Iron and Steel in the German Inflation, 1916-1923 - Princeton Legacy Library

Publisher Marketing: This study explains how businessmen in the German iron and steel industry managed their enterprises, dealt with their customers, and acted in their relations with state and society during a period of war, revolution, and economic crisis. Because this industry occupied a central position in Germany during the inflation, the author's investigation illuminates certain crucial aspects of the Weimar Republic that have hitherto been relatively unexplored. The author explains how heavy industry--and particularly the iron and steel industry-successfully took advantage of shortages of raw materials and of inflation to gain the upper hand over customers in the manufacturing industries. He notes that it proved able to resist government and consumer efforts to change and control policies affecting heavy industry and, finally, to lead the counterattack against labor's greatest gain in the Revolution of 1918, the eight-hour day. Although the importance of iron and steel to the German economy declined in relation to that of more advanced sectors of the economy, its highly concentrated character, able leadership, and importance to the war and reconstruction efforts gave it advantages in reconstituting its power within the business community and the Weimar state. Originally published in 1977. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contributor Bio:  Feldman, Gerald D Gerald D. Feldman (1937 2007) was one of the pre-eminent historians of Germany of his generation. He joined the history department at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963 and spent his entire career there. His numerous publications include the seminal study The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914 1924 (1993). In the later years of his career, Feldman focused on the activities of private companies during the Nazi era and their involvement in the regime's economic policies. He served as an advisor to the Presidential Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States. An active supporter of European-American scholarly dialogue, Feldman participated in the founding of the Friends of the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, and was the group's president at the time of his death.