Why does it follow that, “No one can seriously claim that Prescott Bush managed camp inmates in any of those plants” just because the camp opened in the year following the opening of the SAC plants? It seems quite plausible that the German government could have began using the prisoners at a point in time after the camp opened. Perhaps the placement of the camp was strategic in respect to the SAC plant in order to facilitate the easy access to the slave labor pool. Am I missing something?
By the way, this post was in reference to the article, “Was President Bush’s great-grandfather a Nazi?” which can be found at http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030214.html
“The slave labor charge is easy to dismiss. SAC plants in Poland were taken over by the German government after the Nazi invasion of 1939, and the Auschwitz prison camp wasn’t established until 1940. No one can seriously claim that Prescott Bush managed camp inmates in any of those plants.”
He seems to be saying that the plants were set up before 1939, in Poland. After Poland was overrun by the Germans they took over the plant (thus removing it from the ownership of Bush). It was then used for slave labor one year after that.
Once the Germans took over, Prescott Bush wasn’t running the plants. Ergo, Bush wasn’t responsible.