--- title: Krispy Kreme Owners Paying For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past description: The billionaire Reimann family is having a public reckoning over its family's Nazi past. canonical: https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-26T16:05:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:22.580Z og:title: Krispy Kreme Owners Paying For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past og:description: The billionaire Reimann family is facing a public reckoning og:url: https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf02a19de8b147252/6989475897cdff72ae6b78fa/krispykreme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Gainesville, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Krispy Kreme Owners Paying For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past twitter:description: The billionaire Reimann family is facing a public reckoning twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf02a19de8b147252/6989475897cdff72ae6b78fa/krispykreme.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread Owners Make Donations For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 26, 2019 4:05 PM UTC  Gainesville, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images) Gainesville, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images)Jeff Greenberg&UIG via Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 26, 2019 4:05 PM UTC The family that owns [Krispy Kreme](http://time.com/5492097/doughnut-truck-cops/), [Panera Bread](http://time.com/4101884/panera-cage-free-eggs/), Peet’s Coffee, Stumptown, [Dr. Pepper,](http://time.com/3752352/104-year-old-woman-dr-pepper/) and many other companies is in the midst of a public reckoning with its past. The Reimann family, who owns JAB Holding Company, which owns a vast array of popular coffee and food related companies, learned that their German ancestors not only supported Adolf Hitler during his rule of Germany, but used Russian civilians and French prisoners of war as forced labor in their family factory, [NBC News reports](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/krispy-kreme-panera-bread-owner-admits-family-s-nazi-ties-n987346). The family has been aware of their relatives close ties and support of the Nazi regime since discovering documents belonging to a now-deceased family member, Albert Reimann Sr. He and his son, Albert Reimann Jr., used forced laborers under the Nazis during World War II and made the work in the industrial chemicals company that helped start the family’s fortune. In 2014, the Reimanns hired a history professor at the University of Munich to find answers about their family’s Nazi ties, but did not make the Nazi ties known until they were unveiled in a story in the German newspaper, Bild. They were then confirmed by family spokesman, Peter Harf. “We were ashamed,” Harf [told the outlet in an interview](https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/politik-inland/reimann-vertrauter-harf-wir-waren-beschaemt-und-weiss-wie-die-wand-60837474.bild.html), per NBC News. “These crimes are disgusting.” To endeavor to make public amends for their family’s past history, the family plans to publish a book with the professor’s findings. They also claim they plan to donate $11.3 million to a charity, but have not yet decided which one. The family’s now-Luxembourg-based investment firm JAB Holdings owns a coffee-bagel-and-soda empire worth an estimated $3.1 billion. Their holdings include Snapple, Pret A Manger, Caribou Coffee, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Au Bon Pain, K-Cup coffee maker Keurig, and many others. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/"},"headline":"The Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread Owners Make Donations For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past","datePublished":"2019-03-26T16:05:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:58:22.580Z","description":"The billionaire Reimann family is facing a public reckoning","url":"https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/","keywords":["Newsfeed","onetime","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf02a19de8b147252/6989475897cdff72ae6b78fa/krispykreme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf02a19de8b147252/6989475897cdff72ae6b78fa/krispykreme.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gainesville, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts","caption":"Krispy Kreme makes donation","creditText":"Jeff Greenberg&UIG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5558842/krispy-kreme-nazi-connection/","name":"The Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread Owners Make Donations For Family's Nazi-Supporting Past"}}]}] ```