Damned if you do – damned if you don’t. In Europe’s business life during the Second World War, the collaboration dilemma came to the forefront as business leaders were faced with the necessity of cooperating with the German enemy in order to maintain production and survive as economic units.
Addressing a wide range of European countries under German control during the Second World War, the book analyzes the conditions of business during war and under dictatorship, showing how
contrary to many beliefs and post-war conceptions, occupation and dependency on the German market – be it as part of a formal or informal empire – was not only a story of Nazi plunder and the subsequent ruin of national economies. Companies in a number of European countries at the same time experienced increasing activities, as they became part of the German supply lines during the war. Producing for Germany might prove to be not only a means of survival for the single company but also an actual source of stabilization. Conditions of business survival varied according to the politics of the occupying power and the cooperation potentials of local business and what was left of local political authority. But in most European countries, one way or another, business chose to cooperate and take on German contracts.
Europe’s business during the Second World War is a story of corporate survival in a highly unstable business environment. Cooperation with the dominant European power aimed at securing the future for business, national economies – and the nation states of Europe. With this point of reference, Europe’s business life ended up contributing substantially to the Nazi German war effort. It was working for the New Order.
Contributors:
Robert Bohn, Dietrich Eichholtz, Martin Fritz, Per H. Hansen, Hervé Joly, Hein A.M. Klemann, Joachim Lund, Dirk Luyten, Mogens Pelt, Paul Sanders, and Harm G. Schröter.
