ISO Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s lineage

amother

Brown

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 11:03 am

I used to shop at aldis stores a ton and loved it (great products and produce for cheap)
I stopped recently because it’s a German company and felt wrong supporting it when I have a grandmother with a number tattooed on her.
I did some research and it seems the original family from Germany still owns aldis and Trader Joe’s in America.
Is there a different story? I’d be interested in other details (like it’s different non German owners, they were Jewish)

[please don’t try to convince me to shop there if you don’t have details. I do not want to debate giving money to people who murdered my ancestors and tortured my grandmother. It would make sick to hear it defended]

amother

Sienna

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 2:04 pm

amother wrote:

There is information about the Albrecht family online. They are German.

meyerlemon44

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 2:23 pm

The brothers who founded Aldi were German citizens who were conscripted (forced, not volunteers) into the Nazi army during WWII. One fought in North Africa, and the other was wounded and captured on the Russian Front. The former could not have been involved in war crimes in Europe. No one can definitively say that the latter was or wasn't involved in war crimes, but he's now deceased.

Sources: Wikipedia and https://www.nytimes.com/2014/0......html

It's important to note that you couldn't be a conscious objector in Nazi Germany. If you refused to be conscripted, you and your family would be killed. That does not excuse the actions of members of the Wehrmacht, but contextualizes their actions.

Raisin

Sat, Feb 09 2019, 6:41 pm

I guess I would have felt uncomfortable buying german products in 1960 when actual nazis were still running companies there and most adults would have been in some way complicit in the Nazi regime. But now that generation has either died out or long retired and I don't believe in holding people guilty for things their grandparents did. And I think the Germans have done very many things to do teshuva.

Obviously if I would find out a certain company is owned by an actual anti semite I would not want to buy their product, whether German or from another country.

I shop in Aldi all the time.

Aldi is actually 2 companies - Aldi Nord - I think mostly in Germany, and Aldi Sud, which I believe is the one operating in the USA.

amother

Sienna

Sat, Feb 09 2019, 8:35 pm

Raisin wrote:

Did actual Nazis ever run this company?

amother

Brown

Sat, Feb 09 2019, 8:49 pm

My understanding is that Trader Joe’s and aldis are owned - one by aldi nord and one by aldi sud. Not sure which is which.

Thank you to everyone who shared what you know.

amother

Sienna

Sat, Feb 09 2019, 8:58 pm

amother wrote:

My understanding is that Trader Joe’s and aldis are owned - one by aldi nord and one by aldi sud. Not sure which is which.

Thank you to everyone who shared what you know.

Its all the same family.