All of which was owned by DWM... technically the looted machines from Belgium belonged to a German company, therefore DWM was the victim of the theft, which escapes most history books.
This is not to say that the German Army didn't loot Belgian and French property, - if a company wouldn't cooperate then its machinery was faced with seizure (Pieper cooperated and kept their property), but in this one isolated case, because DWM was the primary owner of FN at the time, the machinery was not Belgian property.
In the end the only victim (of theft) of all this confiscation was the share holders of DWM. The German Army looted DWM's FN property for the new factory at Oberspree (Spandau also received some of the machinery), and after the war Belgium stole it back and revoked DWM ownership of FN. However, as the primary owners of DWM were large banks, and as the system of capitalism requires owners to take certain risks in pursuit of profit, there is no great victim here.
One question does come to mind though, it is known DWM owned half of WOK, one wonders if this is due to the machines looted from FN (credits for them due to the fact DWM would have protested this seizure if looted outright) or was DWM coerced to buy into this new factory (in addition to the stolen machines).
Lastly, this practice of Germany during its occupations of foreign countries is not unique to Germans or the German Army. Similar practices were common in Germany after both World Wars, - German firms after WWI had to be inspected and certified by the IAMCC to resume business. Many firms were harmed by these delays (and corruption all such programs generate), many firms were harmed by directives ordering them to sell machines, - or return machines to Belgium/France because they were stolen (though unwittingly so, bought legally during the war, but still stolen in the absolute sense), also directed to change their production schedule in order to be certified (what German firms made were scrutinized due to the disarmament clauses, which included exports...).
Needless to say this was far more ugly after WWII, - the soviets made the German Army look like novices at looting; the French had considerable zeal at goosestepping over any German they could run over, the sanctimonious American Army micromanaged every element of German life and infused progressivism governing tenet of collective guilt upon a nation of 80 million, - of a nation national socialism never obtained more then 37% of the vote (every election after the NS were bleeding votes, they were a flash in the pan, - and entirely fueled by idiotic foreign intervention in German life...) and who never elected Hitler to any office.
This is not to say that the German Army didn't loot Belgian and French property, - if a company wouldn't cooperate then its machinery was faced with seizure (Pieper cooperated and kept their property), but in this one isolated case, because DWM was the primary owner of FN at the time, the machinery was not Belgian property.
In the end the only victim (of theft) of all this confiscation was the share holders of DWM. The German Army looted DWM's FN property for the new factory at Oberspree (Spandau also received some of the machinery), and after the war Belgium stole it back and revoked DWM ownership of FN. However, as the primary owners of DWM were large banks, and as the system of capitalism requires owners to take certain risks in pursuit of profit, there is no great victim here.
One question does come to mind though, it is known DWM owned half of WOK, one wonders if this is due to the machines looted from FN (credits for them due to the fact DWM would have protested this seizure if looted outright) or was DWM coerced to buy into this new factory (in addition to the stolen machines).
Lastly, this practice of Germany during its occupations of foreign countries is not unique to Germans or the German Army. Similar practices were common in Germany after both World Wars, - German firms after WWI had to be inspected and certified by the IAMCC to resume business. Many firms were harmed by these delays (and corruption all such programs generate), many firms were harmed by directives ordering them to sell machines, - or return machines to Belgium/France because they were stolen (though unwittingly so, bought legally during the war, but still stolen in the absolute sense), also directed to change their production schedule in order to be certified (what German firms made were scrutinized due to the disarmament clauses, which included exports...).
Needless to say this was far more ugly after WWII, - the soviets made the German Army look like novices at looting; the French had considerable zeal at goosestepping over any German they could run over, the sanctimonious American Army micromanaged every element of German life and infused progressivism governing tenet of collective guilt upon a nation of 80 million, - of a nation national socialism never obtained more then 37% of the vote (every election after the NS were bleeding votes, they were a flash in the pan, - and entirely fueled by idiotic foreign intervention in German life...) and who never elected Hitler to any office.
