Documentary looks at family's Nazi past

BERLIN, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A new documentary shows the dark past of a major German industrial dynasty.

The Quandts, who own a major stake in the car-maker BMW, had both business and family ties to the Nazi regime during World War II, Deutsche Welle reports. The documentary, which was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival and on German television, showed the battery company owned by Gunther Quandt used slave labor throughout the war and possibly as early as 1938.

"The accusations that have been raised against our family have moved us," his descendants said in a statement. "We recognize that, in our history as a German business family, the years 1933 to 1945 have not been sufficiently cleared up."

Gunther Quandt’s ex-wife, Magda, married Joseph Goebbels, German leader Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, and Harald Quandt, her son, lived in Goebbels' household. The Goebbels committed suicide in Hitler’s bunker, poisoning their children first, although Harald, who was not there, survived.