Aufsätze (Articles)

Jan Körnert / Klemens Grube, Die Deutsche Evangelische Heimstättengesellschaft (Devaheim) Aufstieg und Fall einer kirchlichen Bausparkasse von 1926 bis 1931, S. 3-28.

José Rodrigues da Costa and Maria Eugénia Mata, Portugal’s 1974 Carnation Revolution and nationalizations: the effects on the Lisbon Stock Exchange, S. 29-47.

Gerulf Hirt, Verkannte Propheten? Zur Diskrepanz zwischen Status und Einfluss der «Gründergeneration» deutscher Werber in der westdeutschen Werbewirtschaft, 1945 bis 1966/67, S. 48-74.

Tobias Alexander Jopp, The hazard of merger by absorption: Why some Knappschaften merged and others did not, 1861 to 1920, S. 75-101.

Cornelia Rauh, «Angewandte Geschichte» als Apologetik-Agentur? Wie man an der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Unternehmensgeschichte «kapitalisiert», S. 102-115.

ABSTRACTS

Jan Körnert / Klemens Grube
The Deutsche Evangelische Heimstättengesellschaft (Devaheim) Rise and fall of a church-affiliated building and loan society 1926–1931
The Bausparkasse Devaheim was a building and loan society affiliated with the Lutheran church in Germany. Founded as part of the initial wave of the German building society movement, Devaheim’s rapid rise was the result of the housing shortage during the Weimar Republic. Its sudden collapse was due to a combination of factors, including: nepotism within its management structures; a lack of professional ability and personal integrity on the part of its managers; an alarming expansion of its business lines; and an organisational structure conducive to concealing fraud. The offences committed by those in charge were punished by prison sentences and fines. The financial damage inflicted on Devaheim’s approximately 16,000 savers and on the building society movement as a whole could only be partly offset by subsequent government assistance.

José Rodrigues da Costa and Maria Eugénia Mata
Portugal’s 1974 Carnation Revolution and nationalizations: the effects on the Lisbon Stock Exchange
The 1974 revolution in Portugal put an end to the authoritarian political regime that had prevailed in that country for more than 40 years. Although no blood was shed, the military coup and subsequent nationalizations led to the suspension of operations in both the Lisbon and Oporto Stock Exchanges, as well as to dramatic challenges to growth and social turmoil coupled with the effects of the first oil shock.
A truly democratic regime could only be achieved following the reinstatement of land property rights, re-privatization, and reopening of the Lisbon and Oporto Stock Exchanges. In compiling an index for the Lisbon stock exchange quotations since it reopened in 1977, this paper demonstrates that joining Europe in 1986 and the euro zone in 1999 brought different effects to this market, by legitimizing the character of the Portuguese political regime on the one hand, and decreasing the capital risk premium on the other hand.

Gerulf Hirt
Unrecognized Prophets? Examining the Discrepancy between the Status and Influence of the «founding generation» in the West German Advertising Industry, 1945-1966/67
The paper examines the standing as well as the socioeconomic influence of those West German advertising consultants and directors who influenced the German consumer and capital goods industries from the 20s or 30s until the 60s and who took a major part in shaping West Germany’s postwar advertising industry. It explores whether or not the advertisers’ constant complaints about a discrepancy between their «low» socioeconomic status and their «ingenious» – though «unrecognized» – influence corresponded in reality with their socioeconomic situation up to the recession of 1966/67. The article begins with a description of the historical background of the advertisers’ professional experiences since the 20s in order to measure their impact on the shape of the West German postwar advertising industry subsequently. It then turns to a critical analysis of the collective professional convictions of the advertisers by introducing the professional mentality (Berufsmentalität) as an ideal type. Finally, the article contrasts the advertisers’ showmanship – which formed part of the professional mentality – with the economic development of the West German advertising industry as well as perspectives of political and economic elites on the advertisers during the so-called German economic miracle. The primary finding is that the advertisers’ economic situation was not particular low, nor was their social standing generally as weak, as they suggested during the prosperous 50s and 60s. The article argues that the advertisers’ false assessments were due to the shared status deficiency they had experienced before the Second World War, to their unfulfilled professional hopes and to their enduring risky and highly competitive situation as a profession of career changers and «entreployees» (Arbeitskraftunternehmer), who could never reliably prove to their clients either their expertise or their impact on sales.

Tobias Alexander Jopp
The hazard of merger by absorption: Why some Knappschaften merged and others did not, 1861 to 1920
By the mid-19th century, following the Prussian mining reform, German miners’ combined mutual health and pension funds took on the characteristics of social insurance and underwent a concentration process driven by mergers, liquidations, and unequal internal growth. This paper investigates the determinants of mergers by absorption among Prussian funds between 1861 and 1920. Qualitative evidence on the Knappschaften’s probable economic motives for merging, in combination with quantitative evidence from a regression model, provides new insights into the first social insurance merger wave in Germany.

Buchbesprechungen

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Kenneth Warren, Bethlehem Steel. Builder and Arsenal of America (Alfred Reckendrees)

Gerben Bakker, Entertainment Industrialised. The Emergence of the International Film Industry, 1890-1949 (Jan-Otmar Hesse)

Gregor Schöllgen, Gustav Schickedanz 1895-1977. Biographie eines Revolutinärs (Ralf Ahrens)

Ralf Banken, Edelmetallmangel und Großraubwirtschaft: Die Entwicklung des deutschen Edelmetallsektors im Dritten Reich 1933-1945 (Peter Hayes)

Hans-Christoph Seidel, Der Ruhrbergbau im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Zechen – Bergarbeiter – Zwangsarbeiter (Christian Marx)

Sandro Fehr, Die Stickstofffrage in der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft des Ersten Weltkriegs und die Rolle der neutralen Schweiz (Roman Rossfeld)

Matthias Maetschke, Ursprünge der Zwangskartellgesetzgebung. Der Entwurf eines Gesetzes über den Absatz von Kalisalzen vom 12. dezember 1909 (Dieter Ziegler)

Andreas Hansert, Georg Hartmann (1870-1954). Biografie eines Frankfurter Schriftgießers, Bibliophilen und Kunstmäzens (Frieder Schmidt)

Reinhold Bauer/James Williams/Wolfhard Weber (Hrsg.), Technik zwischen Artes und Arts. Festschrift für Hans-Joachim Braun (Markus Speidel)

Richard Vahrenkamp, The German Autobahn 1920-1945. Hafraba Visions an Mega Projects (Reiner Ruppmann)