Fanta the Offical Drink of the Third Reich

Coca Cola has branded Fanta its assorment of fruit flavored sodas as a latin sensation. The name Fanta even seems like it might be Spanish. But in reality Fanta is a Greman name. The The Fantanas dancing around in Latin influenced party attire. It turns out that it is simply an omage to how much the Nazi's liked Latin America after the war. The fact that Brazil is the largest consumer of Fanta in the world seems to me to be a result of the close ties that Brazil had with Nazi Germany during the Vargas' administration.

This may seem like the crazed rambling of a conspiracy theorist but, Fanta was invented during World War II in Nazi Germany by the German Coca Cola (GmbH) bottling company. Coca-Cola continued export syrup concentrate to Nazi Germany despite much critacism. What truely intrigues me is that most non-German products and many imports where banned by the Nazis. But since the Nazis admired Coca Cola's ideals so GmbH was still allowed to import concentrate. Eventually, the difficulty of shipping Coca-Cola concentrate to Germany and its occupied states, due to the Allied blockades, led to the creation of Fanta.

The CEO of GmbH, Max Keith, needed to do something to keep the bottling plants in operation and the Nazis thirst for soft drinks quinched, so he came up with a fruit flavored drink made from whatever he could find. Using apple fiber left over from cider presses and whey, a byproduct from cheese manufacture, Fanta was created and became quite popular.

What is most shocking about all this to me Keith turned the Fanta profits over to Coca Cola after the war. Keith was investigated by Coca Cola after the war, and it is claimed that he refused to join the Nazi Party despite pressure to do so if this is true Keith was more scared of Coca Cola than the Nazis.