Daimler Truck AG

Daimler-Benz AG and its successor entities, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck AG (which was spun off from Mercedes-Benz Group in 2021), carry one of the longest corporate records of complicity in state violence of any automotive manufacturer. From producing weapons for the Nazi war machine with forced labor drawn from concentration camps, to arming South Africa's apartheid security forces in defiance of UN weapons embargoes, to targeting €1 billion in military revenue by 2028 through its Daimler Truck brand.

Daimler Truck in Israel

Daimler Truck operates in Israel through Colmobil, the same exclusive importer that supplies Mercedes-Benz military vehicles to the IOF. In September 2020, Daimler Buses, a division of Daimler Truck AG, won a tender for 415 city and inter-city buses for Egged, Israel's largest private bus company. Egged operates bus routes connecting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to Israeli cities.

During the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, Mercedes sent 1,625 trucks from its entire European stock to Israel, vehicles that were "crucial in delivering ammunition, supplies, and equipment to IOF forces.".

Daimler Truck War: €1 billion war industry target

In June 2026, Daimler Truck launched "Daimler Truck Defence" as a new global brand. The company set a target of generating €1 billion in war-related revenue by 2028.

Recent contract awards include a major German Bundeswehr order for military logistics vehicles, a contract with the Canadian Armed Forces, and an agreement with the French Armed Forces for military trucks. Daimler Truck aims to become one of the world's leading providers of military mobility solutions.

Germany's role in arming the genocide

Daimler's military supply chain operates within the broader context of Germany's role as the second-largest exporter of heavy conventional weapons to Israel, responsible for 47% of Israel's arms imports in 2023 according to SIPRI. Between 2003 and 2023, Germany approved 4,427 individual arms export licenses to Israel worth approximately 3.3 billion euros, with a 99.75% approval rate. In 2023 alone, the value of approved exports surged tenfold compared to 2022.

Daimler-Benz; always on the wrong side of history

Arming apartheid South Africa

Daimler supplied vehicles and components to South Africa's apartheid regime throughout the period of international sanctions. Even after the 1977 UN weapons embargo, Daimler delivered at least 2,500 Unimog vehicles to the regime. The South African police and military converted these Unimogs into armored vehicles. Using Unimog and other Mercedes-Benz parts, South Africa built its armored personnel carriers, which were used by security forces to track, arrest, detain, and assault people across South Africa.

The Buffel was used by the South African government in its war against Angola and in the occupation and control of urban Black neighborhoods. In 2002, the Khulumani Support Group, an organization of apartheid victims, filed a lawsuit against Daimler and 20 other corporations for aiding and abetting human rights violations during apartheid. A federal judge in Manhattan ruled in 2009 that the charges were sufficient to continue proceedings. Daimler was one of five companies that remained as defendants, alongside IBM, General Motors, Ford, and Rheinmetall. Daimler denied all accusations and refused any out-of-court settlement.

Slave labor for the Nazi regime

Daimler-Benz AG was central to the Nazi war economy. From 1937, it produced military trucks and aircraft engines, then its plants produced tanks, ammunition, firearms, hand grenades, gun barrels, and aircraft components. From 1941, the company relied on forced civilian labor, and from 1942 it added Soviet prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates as slave laborers.

At the end of 1944, almost half of Daimler-Benz's 63,610 employees were forced laborers, prisoners of war, or concentration camp detainees. In the company's factories in annexed and occupied territories, forced laborers made up over 70 percent of the workforce. Daimler-Benz set up its own camps for civilian forced laborers. Concentration camp detainees were guarded by the SS under inhumane conditions, housed in barrack camps with prison-like conditions.

The company produced military trucks, airplane engines, and other war materiel for the Wehrmacht. Without this exploitation of slave labor, the Nazi regime could not have sustained its war of destruction until its capitulation.

Sources:

• Bildungsportal NS-Zwangsarbeit Daimler-Benz AG
• Colmobil Our Story
• Daimler Truck Daimler Truck Expands Global Defence Business
• Daimler Truck Large order for Daimler Buses: 415 city and inter-city buses for Israel
• Der Spiegel A Search for Morality in South Africa: Daimler Targeted by Victims of Apartheid
• Forensic Architecture Deutsche Rüstungsexporte nach Israel 2003–2023
• Khulumani Support Group Daimler AG’s Shady Ties With Apartheid Regime In South Africa
• Khulumani Red Card Campaign Daimler
• Mercedes-Benz Group Our history. Our responsibility.
• Mercedes-Benz Group Daimler-Benz in the Nazi Era (1933-1945)
• Museum Forced Labor Daimler-Benz AG
• Harvard Law School Human Rights Program Ntsebeza v. Daimler - Apartheid Litigation
• Who Profits Colmobil Corporation