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Albert Fischer
Persecution, self-help, liquidation
Keywords: Judenverfolgung, Banken im Dritten Reich, Jüdische Selbsthilfe
The Jewish private banks and their fate during the Third Reich have always been a focus of academic and public interest. Jewish cooperative banks, however, have so far been ignored. Yet it is their history which makes the fate of the Jewish minority, their economic exclusion and, last but not least, their expulsion from the German economy, most obvious.
On the one hand, Jewish cooperative banks, as well as all other Jewish companies and traders, were confronted with growing discrimination after the National Socialists had seized power. On the other hand, the growth of the Jewish cooperative banks depended to a very high degree on the ever deteriorating situation of the Jewish population as a whole, and the trade volumes of these banks were increasing fast, because more and more Jews were no longer welcome in the banks with which they had previously done business. Nevertheless, the situation of the Jewish cooperative banks got rapidly worse. In 1938 they were finally liquidated.
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 54, 03/2006
Pages: 417 - 432