camps set up at some locations. Reemtsma also used forced labour, including child labour, to harvest tobacco in the Crimea, with the local population being given bread and flour in return for their work. By 1941, tobacco taxes made up about a twelfth of state income, and antismoking efforts were being discouraged. In 1942 there was a shortage of tobacco, and 2/3 of all German tobacco factories were shut down, some to be converted into armaments factories. Tobacco went on the ration, retarding the rapid rise in consumption. Reemtsma remained profitable. Reemtsma's financial support of the Nazis was unparalleled among German companies. The Sturmabteilung and other party organizations were given six-figure sums, and the Hitler Youth were given an aircraft. After the war, Philipp Reemtsma was charged with having paid 12.3 million reichsmarks to Göring. No legal conviction was forthcoming, and he was released after twenty months. In 1948 he was considered denazified and continued running the business, reinstating or compensating his partners who had fled. In 1980, Philipp Reemtsma's only surviving son, coming of age after his death, refused to take over the company and sold his shares. He later privately undertook to compensate surviving Crimeans for their unpaid labour for his father. The German coffee producing company Tchibo then bought the majority of Reemtsma. The shares were sold in 2002 to Imperial Tobacco; at the time, it was the world's fourth-largest tobacco company. It is now a daughter company of the renamed Imperial Tobacco, Imperial Brands. Products Today, Reemtsma sells cigarettes, loose tobacco, cigarillos as well as other tobacco products. Although predominantly distributed in Germany, some tobacco products are distributed across Europe. Brands such as Gauloises are produced and distributed by Reemtsma in Germany, but by Imperial Tobacco in other territories. Some of their most famous brands include Cabinet Davidoff Gauloises John Player Special (JPS) R1 West Further reading References External links Reemtsma during Nazi Germany Manufacturing companies based in Hamburg Manufacturing companies established in 1910 Imperial Brands Tobacco companies of Germany German companies established in 1910