American industry and finance and German rearmament: A case study of Standard Oil, DuPont, and General Motors and their relations with Interessengemeinschaft-Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft

Contrary to popular scholarship which has primarily attempted to credit national forces within as the driving energy behind Nazi electoral successes and later German rearmament under Nazi auspices, I will demonstrate that foreign influences had considerable impact upon Nazi successes during the late 1920s and their achievements during the 1930s. First I examined the American banking industry to determine its effect upon the financial decisions of German creditors, and to determine if American banks played a role in destabilizing the Weimar Republic, thus setting the stage for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei's seizure of power. Additionally, I investigated several American multinational corporations, such as Standard Oil of New Jersey, Du Pont and General Motors, to determine their contribution to Nazi successes in Germany's rearmament program. To what degree did American industry collaborate with Nazi Germany and assist the Nazis in their preparations for their European conquests?...