Overview
General Motors, the largest corporation on earth today, has been the owner since 1929 of Adam Opel AG, Russelsheim, the maker of Opel cars. Ford Motor Company in 1931 built the Ford Werke factory in Cologne, now the headquarters of European Ford. In this book, historians tell the astonishing story of what happened at Opel and Ford Werke under the Third Reich, and of the aftermath today. Long before the Second World War, key American executives at Ford and General Motors were eager to do business with Nazi Germany. Ford Werke and Opel became indispensable suppliers to the German armed forces, together providing most of the trucks that later motorized the Nazi attempt to conquer Europe. After the outbreak of war in 1939, Opel converted its largest factory to warplane parts production, and both companies set up extensive maintenance and repair networks to help keep the war machine on wheels. During the war, the Nazi Reich used millions of POWs, civilians from German-occupied countries, and concentration camp prisoners as forced laborers in the German homefront economy. Starting in 1940, Ford Werke and Opel also made use of thousands of forced laborers. POWs and civilian detainees, deported to Germany by the Nazi authorities, were kept at private camps owned and managed by the companies. In the longest section of the book, ten people who were forced to work at Ford Werke recall their experiences in oral testimonies. For more than fifty years, legal and political obstacles frustrated efforts to gain compensation for Nazi-era forced labor; in the most recent case, a $12 billion lawsuit was filed against the computer giant I.B.M. by a group of Gypsy organizations. In 1998, former forced laborers filed dozens of class action lawsuits against German corporations in U.S. courts. The concluding chapter reviews the subsequent, immensely complex negotiations towards a settlement - which involved Germany, the United States, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Israel and several other countries, as well as dozens of well-known German corporations.
Full Product Details
Author: Reinhold Billstein ,
Karola Fings ,
Anita Kugler ,
Nicholas Levis
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Imprint: Berghahn Books
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.494kg
ISBN: 9781845450137
ISBN 10: 1845450132
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 November 2004
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
General
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2001 This well-selected anthology ... ranges from analytical articles to interviews with people conscripted into the forced labor pool ... This is a vital supplement for students of the era or anyone wrestling with the legal and moral debates regarding restitution and repayment for involuntary work. * CHOICE How fortunate for me to find out about Working for the Enemy ... Impeccable scholarship, perfectly-made case, fascinating research - I commend you and your dedicated colleagues. * Dr. Neil Baldwin By carefully examining the automotive companies' collaboration with the Reich and placing it in an international context, the book is indispensable reading for all who are interested in the moral implications of capitalist economies under totalitarian conditions. * The International History Review (Hans Mommsen) ... comprehensive ... a plethora of information and moving first-person testimonies... underscores the myriad human rights implications of today's corporate policies in a global economy. * The Nation ... a revealing and meticulously presented series of essays ... this compelling and informative contribution ... is a significant, scholarly and welcome addition. * Midwest Book Review
CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2001 This well-selected anthology ... ranges from analytical articles to interviews with people conscripted into the forced labor pool ... This is a vital supplement for students of the era or anyone wrestling with the legal and moral debates regarding restitution and repayment for involuntary work. * CHOICE How fortunate for me to find out about Working for the Enemy ... Impeccable scholarship, perfectly-made case, fascinating research - I commend you and your dedicated colleagues. * Dr. Neil Baldwin By carefully examining the automotive companies' collaboration with the Reich and placing it in an international context, the book is indispensable reading for all who are interested in the moral implications of capitalist economies under totalitarian conditions. * The International History Review (Hans Mommsen) ... comprehensive ... a plethora of information and moving first-person testimonies... underscores the myriad human rights implications of today's corporate policies in a global economy. * The Nation ... a revealing and meticulously presented series of essays ... this compelling and informative contribution ... is a significant, scholarly and welcome addition. * Midwest Book Review
This well-selected anthology... ranges from analytical articles to interviews with people conscripted into the forced labor pool... This is a vital supplement for students of the era or anyone wrestling with the legal and moral debates regarding restitution and repayment for involuntary work. Choice By carefully examining the automotive companies' collaboration with the Reich and placing it in an international context, the book is indispensable reading for all who are interested in the moral implications of capitalist economies under totalitarian conditions. Hans Mommsen in The International History Review ... comprehensive... a plethora of information and moving first-person testimonies... underscores the myriad human rights implications of today's corporate policies in a global economy. The Nation ... a revealing and meticulously presented series of essays... this compelling and informative contribution... is a significant, scholarly and welcome addition. Midwest Book Review
Author Information
Reinhold Billstein is a historian of industry and urban life and heads the International Office at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg.
