Fact check. Father of the founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos was a Nazi general?

A Facebook post attempts to draw a connection between the founder of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the German Nazi regime led by Adolf Hitler. The author uses two photos, posted side by side, stating that the one on the left shows Klaus Schwab, founder of the international organization, and the one on the right shows his father, Eugen Schwab.

In the caption, Eugen Schwab is described as “close confidant of Hitler, industrialist and fascist” and who would be the owner “a strategic company that had its own concentration camp where prisoners had to work for free”.

Through a simple navigation on the World Economic Forum website it is possible to see that the photo on the left is actually Klaus Schwab. The one on the right shows Walter Dybilasz, as can be seen from this link on the website armedconflicts.com (specializing in military affairs), which is reached via a reverse image search.

Walter Dybilaz was a German division general who died in captivity in the Soviet Union in 1950, so he is not related to Eugen Schwab, father of Klaus Schwab, who died in 1982, according to documents verified by AFP Brazil. An investigation by the German news agency A turned to documents from the Nazi period and later and concluded that, although Eugen Schwab’s link with some National Socialist groups was confirmed, there is no evidence of a closeness to Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. or a direct and direct relationship. trust – relationship with the 20th century dictator himself.

conclusion

While it is true that Eugen Schwab and Klaus Schwab are father and son, the images in this Facebook post only accurately identify the former. The photograph on the right shows a Nazi general who is not the father of the founder of the World Economic Forum. There is no historical evidence that Eugen was part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle or that he was a general in the armed forces of the Third Reich.

According to the Observer classification, this content is:

WRONG

In the Facebook rating system, this content is:

FAKE: The main content claims are factually inaccurate. This option typically matches “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.

NOTE: This content was curated by The Observer as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.