyn massacre.”

While the British still keep their copies of the Enigma intercepts a secret, a US Freedom of Information suit forced the US to declassify the American copies. It is very clear that both the American and British government were fully informed of the holocaust as it was happening, at least on the highest level. This is in addition to other intelligence the Allies received.

So if we want someone to boycott because of the holocaust, start with the United States and the self-governing (during the early 1940s, meaning Canada and Australia as well as Great Britain) portion of the British Empire.

One of my rebbeim wouldn’t drive a German car; my father wouldn’t even use one if it were a rental.