In one of my classes today my professor briefly mentioned that Henry Ford had used people in concentration camps to build Ford cars. My understanding was that he had done so because he was a Fascist or Nazi sympathizer and he was incredibly anti-Semitic and wanted to take advantage of a cheap labor prospect.
So my question is basically is this all true? On top of that question,
Did Americans know about this?
Did he (and along with other America First members) publicly go against the war for their own personal benefits?
Was his support of the regime in Germany the reason he was awarded the Iron Cross?
Since he wrote The International Jew, how was he regarded by the Nazis and Hitler?
Even though it is an American company, did Nazi Germany continue to support Ford Motors throughout their war with the USA?
Sorry for all the questions I am just very curious and some clarifications would be really great !
Of course they used forced labour, Ford was sued about that in 1998:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/59351.stm
Was his support of the regime in Germany the reason he was awarded the Iron Cross?
Henry Ford never got the Iron Cross. The Iron Cross is only for military personnel. He got the Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches, which was a very high award. Only 47 were given out by the Nazis.
Since he wrote The International Jew, how was he regarded by the Nazis and Hitler?
Hitler considered Ford to be his inspiration. cf. Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitlers Judenhass. Klischee und Wirklichkeit, München 2009, S. 226 f.
Even though it is an American company, did Nazi Germany continue to support Ford Motors throughout their war with the USA?
Ford produced a lot of stuff for the German Armed Forces:
Including the SdKfz 3 Maultier, which was a Ford V 3000 S.
