--- title: Koch Executive Disputes Account of Nazi Refinery description: A Koch Industries executive disputes book saying Fred Koch, father of billionaires Charles and David Koch, helped build a Nazi oil refinery canonical: https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-14T21:29:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:26:09.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Executive Disputes Role of Koch Brothers' Father in Nazi Oil Refinery og:description: He says the project preceded World War II og:url: https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde161d00d666652d/6988793b428a9ecfb8cd0f64/charles-koch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: õÿ og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Executive Disputes Role of Koch Brothers' Father in Nazi Oil Refinery twitter:description: He says the project preceded World War II twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde161d00d666652d/6988793b428a9ecfb8cd0f64/charles-koch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Executive Disputes Role of Koch Brothers' Father in Nazi Oil Refinery > Sponsored content. 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Bo Rader—Wichita Eagle/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:26 PM UTCPublished: Jan 14, 2016 9:29 PM UTC A senior Koch Industries executive is disputing a new book that says Fred Koch, the father of billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, [helped build a Nazi oil refinery](http://time.com/4177039/koch-brothers-nazi/). In the letter to company employees, David Robertson, president and COO of Koch Industries, said Fred Koch’s work for the Nazi regime was one of many international projects and predated World War II, [according to the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/12/koch-industries-disputes-books-account-of-founders-role-in-building-a-nazi-refinery/?%5Fr=0). “To cherry-pick one project among hundreds during this time frame and then use it out of context in order to further an agenda-driven story line is grossly inaccurate,” Robertson said. **_Read more:_** [_How to Watch Tonight’s Republican Debate Online_](http://time.com/4179420/republican-debate-watch-live-stream-online-free/) In _Dark Money_, a new book about the political influence of some of the country’s wealthiest families, _New Yorker_ staffer Jane Mayer writes that one of Koch’s projects was a major oil refinery for Nazi Germany, which Adolf Hitler personally approved, according to the book. Mayer has defended the book’s accuracy. “As the Kochs are confirming, Fred Koch was integrally involved in the creation of a German refinery that Adolf Hitler personally greenlighted. Splitting-hairs by disaggregating which parts of the equipment Fred Koch provided is a distraction,” she said in a statement. “Without the cracking unit, which Fred Koch designed, there would be no refinery.” Koch Industries and the Koch brothers, known for [funding conservative political candidates](http://time.com/4108941/charles-kock-gop-primary/), have previously criticized Mayer’s reporting on their family. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/"},"headline":"Executive Disputes Role of Koch Brothers' Father in Nazi Oil Refinery","datePublished":"2016-01-14T21:29:07.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T20:26:09.000Z","description":"He says the project preceded World War II","url":"https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde161d00d666652d/6988793b428a9ecfb8cd0f64/charles-koch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde161d00d666652d/6988793b428a9ecfb8cd0f64/charles-koch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"õÿ","caption":"õÿ","creditText":"Bo Rader—Wichita Eagle/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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4181537/koch-nazi-oil-refinery-dispute/","name":"Executive Disputes Role of Koch Brothers' Father in Nazi Oil Refinery"}}]}] ```