Hostile Takeovers of Large Jewish Companies, 1933–1935: Reassessing Aryanization of Jewish-Owned Firms William M. Katin

Abstract

This book is a work of reductionism in the guise of revisionism. The author contends that previous scholarship has gotten the transfer of large firms owned by Jews in Nazi Germany into the hands of non-Jews—part of so-called aryanization—both backward and upside down. In his view, the dispossession did not culminate with most such firms in 1937–1938, but rather began with them in 1933–1935, leaving only small, “mom-and-pop” enterprises, most of which were liquidated rather than taken over during the later, final push. Moreover, the early surge resulted from the greed of opportunistic Gentile businessmen and bankers, not the bigoted zeal of newly powerful Nazis: impetus came from the bottom up, not the top down. However, even if capitalizing on takeover opportunities was widespread in the initial stage of Nazi rule, it was not the predominant experience of large firms owned by Jews. Four of the five biggest Jewish-owned private...