The chairman of pizza firm Dr Oetker has admitted that his father was a Nazi.
August Oetker revealed the news ahead of the publication of a new book, which studies his family’s links with the Nazi party.
Rudolf-August Oetker, who ran the company after World War Two and died in 2007, was a member of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS and joined the Nazi party in the 1930s.
August Oetker has admitted his father was a Nazi
Speaking to Die Zeit newspaper, he said: “My father was a National Socialist.
"He didn't want to talk about this time. He said, 'children, leave me in peace'."
The company has funded the book titled Dr Oetker and National Socialism, which was written by German historians.
Oetker said he welcomed the publication, adding: “I feel now we know the facts, now the fog has lifted.”
A spokesman for the company said: “Dr Oetker commissioned this independent research as it is our belief that we have a responsibility to inform future generations.
“The business felt it important to be transparent about any mistakes that were made in the past, set the facts straight once and for all and do everything to prevent anything like the Third Reich happening again.”
In 2011 German fashion house Hugo Boss apologised for its Nazi ties after it emerged it made uniforms for Hitler's soldiers.
Company factories had used 140 Polish and 40 French forced workers kidnapped by the Gestapo from Poland.
The brand became aware of the connection to Hitler's regime when Boss's name appeared on a list of dormant bank accounts released by Switzerland bankers in 1997, the New York Times reported.
''Of course my father belonged to the Nazi Party,'' Siegfried Boss said, according to the newspaper. ''But who didn't belong back then? The whole industry worked for the Nazi Army.''