Adolf-Messer-Foundation: students announce joint Protest

Only a few days ago, Frankfurt’s students, called by the high school the Green group protested against the award of the Adolf-Messer-Foundation-prize at the Goethe-University. The entrepreneur is Adolf Messer, the justification of the students, had been a profiteer of the Nazi regime and has, among other things, forced laborers, a past that will be ignored by the Foundation until today.

Martin Ochmann

editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

F. A. Z.

To such protests, it could also at 17. December at the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt are, if the Bureau gives, together with the Adolf-Messer-Foundation-the price of the Foundation. The General students ‘ Committee (Asta) criticized that in the past of its namesake as a member of the NSDAP “uncommented” to stay. According to the Asta, the Messer GmbH during the national socialism, the war, important chemical processes and parts of firearms designed and forced laborers have engaged. The student representatives are calling on the Bureau of the TU, therefore, ensure that the Messer Group will compensate former forced labourers and critically with its past. The not, happen to be terminated any cooperation with the Foundation. A spokeswoman also announced to the F. A. Z. that it plans a joint protest with the Frankfurt students. How and to what extent this should be done, not fixed but still.

Further research in order

A spokesman for the TU is returned has these claims. He didn’t want to tire of the decision of the Presidium of the front yard, but “according to current interpretation, there is no occasion, on the requests,” the spokesman said. He pointed out that the Foundation was engaged for 25 years at the TU, and the annual price of rentals. After the protests by students of the Goethe-University in this summer, against the naming of a room on the Riedberg Campus after Adolf Messer was busy again with the story of the company founder. According to the TU speaker to have an opinion of the historian Andreas Fahrmeir, Jörg Lesczenski, and Werner Plumpe, “a private short report counter check”. This can confirm their findings: the knife was a “profiteer of the Nazi regime”, have employed forced labourers and had been engaged in the production of armaments. “But the price of the Foundation is awarded in recognition or appreciation of the Person of Adolf knife,” said the spokesman. The Person and the work of the Foundation, it is important to separate. “Otherwise, you are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” The speaker of the TU also noted that the Foundation had concealed the role of Adolf diameter never on the website you can inform yourself about the historical Person.

Stefan Messer, CEO of Messer, Chairman of the Foundation Council of the Adolf-Messer-Foundation and grandson of the company founder, admits that the story had on the company page, but not on the contact page of the Foundation. This has now been changed. He himself had initiated in 2004 with the Takeover of the management of an “internal value discussion”. Together with the German society for business history in Frankfurt, you’ve been exploring the history of knives and the results combined into a book. In the Wake of the burgeoning discussion of the founder of the company, as the name of the Foundation you have given to further research in order. A new edition of the book adds to these results will appear in a few weeks.