„Batteries for the Wehrmacht“ Forced Labour at Pertrix 1939-1945

The Pertrix Company, a subsidiary of the Quandt Group company AFA (Akkumulatorenfabrik AG) produceded dry batteries and flashlights for the Wehrmacht and delivered igniter batteries for warplanes to the German Air Force. Batteries were a central product of the war industry and one of the main sources of income for the Quandt Group. During the war, the Pertrix Company employed all groups of forced laborers: Berlin Jews in the "Geschlossene Arbeitseinsatz", prisoners of war and Italian military internees, Western European civilian workers, Ostarbeiter (Workers from Eastern Europe, Poles and concentration camp prisoners. Most of them were women. In the exhibition, the role of the company in the German armaments industry and within the Group is told. Original items and interviews with witnesses reporting from hazardous working in the battery factory are shown. 

The exhibition is sponsored by Johanna Quandt Foundation.