Research: Helmut Horten – Armament & Forced Labor
Beyond the department stores – The darker side of the business empire.
While Helmut Horten's rise is often associated primarily with the "Aryanization" of department stores, historical research shows that his activities during the Nazi era were even more deeply intertwined with the regime's power structures.
Armament and War Economy
During World War II, Horten expanded his business activities into the armament sector. As an "opportunistic profiteer" (as described in the Hoeres Report), he used his contacts within the party and state apparatus to secure lucrative supply contracts for the Wehrmacht.
Forced Labor
There are indications and historical documentation that companies within the Horten sphere of influence made use of forced laborers. The exploitation of people from the occupied territories was a systematic component of the German war economy, from which Horten's companies also benefited.
Significance for "The Horten Mystery"
In Part 2 of our mockumentary, we show that the "pointillism of capital" also includes blood-stained dots. The wealth was not only based on the takeover of Jewish businesses but also on the exploitation of labor in the context of the war.
- Aesthetic Motif: We show the "clean" floors of the department stores, under which the "oily" machines of the war economy are pulsing. The contrast between the luxury of the customers and the suffering of the forced laborers is a central moral weight of the film.
Sources: The Hoeres Report (2022), studies on the economy in National Socialism, and archives on forced labor in the German Reich.