Multiple lines of economic thought coexisted within Nazi Germany despite its totalitarianism
Evidence
At the same time, the economists who were on the road to ordoliberalism were not (necessarily) National Socialist economists. In spite of the totalitarian character of Nazi-Germany, it is very important to recognize and understand that different lines of economic thinking coexisted in Nazi Germany. Any analysis should therefore address the question of economics in Nazi-Germany in order to adequately address distance from and complicitness with the ruling powers and philosophies, as well as the changing perspectives and fortunes of individual economists over time. One must consider the multiform ways of relating to the Nazi regime (1) before and after 1933, when parliamentarian democracy and labor movement opposition were eliminated; (2) before and after 1938, when the pogroms against the Jewish population started in earnest; and (3) before and after 1942, which marked both the year when the Holocaust decision was taken and when the war fortunes turned against the Nazis in Stalingrad (Walpen 2004, 93f.). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 540
Categorization
- DEFINE: Provides a periodization framework (1933, 1938, 1942) for assessing evolving complicity versus distance among economists under Nazism.
- XREF: connects to: Totalitarian political regimes are symptoms of deeper economic systematization; Market-liberal ordoliberal thought flourished even inside the Third Reich. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 323; Freiburg’s ordoliberal circle remained active research centers under Nazism — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 622 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Command economy and monopoly capitalism coexisted under Nazi rule
#exemplifies(0.95) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 510 - Nazi economy resists classification in Western capitalist or socialist terms
#corroborates(0.92) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2612 - Nazi rule affirmed capitalism rather than superseding it
#exemplifies(0.90) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 510 - The Freiburg school sought to install an authoritarian competitive order within Nazi Germany.
#exemplifies(0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 542