Study: Founders of Heckler & Koch were followers during the Nazi era

According to a study, the founders of the weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch were followers during the Nazi era. “Edmund Heckler was an opportunist who used his specialist knowledge to serve war preparation and war economy,” says the study by the Society for Corporate History (GUG) presented in Oberndorf, which was commissioned by the company.

At the end of 1939 he joined the NSDAP in order to advance in his professional career.

German industry was deeply involved in Nazi crimes. Numerous companies have long since had historians examine their past, which was burdened by the use of forced labor. Heckler & Koch is a special case here, as the company was only founded in 1949, i.e. during the time of the Federal Republic. For decades, the company did not concern itself with the question of what its founders had done beforehand. An image-heavy company chronicle that appeared on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1999 did not address this critically.

The historian study that has now been published has also shed light on the past of the other founders: Theodor Koch was a supporting member of the SS and supported the National Socialist organization financially. But he was “not a committed National Socialist,” said study author Stefanie van de Kerkhof. The scientists also do not see the third founder, Alexius Seidel, as an active Nazi.

A forerunner of H&K was the Oberndorfer Mauser-Werke – Koch and Seidel worked there. Engineer Heckler, however, had worked for the Hasag ammunition company in Saxony during wartime, as manager of a cartridge factory in Taucha with more than 1,000 employees. He was not responsible for a neighboring Hasag bazooka factory, where, according to witness reports, conditions were particularly bad.