Jung Foundation for Science and Research provides funding for projects run by the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial and Doctors Without Borders
Study draws ambivalent conclusion about Ernst Jung – foundation faces up to responsibility and and initiates comprehensive measures
Hamburg, 22 February 2023. The Jung Foundation for Science and Research plans to provide a total of 1,000,000 euros in funding to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial and Doctors Without Borders to support research into medical history and help people in need. These funding projects are currently being discussed with the supervisory authority for foundations. The Jung Foundation will also offer an annual fellowship for a thesis at the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf. These and further planned measures are adopted in response to the results of a study on Ernst Jung and his companies during the period of National Socialism. The study was initiated by the foundation itself.
You can find the press release for download here.
You can find the picture for download here.
Jung Foundation faces up to history of Ernst Jung and assumes responsibility
The results of a study on the Foundation’s founder Ernst Jung as well as the origin of his assets are now available: Ernst Jung laid the financial foundation for his wealth partly during the Second World War, including the instrument of forced labour. The study was initiated by the Foundation itself.
The Jung Foundation has adopted comprehensive measures to face up to Ernst Jung’s history, assume responsibility, contribute to further investigation of the period of National Socialism and raise awareness.
With donations totalling 1,000,000 euros, the Jung Foundation plans to support a research project run by the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial to investigate National Socialist medical crimes and to support Doctors Without Borders in their medical care of refugees and migrants in Libya. This way, the Jung Foundation faces up to its founder’s history and helps people in need.
The project of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial is concerned with research into the medical department and the doctors of the Neuengamme concentration camp. This will be followed by the implementation of a new permanent exhibition “The Medical Department of Neuengamme Concentration Camp – Medicine in the Concentration Camp and Aftermath”. The Jung Foundation’s donation to Doctors Without Borders will support their ongoing work in Libya for several years. Among other things, the organisation provides medical care for refugees and migrants with mobile teams on the streets, in shelters and in official detention camps.
In addition, the Jung Foundation will support further investigation of the National Socialism period with an annual fellowship for medical history thesis on a corresponding topic at the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf. On its website, the Jung Foundation will discuss Ernst Jung’s role as a profiteer of National Socialism on the one hand and as a later philanthropist on the other.
Furthermore, the titles of the foundation’s awards are to be adapted so that they refer to the name of the foundation and no longer to Ernst Jung personally. However, the Jung Foundation will continue to retain the family name, as a neutral name would exclude history, avoid active remembrance, and conceal an origin of the foundation’s assets.
The Jung Foundation is currently waiting for positive feedback from the supervisory authority for foundations regarding the donation projects and name changes.
Study results draw ambivalent conclusion about Ernst Jung as opportunist and philanthropist
The study, commissioned by the Jung Foundation itself and conducted by the historian Dr Peter Zolling, presents important new findings Ernst Jung’s life and his companies during the Second World War, especially about the use of forced labour. The study estimates that a total of 200 to 250 forced labourers were stationed in Jung’s factories between 1939 and 1945, 38 of in the Stadersand plant. Part of the Jung Foundation’s share capital comes from lease and sales proceeds from this plant. This proves a link between the foundation’s assets and forced labour. In summary, the study paints an ambivalent picture of Ernst Jung as an opportunist of National Socialism on the one hand and as a later philanthropist on the other.
The full study can be requested and viewed on the Jung Foundation website.
The Jung Foundation is neither the legal successor of its founder, nor has it continued Jung’s business. It acts as a non-profit organisation in the service of society for science and research.
Picture subhead: The Hamburg Jung Foundation for Science and Research itself initiated a study on its founder, which revealed an ambivalent picture of Ernst Jung. In response, the foundation is now facing up to Ernst Jung’s history and taking responsibility with a comprehensive package of measures.