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Gm And The Nazi's Book Review

Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., the outstanding historian of Germany's industry and its relations to the rise of Adolf Hitler, deals in this book with the extent to which General Motors Company (GM) was responsible for the conversion of its Rüsselsheim affiliation into a major armament producer for the Third Reich. Opel AG became the main producer of the famous "Blitz" truck, used by the German military during World War II, and was engaged in the delivery of vital components for the JU 88, the most important small bomber of the German air force, as well as the production of the gear engine for the ME 262. Thus, after 1945 heavy accusations were directed against GM for having supported the Nazi regime and for having produced war material that was eventually used against the United States and its allies. 1
Against this background Turner analyzes the role of the GM management versus its German affiliate between 1933, the Nazi takeover, and the entry of the United States into the war. Relying on the General Motors-Opel Collection in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library, Turner deals with the devastating impact of the Depression on the Opel company, followed after the spring of 1933 by a considerable expansion of the domestic as well as the export market, and shows that despite Opel's leading position on the German automobile market most of its profits could not be transferred to the United States due to the capital transfer restrictions by the German government. After the Nazi takeover, GM was compelled to achieve an arrangement with the new government and to adapt itself to the changed political atmosphere and increasing politicization on the factory level, which led to pressures against former communists, socialists, and Jews within the work force. 2
The GM executives at Opel could expect to profit from the people's car campaign inaugurated by Hitler himself and envisaged the mass production of a cheap Volkswagen for which the Rüsselsheim production...