Forced labour in a hidden factory near Hildesheim owned by the Bosch corporation

“No moral guilt”?
 

The Trillke plant withstood an air raid on Hildesheim without any damage occurring, even though the British Royal Air Force had photographed the site during a reconnaissance mission in February 1945. On 7 April 1945, troops from the 9th US Army reached the plant and liberated it. Immediately on the following day, the company dismissed all the forced labourers.[19] They were left to fend for themselves. There was looting and acts of revenge.

Many of the former forced labourers continued to live in the camps as “Displaced Persons” until they were able to return home or emigrate. The “eastern workers” who had been forced to work at ELFI/Trillke were forcibly “repatriated” back to the Soviet Union. Since the Soviet authorities suspected them on principle of collaborating with the Germans, they were subjected to interrogation in so-called “filtration camps”. Large numbers of them were sentenced to forced labour in Soviet camps, and many of them were still subjected to discrimination decades later. Forced labourers from the pre-war Polish territories were allowed to “choose” whether to return home, emigrate to another country or remain in Germany. Nearly all of the former forced labourers at Bosch who were interviewed suffered for the rest of their lives from health problems caused by the conditions in the camps. Many no longer had the possibility of completing their studies, and they were forced to abandon their life and career plans.[20]

After the end of the war, the Trillke plant was initially only permitted to conduct repair works. However, as early as 29 June 1945, the factory was granted permission by the British occupying powers to resume the production of electronic fittings for motor vehicles.[22]

The American military government and the British attempted to decentralise the German economy. As one of the largest armaments companies in Germany, the Bosch group was directly affected; the company was required to relinquish all plants located outside of Stuttgart. At the beginning of 1952, after lengthy negotiations and with the aid of the Ministry for Economic Affairs in Bonn, an acceptable solution was finally found for the company.[23] In April 1952, the Trillke-Werke GmbH was erased from the commercial register. From then on, the plant was registered as Robert Bosch GmbH/Werk Hildesheim.[24] Seven years later, around 10,000 people were working for Bosch and its affiliate company Blaupunkt in the forest near Hildesheim.[25] The adjustments made to the group’s policy to conform to the National Socialist regulations and the shift in production focus to armaments had paid off. 

For a long time, the former forced labourers were denied compensatory payments. Right up until 2000, Bosch refused to pay reparations and denied any share of responsibility. When in 1998/99, class actions were submitted in the US against German companies, the group participated in the founding of a reparations fund. To sum up the negotiations, Hans Merkle, who at that time was the honorary chairman at Robert Bosch GmbH, proposed the following statement: “In the employment of forced labourers [there is] no moral blame, although a material obligation on the part of German industry does exist”.[7] After the EVZ Foundation was established, Bosch also paid into the fund. As Irena Matuszak, a former forced labourer at Trillke, commented: 

“The compensation? Originally, we were told that we would receive 15,000 marks – at that time, we still had the Deutschmark. Then, everyone would have been satisfied. Later, the amount became less and less. And then we were paid in instalments, so that nobody benefited. That was no gratification.”[26]

Angela Martin, February 2025