From Cooperation to Complicity
The Degussa corporation played a pivotal role in the processing of plundered precious metals in Nazi-occupied Europe and controlled the production and distribution of Zyklon B, the infamous pesticide used to gas the inmates of Auschwitz and Majdanek concentration camps, during the Third Reich. Peter Hayes traces the extent of the corporation's involvement in these and other Nazi war crimes, including the Aryanization of Jewish-owned property and the exploitation of forced labor, and delineates the motivations for such conduct.
- Highly topical
- Based on exclusive access to records of Degussa AG concerning its activities between 1933 and 1945
- Also relates to interests as Germans grapple with compensation of forced labourers
Reviews & endorsements
"Like his critical study of IG Farben, Hayesas new work on the German corporation Degussa stands at the intersection of business and political history. Hayes raises many important questions, still valid today, about business partnerships. Recommended." CHOICE May 2005
"...the most mature study of a single German firm under National Socialism currently available, and its conclusions regarding the relationships between business and the Nazi government more generally are likely to stand the test of time." Business History Review, Jeffrey Lewis, Ohio State University
"a meticulously documented book" The International History Review Feldafing
"this fine book is a long overdue contribution to our knowledge of how National Socialism affected specific sectors of German society...Hayes has done a mangificent job in explaining the complexity of Degussa'a situation, and if we cannot look on its plight with much sympathy, we can at least do it with understanding." - Decian O'Reilly, Michigan State University
Product details
January 2011Adobe eBook Reader
9780511889929
0 pages
0kg
27 b/w illus. 1 map 17 tables
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of abbreviations
- Preface and acknowledgements
- 1. Introduction and overview
- 2. The company, the party and the regime
- 3. Aryanization
- 4. Autarky and armament
- 5. Precious metals for the Reich
- 6. War production and spoliation
- 7. Forced labour
- 8. Degesch and Zyklon B
- 9. War's end and aftermath
- Appendices
- Index.