Christoph Buchheim Book order

Die nationalsozialistische Besatzung Europas wirkte massiv auf die Volkswirtschaften aller betroffenen Gebiete ein. Die Proklamation eines Großwirtschaftsraums eröffnete die Perspektive der Grenzenlosigkeit. Den zur Verwaltung der besetzten Gebiete delegierten Beamten und Militärs gingen mitunter die rationalen Maßstäbe für die wirtschaftliche Ausbeutung verloren. Auf der anderen Seite waren sie bei der Durchsetzung ihrer Ziele auf die bürokratischen Mittel angewiesen, die ihnen aus ihrer bisherigen Tätigkeit vertraut waren. Mit Beiträgen von: Steen Andersen, Jaromir Balcar, Marcel Boldorf, Jordi Catalan, Harold James, Hervé Joly, Jaroslav Kucera, Sergei Kudryashov, Kim Oosterlinck, Jonas Scherner, Harald Wixforth, Andrzej Wrzyszcz.

In the last decades much has been written on the history of manufacturing firms and branches in the Nazi period. It is the aim of the present volume to provide a synthesis of at least a part of that new research. A general result of the contributions each authored by an expert of the respective field is that enterprises still enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. The Nazi regime did not create a centrally planned economy. Rather by manipulating the conditions of doing business it tried to promote its war-related aims. However, that caused friction which in turn provoked new economic policy measures without ever solving all the self-inflicted problems.

In comparative international terms, the economic depression in Britain in the thirties was relatively mild. Her recovery, moreover, was earlier and more sustained than in other advanced countries. Although Germany experienced a marked decline in economic activity during the depression, her recovery was very rapid indeed. One might therefore conclude that economic policies pursued in both countries in the thirties, which included widespread cartelization, price fixing, protectionism, and, especially in Germany, a large increase in state demand, were particularly effective. It is suggested in this volume, however, that the positive short-term effects of economic recovery policies in Britain and Germany in the thirties need to be considered alongside the likely costs imposed on longer-term economic performance.