General Motors und die Nazis

by Henry Ashby Turner Jr.

This book, the first ever based on unrestricted access to General Motors’ internal records, documents the giant American corporation’s dealings with the Third Reich. GM purchased Opel, Europe’s largest automaker, in the 1920s and continued to hold it through the Second World War. Historian Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., uncovers the fascinating story of how the American carmaker conducted business in Germany under the Nazi regime and explores larger issues concerning the relations between international corporations and the Third Reich.
The book presents new and detailed information about General Motors’ interactions with Hitler and other Nazi officials, including the carmaker’s attempt to capture the Volkswagen project. It also reveals how American GM executives thwarted a sustained Nazi effort to gain control of Opel. The author concludes with an assessment of the extent of the company’s implication, through Opel, in the Nazi war effort and in the exploitation of forced labor.

Hardcover

First published July 11, 2005

Reviews

[John Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty dry stuff, but it was super-relevant to my writing project. I hung on every word and took pages of notes. There is some repetition, and I think it was hastily written. It was not easy to follow people and time periods as attribution seemed to be largely ignored: I mentioned the date at the start of the chapter, so if you got lost ten pages later, that's on you. Lazy. Reads like an academic paper. Not for everyone. You have to have some interest in GM at this location during this time. I give it full marks because of my own perspective and desires from it.