The 44 municipalities that own Eneco want the buyer of the energy company, the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation, to talk to Dutch people who had to do forced labor for Mitsubishi during the Second World War. That writes Faithful Monday.
A spokesperson for Eneco’s shareholders’ committee says no Faithful that the shareholders know the ‘shocking and moving stories’ of prisoners of war.
These stories were communicated to the Mitsubishi Corporation, requesting that the Japanese company contact the victims and their representatives. This spokesperson did not want to tell whether apology or compensation is also required.
During the Second World War, an estimated 7,300 Dutch prisoners of war were brought from present-day Indonesia to Japan, where they were forced to work as forced laborers. Some of them, at least 661, had to work in the mines and shipyards that belonged to Mitsubishi companies.
The current Mitsubishi Corporation was only founded after the War, after the old Mitsubishi was split up by the Americans because it was a “hostile company.” These divisions later came together again as a corporation.
Mitsubishi bought Eneco for 4.1 billion
At the end of November it was announced that the energy company Eneco would be taken over for 4.1 billion euros by Mitsubishi. 80 percent of the shares go to the company and the rest goes to the Japanese energy company Chubu. The municipalities must still definitively agree to this acquisition. Some municipalities have already done this.
The war history of Mitsubishi turned out not to have been discussed in the discussions of the municipalities, Trouw writes. At least eleven former Dutch forced laborers are still alive. Whether Mitsubishi will actually talk to them is unknown.
In the United States, China and South Korea, the Japanese company has already apologized for the forced labor. In China and South Korea, victims also managed to enforce compensation through a lawsuit.
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