A tradition of responsibility

Corporate responsibility has played a major role in the company since it was first established in 1835. The founder of the publishing company, Carl Bertelsmann, and his successors considered it a matter of course that their duties extended to caring for the well-being of their employees and society, as well as their business.

We have a long history of corporate responsibility efforts. Its very longevity gives rise to a special responsibility –to deal with our history, to cultivate it, to actively research it, and to communicate it openly both within the company and externally. On the inside, this serves to boost employees’ identification with the company; on the outside, it enhances our credibility. In this way, our company history creates added value both for the company and for its numerous stakeholders; it builds confidence in the future of Bertelsmann, both among our employees and in society at large.

There are two milestones in this cultivation of our company’s history: the first was the work done by the Independent Historical Commission to research the history of C. Bertelsmann Verlag during the years from 1921 to 1951, which led to the 2002 publication of a report entitled “Bertelsmann in the Third Reich”; and second was the establishment of the Corporate Archives in Gütersloh in May 2003.

As the central contact for all historical matters in the company, the Corporate Archives team tracks down, secures and documents any sources relevant to the company’s history: files, correspondence, photographs, presentations, posters and much more. Keeping meticulous records of a company’s history serves a number of purposes: it facilitates research into the company’s past, helps to integrate the company’s history into corporate culture and communications, and provides support in the form of background information that puts the company’s daily work in a historical context. In this way, the tradition of corporate responsibility at Bertelsmann is carried forth into the company, helping to ensure that it is actively espoused and kept alive.

Historical examples of the assumption of social responsibility and a detailed presentation of the company's history can be found on the pages presenting the history of Bertelsmann.