West German Industry and the Challenge of the Nazi Past, 1945-1955 - Couverture rigide

Wiesen, S. Jonathan

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0807826340 ISBN 13 : 9780807826348

Editeur : The University of North Carolina Press, 2001

Synopsis

In the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, West German industrialists faced a major crisis in their public image. With mounting revelations about the use of forced and slave labour, the "Aryanization" of Jewish property, and corporate profiteering under National Socialism, industrialists emerged from the war with their national and international reputations in tatters. In this groundbreaking study, Jonathan Wiesen explores how West German business leaders remade and marketed their public image between 1945 and 1955. He challenges assumptions that West Germans - and industrialists in particular - were silent about the recent past during the years of denazification and reconstruction. Drawing on sources that include private correspondence, popular literature, and a wealth of unpublished materials from corporate archives, Wiesen reveals how German business leaders attempted to absolve themselves of responsibility for Nazi crimes while recasting themselves as socially and culturally engaged public figures. Through case studies of individual firms such as Siemens and Krupp, Wiesen depicts corporate publicity as a telling example of postwar selective memory. In his introduction and conclusion, Wiesen considers the recent establishment of a multibillion dollar fund to provide financial compensation to the victims of industrial exploitation during World War II. This acknowledgement by German industry of its ongoing responsibility for its past crimes underscores the contemporary relevance of the book.

A propos du livre

Biographie de l'auteur

S. Jonathan Wiesen is associate professor of history at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The University of North Carolina Press
• Date d'édition: 2001
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0807826340
• ISBN 13: 9780807826348
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 352
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible