Project in cooperation with the University of Vienna, sponsored by PORR AG.
PORR AG was founded in 1869 as a public limited company and is thus the oldest listed company in Austria. It is also one of the largest Austrian construction companies today. During the National Socialist era Porr took part in building projects of the arms industry and worked for the SS, for example in the establishment of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Monowitz. The aim of the study is to research the past of PORR AG under the Nazi regime. Extended research in various countries will provide a comprehensive description of the company's activities during the National Socialist era. The analysis will include business contacts with Nazi functionaries and Nazi members from 1933 onwards. The decision-making process in the company during National Socialism will also be looked at. An example would be various personnel decisions made in the company. The research looks at the company's activities both in the German Reich and the occupied territories - construction projects for the SS and in concentration camps (such as in Auschwitz Monowitz) as well as for the arms industry. The focus is also on PORR AG's exploitation of forced and slave labour and compensation measures after 1945. The Fritz Bauer Institute was invited to cooperate by the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna and will carry out the project with the colleagues in Vienna. Members of the commission are Univ.-Prof. DDr. Oliver Rathkolb, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Bertrand Perz (Vienna) and Prof. Dr. Sybille Steinbacher.
