Les « aryanisations » de la Degussa AG. Histoire et bilan

Abstract

This essay traces the process and extent of the Degussa Corporation’s participation in the exclusion of Jews from German economic life, especially through the acquisition of firms and real estate that Jews owned in the Old Reich, Austria, and Bohemia-Moravia. The author ascribes Degussa’s relatively high degree of activity in this sphere, not to virulent anti-Semitism within the firm, but to (a) the confluence of opportunities created by the regime’s persecution of Jews with a pre-existing diversification strategy on the part of the firm, and (b) the desire to preserve existing ties to threatened enterprises and existing market positions in the sectors in which these companies operated. Nonetheless, the author describes a clear degeneration in the conduct of Degussa toward prospective sellers, particularly after 1938. Finally, the article provides a balance sheet of Degussa’s “Aryanizations” taking into account restitution payments after World War II, and points out that the takeovers proved generally profitable to the firm both before and after 1945.