Creating the Nazi Marketplace
Commerce and Consumption in the Third Reich

Combining cultural, intellectual and business history, Creating the Nazi Marketplace offers an innovative interpretation of commerce and ideology in the Third Reich.

S. Jonathan Wiesen (Author)

9780521762533, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2010

294 pages, 22 b/w illus.
23.5 x 16 x 2.1 cm, 0.52 kg

'S. Jonathan Wiesen's book analyzes a still incompletely understood dimension of daily life under National Socialist rule, while also drawing attention to the larger issues of morality and violence that remain crucial to an understanding of the Nazi regime. In doing this, the work provides an original and valuable contribution to the scholarship.' Rudy Koshar, University of Wisconsin, Madison

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they promised to build a vibrant consumer society. But they faced a dilemma. They recognized that consolidating support for the regime required providing Germans with the products they desired. At the same time, the Nazis worried about the degrading cultural effects of mass consumption and its association with 'Jewish' interests. This book examines how both the state and private companies sought to overcome this predicament. Drawing on a wide range of sources - advertisements, exhibition programs, films, consumer research and marketing publications - the book traces the ways National Socialists attempted to create their own distinctive world of buying and selling. At the same time, it shows how corporate leaders and everyday Germans navigated what S. Jonathan Wiesen calls 'the Nazi marketplace'. A groundbreaking work that combines cultural, intellectual and business history, Creating the Nazi Marketplace offers an innovative interpretation of commerce and ideology in the Third Reich.

Introduction
1. National Socialism and the market
2. Commerce for the community: advertising, marketing, and public relations in Hitler's Germany
3. Rotary clubs, consumption, and the Nazis' achievement community
4. Finding the 'voice of the consumer': the Society for Consumer Research in the 1930s
5. World War II and the virtuous marketplace
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]