Mark Spoerer

Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany: Categories, Numbers, and Survivors

When Germany and Austria discussed the matter of compensating former forced laborers in the German economy during World War II, it became clear that no definitive estimate of how many were still alive was available. Combining Nazi statistics with postwar demographic data for twenty countries reveals that the number of foreigners deployed in the German economy totaled around 13.5 million, of whom approximately 11 million survived the war. Fifty-five years later, about 2.7 million were still alive. This calculation of forced laborers within Germany may well become more precise as scholars compile more and better data, perhaps eventually to be supplemented with statistics about forced laborers outside Germanys borders as well. Nonetheless, the evidence at hand reveals that Nazi Germanys forced-labor program was the largest and most brutal that Europe had seen since at least the Middle Ages.

Window-dressing in German inter-war balance sheets

German accounting rules value assets and liabilities asymmetrically and thus lead to grossly distorted balance sheets. In the inter-war debate on a reform of disclosure regulation, financial experts considered the (undisclosed) tax balance sheet, which had to be drawn up separately for the corporate tax assessment, as a paradigm for adequate financial disclosure. However, due to tax secrecy they were barred from analysing tax documents. Using archival evidence, we analyse tax balance sheets as a means of assessing the reliability of disclosed balance sheets of the inter-war period. It emerges that companies overstated their profits in the mid- and late-1920s, but grossly understated them in the Nazi economy.

Weimar's investment and growth record in intertemporal and international perspective

For fifteen years economic historians have discussed whether the German economy suffered from a ‘crisis before the crisis’ during 1925–29, and if so, why. Apart from wages, the most widely debated issue is Weimars investment record. The contributions so far have relied on the database of Walther Hoffmann which allows a comparison of Weimars net investment and net product with the pre-World War I period. In this paper, alternative time series for gross fixed investment and gross national product are compiled for the period 1901–32. These data confirm Weimars poor overall economic growth. However, it appears that Weimars aggregate investment ratio was quite ‘normal’, if compared both intertemporally with the late Empire and internationally with other major economies in the 1920s. It is argued that further discussion of Weimars investment record should focus on the productivity of private and especially of public investment rather than on its aggregate level.

The mortality of Allied prisoners of war and Belgian civilian deportees in German custody during the First World War: A reappraisal of the effects of forced labour

Influenced by results for the Second World War, recent research on forced labour in Imperial Germany during the Great War has stressed continuities of racial discrimination against East European workers. While agreeing that prisoners of war (POWs) from Russia were discriminated against, I reject the view that this led to a significantly worse mortality regime for the group as a whole. Using the same raw data, I calculate annual rates which show that the mortality of POWs from Russia was only slightly higher than that of French and Belgian POWs but much lower than that of British and Italian POWs and of Belgian civilian deportees. I argue that this unexpected outcome is explained by the fact that the POWs who came early into German captivity faced a lower risk of being employed in urban industrial areas, with their much more unfavourable food and disease environment.

The Imposed Gift of Versailles: The Fiscal Effects of Restricting the Size of Germany's Armed Forces, 1924–9

Weimar’s politicians used to attribute the continuous budget crises after the currency stabilization of 1923–4 to the burden put on the German economy by the Treaty of Versailles, in particular the reparation payments. This argument, which is still popular, neglects the fact that the restriction of the German military to 115,000 men relieved the German central budget considerably. In a counterfactual analysis we assess the savings in additional military costs and compare them to the reparation payments. Depending on the character of the foreign policy pursued by an unrestricted Germany, we find that the net effect of the Treaty’s stipulations on the German central budgets was either much lower than hitherto thought or even positive. This finding gives support to the argument that Germany suffered from home-made political failure even in the relatively stable period from 1924 to 1929.

The compensation of Nazi Germany's forced labourers: Demographic findings and political implications.

The debate on financial compensation for former forced labourers in Nazi Germany has raised the question of how many victims are still alive and eligible for compensation. Historical research has so far focused on qualitative aspects of the forced labour system. There are at best ad hoc estimates even for the number of foreign labourers in Nazi Germany during the war. We combine Nazi statistics with post-war demographic data for 20 countries to estimate the number of victims still alive. We then compare our estimates of survivors in mid-2000 with the numbers compensated under the German compensation settlement of July 2000. Although all parties involved in the settlement say that the compensation should benefit those victim groups most discriminated against in Nazi Germany, we find that the actual distribution of compensation payments is strongly influenced by bargaining power and political preferences.

Moralische Geste oder Angst vor Boykott? Welche Großunternehmen beteiligten sich aus welchen Gründen an der Entschädigung ehemaliger NS-Zwangsarbeiter?

Abstract The German compensation program for former forced labourers in WWII is jointly financed by the German federation and a voluntarily constituted industry fund. The fund requested all German firms to join, regardless of age and role in the war. We explore the motives behind whether or not firms named in the top 500 joined the fund. In contrast to the public rhetoric which placed an emphasis on moral motives, we find that the most significant cause for a firms decision to join was its export share, and thus its vulnerability to class-action suits and boycott threats. ß

Die Rolle des Ghetto Litzmannstadt (Łódź) bei der Versorgung der Wehrmacht und der deutschen Privatwirtschaft mit Kleidung (1940 bis 1944)

Abstract The Role of the Ghetto Litzmannstadt (Łódź) for the Clothing Provision of the German Armed Forces and Private Firms (1940 to 1944) Shortly after the establishment of the Ghetto in Łódź, the German administration set up a textile and clothing department. As Łódź was the leading Polish textile center, many ghetto inhabitants had basic or advanced skills in the textile and clothing business. After several months it became clear for the Jews that working for the Germans was the only chance to making themselves valuable and to avoid or postpone being deported to extermination camps. The textile and clothing department soon became the largest sweatshop in the ghetto and was also an important provider of textiles, clothing and leather goods for the German economy. Previous research followed the claim of the departments head that the German military took over 90 per cent of its production. We show for the large textile and clothing department that the share of production for civilian purposes was much higher, around 50 per cent. Moreover, we analyze the business relationship between the ghetto administration and German firms.

Inequality, Well-Being and Happiness in Historical Perspective

Abstract Happiness research is a comparably new field of economics. Until Richard Easterlin’s seminal contribution published in 1974, most economists believed there to be a clear and positive correlation between the material standard of living and subjective well-being (or happiness). Economic happiness research has found that, although income matters, inequality, other economic and non-economic factors also play an important role in subjective well-being. Although economic happiness research usually requires longitudinal data, there has so far been no cooperation with economic history. We argue that contact between these fields might be mutually beneficial to both sides. On the one hand, economic historians are experts on historical datasets and qualitative sources and can assist economists in their quest for information prior to the 1980s. On the other hand, the results of happiness research are valuable for analyzing problems in (economic) history for which traditional economic theory has proved to be insufficient.

Nicht Ideen, sondern Hunger? Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Vormärz und Revolution 1848 in Deutschland und Europa

„Der Funke, der die Mine zundet.“ Nicht nur dem preusischen Statistiker Ernst Engel erschien der Zusammenhang zwischen der Agrar- und Gewerbekrise seit Mitte der 1840er Jahre und der Revolution von 1848 evident. Schon Karl Marx und Friedrich Engels hatten ahnliche Thesen vertreten, und der franzosische Historiker Ernest Labrousse meinte gar, einen grundsatzlichen Zusammenhang zwischen wirtschaftlichen Krisen und den franzosischen Revolutionen von 1789, 1830 und 1848 zu erkennen. Doch in der Forschung zur deutschen Revolution von 1848 hat sich diese Sichtweise nicht durchgesetzt. In seiner gros angelegten Studie uber die Revolution 1848/49 streifte Veit Valentin diese Frage nur am Rande, und Rudolf Stadelmann lehnte jeglichen Zusammenhang ab. Anfang der siebziger Jahre befand Wilhelm Abel die These wiederum fur plausibel, beklagte jedoch erhebliche Forschungsdefizite fur Deutschland. Schon kurz darauf erschien eine ganze Reihe von Untersuchungen uber die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Deutschland unmittelbar vor 1848. Fur Karl Obermann war als DDR-Historiker der Zusammenhang zwischen wirtschaftlicher und politischer Krise offensichtlich.