Aufsätze (Articles):

Michel Margairaz: Die französischen (und deutschen) Unternehmen während des Zweiten Weltkrieges

Sophie Chauveau: Die Pharma- Industrie in Frankreich während der Besetzungszeit- Eine Bestandaufnahme

Françoise Berger: Die Beziehung zwischen der französischen und der deutschen Eisen- und Stahlindustrie

Danièle Fraboulet: Unternehmsnführung und Strategien der Metallunternehmen in der Pariser Region 1937- 1947

Nicolas Marty: Kriegswirtschaft und Kriegsverpflichtungen der Arbeitskräfte

Philippe Verheyde: Vichy, die deutsche Bseatzungsmacht und ihre wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen im Raqhmen der <<Arisierung>> der großen jüdischen Unternehmen

Abstracts

Sophie Chauveau: Die Pharma-Industrie in Frankreich während der Besetzungszeit - Eine Bestandaufnahme

When, in the last 20 years, historians became interested in the French pharmaceutical industry, the years of the German occupation in World War II became a part of this history, but did not connstitute a distinct subject. However, if we consider France between 1940 and 1944, the changes in the pharmaceutical industry appear quite important. First, the decree on pharmacy of 1941 created a new frame for the industrial enterprises and set up the first rules for the drugs market, including “scientific” and technical criteria that supported the marketing of new drugs. Second, the whole industry, like other activities, had to observe the restrictive rules of a time of scarcity, and more generally, the firms had to arrange with the strong interventionism of the French State . Third, the pharmaceutical sector began to develop into a science-based industry, for since the 1930s, its connections with academic research had yielded new products, like sulphonamides, and new methods.
Several questions arise when historian considers the time of the occupation, and these may help to compare the pharmaceutical industry with other industries. Statistical resources provide information about the activities of the firms: the consequences of the German occupation, the loss of foreign markets, and the scarcity of raw materials challenged business and obliged the firms to find alternatives. The choices of the firms are an important question for historians, too: did they actively collaborate with the Germans, did they simply try to survive or did they decide to resist?
As the business archives in question too often are not accessible for French historians, they draw on sources from several ministries (e.g. Health, Industry). These documents show a stronger interventionism of the French State . This impression is not the result of the biased perspective stemming from the nature of the state documents, but the shift towrads state interventionism must be considered a major change that also continued after the war.

Françoise Berger: Die Beziehung zwischen der französischen und der deutschen Eisen- und Stahlindustrie

During World War II, the French iron and steel industry had to produce for Germany under the yoke of extremely strict controlling measures. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the formation of certain direct bonds which were based on relations of long standing between the industries of the two countries. Initially, the war completely upset these relations and allowed the German iron and steel industry to realize great ambitions: namely, to reclaim property and patents lost after World War I, to acquire shares of French firms or to extend existing shareholdings. All these actions were aimed to build up a durable influence on that part of the French economy and to exert control over it.
In reality, the French companies were subject to a double control, military and civilian, the latter being placed under the responsibility of directors or engineers from major German iron and steel firms. Although the companies in charge of this technical inspection made some very good profits from it, their presence could result in mitigation of the human and material difficulties of the occupation. We can also notice a variety of commercial relations between French and German firms, reaching from rather traditional transactions to proposals for co-operation and joint investments. Moreover, the Nazi government encouraged meetings between industrialists. The companies of the occupied zone were quickly annexed to the German cartels in order to the seize on their production. That, however, lead to their more or less equal treatment within the German market and in dealing with supply problems.
In spite of the terrible conditions imposed by the occupation, the contacts between the steel manufacturers of the two nations were revived very soon after the war. As early as 1946, French employers considered the German steel manufacturers as natural partners again with whom relations should be normalized. The first official contacts took place within the International Chamber of Commerce and the OEEC. Thus, in spite of the very painful conditions that the French iron and steel industry experienced during the war, the bonds were not completely broken. We can make the assumption that the forced relations during the war did not constitute an insurmountable obstacle to the fast normalization of these relations in the first post-war period.
Danièle Fraboulet: Unternehmsnführung und Strategien der Metallunternehmen in der Pariser Region 1937- 1947
This study of industries during the German occupation examines the metal industries of a heavily industrialized northern suburb of Paris : Saint-Denis . In 1939, about 150 firms or factories of the metal industry were located there. Some of them were of national or even international scale. The aim of this study is to measure the degree of adaptability of some firms of this sector which was completely involved in the conflict during a period when heavy constraints were imposed by German and French supervision. Did the involvement in the German war effort enable the firms to survive or develop? What was the role played by the size of the industry, its pre-war performance, the type of strategies used? On what factors did the capabilities of starting again after the war depend? By studying the balance sheets and the minutes of the executive or board committees, we are enabled to show greater trends and further to describe specific situations for each enterprise.
During the occupation, the management of the firms reveals an evident continuity from the policies before, what can be said without diminishing the impact of World War II. The firms tried as well as they could to save their production facilities, especially by participating in the German war effort. In most cases, working for the Germans brought no advantages for the rationalisation and modernisation of the firms. The logic of the business prevailed because of the conviction that the protection of the means of production was a necessity for the employers as well as the employees.

Nicolas Marty: Kriegswirtschaft und Kriegsverpflichtungen der Arbeitskräfte

The Source Perrier, the leading French company of the mineral water industry, nevertheless was created with British capital at the beginning of the century. The firm acted very discreetly in the time of the Second World War. It is true that between 1941 and 1944, on the whole, sales to the German army made up 40% of its turnover. However, the stakes in this period are important. What was the real impact of the state-controlled economic apparatus of the regime of Vichy , that of the German supervision, the extent of the ruptures generated by the war in the economic field as well as in the working conditions and the social relations?
The war isolated the firm from its traditional markets: the British dominions, the USA , the French colonial Empire. It was not the system of the state-controlled economy that exerted strong pressure on Perrier, but the scarcity of all necessary supplies (bottles, electrical energy, transport etc.). The offers made by the German navy allowed to solve a lot of these problems and to guarantee the survival of the firm. Its capital was transferred to the United States in order not to appear as a British firm at the outbreak of the war.
However, the history of commercial and industrial strategies cannot be disassociated from the working community from which they are born. The management of the factory took care of the workers in a completely new form, within the framework of the Charte du Travail of the regime of Vichy . The attribution of many benefit schemes facilitated to a large extent the life of the factory workers. The company's very limited profits during the war, the great care of for its staff shown by the management, and its status as a British-American company limited the impact of the economic purge after the Libération.

Philippe Verheyde: Vichy, die deutsche Bseatzungsmacht und ihre wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen im Rahmen der <<Arisierung>> der großen jüdischen Unternehmen

Starting with a study of concrete forms of aryanization in France between 1940 and 1944, this article intends to study the different modalities and the purposes of economic relations between France and Germany during the Second World War. The French administrative archives appear to provide a good access to an understanding of this process: first, because a lot of firms were on sale; second, because the German policy on takeovers released a certain fear among French political and economic circles which felt a genuine fear of a “Germanization” of these firms; thirdly, because an impressive amount of records is available. The different forms of German intervention met the resistance of the French government, which refused to give up any form of French capital if the Germans did not offer something in return. Finally, the analysis of a significant sample of 175 firms considered Jewish – from the textile, leather, furniture, retail, metallurgical, chemical and mechanical industries – indicates that the German interference was limited in terms of attempts and even more in terms of results. This can be explained by the development of the war and by the interests of German industrialists who thought it better to convince than to subdue. These results shall stimulate further reasearch on the arguments of the German industrialists and on the relations between French and German enterprises from the perspective of Franco-German relations in general.

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