The Historiography of the Holocaust

154 Christopher Kobrak and Andrea H. Schneider
helm of German economic policy, the world’s leading economic nations were
in the midst of a series of negotiations that would determine how much and
when Germany would pay off its massive public and private debt, and therefore
the value of the large amount of bank debt and trade for the developed world.
Without the benefit of hindsight, many responsible businessmen and political
leaders felt that coaxing Germany to behave responsibly was in their interest as
well as the world’s. The price for new German commitments to pay outstanding
balances was often new commitments for loans and special trading arrangements.
With so much in the way of blocked funds and outstanding loans, British
business leaders, like those in most countries, were too willing, as we now
know, to believe the best. Forbes wisely reminds his readers that those making
political assessments in the mid-1930s lacked our unerring hindsight and were
dealing with a host of seemingly insurmountable obstacles to jumpstarting the
world economy, such as escalating new tariffs and defensive depreciation of
currencies.
As Richard Overy points out, Forbes highlights one of the most important
issues of our age: should companies be doing business purely on individual
economic grounds or should they take into consideration the moral nature of
the countries with which they do business? Today, as then, many well-meaning
businessmen and politicians believe that the best way to turn dictatorial regimes
into liberal democracies is by exposing them to the benefits and norms of
unfettered commercial activity. However, our experience with the Third Reich
belies the social utility of this tactic, at least with regimes that resemble
Germany’s under Hitler. 47
No country has been more criticized for its complicity with Nazi Germany
than Switzerland. The focus on Switzerland has spawned a wide range of
literature from sensationalized accounts 48 to sober historical analysis. The Swiss
Commission’s work has shed a lot of light on Switzerland’s role in maintaining
Germany’s ability to wage war and genocide. The Commission’s historians
have focused on many areas, including German corporate camouflaging using
Swiss holding companies for foreign subsidiaries, clearing transactions and
transport through Switzerland, Swiss chemical companies in Germany, Swiss
production and sale of war materials for Germany, and trade in stolen securities
and gold. The study of Swiss chemical companies operating in Germany, for
example, found that these enterprises were exceptionally well informed about
the political and economic conditions in Germany and integrated this intelligence
into their economic calculations. Like German companies, they maintained
good relationships with government bureaucrats and watched their sales climb
as Germany’s economy rebounded in the mid-1930s and as that country went
on a war footing. Instead of being disadvantaged by their foreignness, some
government officials saw the Swiss chemical companies as effective counterweights
to the huge IG Farben and recognized their scientific acumen,