They mine and produce steel

thousands of concentration camp inmates had been forced to work for Auto Union, an automobile manufacturer founded in 1932 and a forerunner company of today's Audi AG .

BASF is an acronym for Badische Anilin- und SodaFabrik (German for ''Baden Aniline and Soda Factory''). It was founded by Friedrich Engelhorn on 6 April 1865 in Mannheim, in the German-speaking state of Baden. Engelhorn had been responsible for setting up a gasworks and street lighting for the town council in 1861. The gasworks produced tar as a by-product, and Engelhorn used this for the production of dyes. BASF was set up in 1865 to produce other chemicals necessary for dye production, notably soda and acids. The plant, however, was erected on the other side of the Rhine river at Ludwigshafen because the town council of Mannheim was afraid that the air pollution from the chemical plant could bother the inhabitants of the town. In 1866, the dye production processes were also moved to the BASF site.

According to Nazi ideology, a woman’s place was in the home. In their approach to German women, the Nazis’ emphasised three traditional guiding principles: Küche, Kinder and Kirche (kitchen, children and church).

Of these, Kinder was of particular importance and women in Nazi Germany were encouraged to marry and have as many children as possible to further the Nazis’  eugenic goals of building a strong German ‘ Aryan ’ race. To promote this, a law was passed in June 1933 allowing newly married couples to claim interest free loans of 1000 Reichsmarks . Each time the couple then had a child, 25% of the loan was written off.  Childbirth and pregnancy were further encouraged by bans on abortions (which were made punishable by death),  sterilisations (for ‘ Aryan ‘ women), and contraception .