Sartorius During the Third Reich: A Generational Shift at a Family-owned Company between the Great Depression and Denazification

Description

The Göttingen-based Sartorius family business during the Third Reich – an exemplary case of economic normality and adaptation to the regime. Established in 1870 by Florenz Sartorius as a precision mechanical workshop, the Sartorius Group today is a leading partner for biopharmaceutical research and the industry. The roots of the company's two current divisions can be traced back to the firm's early years, specifically the founding of the membrane filter company (Membranfilter-Gesellschaft m.b.H) in 1927. For the first time, Manfred Grieger examines the activities Sartorius and its entrepreneurs engaged in during the Nazi era. He reveals the relationship between the company and the government, as well as the actions of the leading players of the family-run business during the Nazi regime. In doing so, he also focuses on the question of succession within the family of entrepreneurs since the transition from the second to the third generation falls within this period. The author explores the changing role of the company in the wartime economy, the decline in civil-sector production and the increasing importance of manufacturing finished products at Sartorius for the armaments industry, as well as the employment of forced laborers. Moreover, he examines which influence the firm's key decisionmakers had on this development. Manfred Grieger also addresses the denazification process at management level, which sheds an exemplary light on the individual coming to terms with the past of economic elites, who experienced their own economic miracle in the Federal Republic of Germany. Umschlag Titel Impressum Table of Contents Introduction Illness, crisis, and the transition to the Nazi dictatorship Corporate restructuring after 1937 – laying down the basis for succession Riding the tide of the armaments boom Horst Sartorius as War Administrative Councilor in the Military High Command France Fritz Sartorius as the beneficiary of »Aryanization« in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Small beginnings and major growth in the postwar period Resumption of the family dispute Denazification of the prior CEO Erich Sartorius »Never acted as an activist?« Denazification of Horst Sartorius Summary Acknowledgments Bibliography and references Picture credits