Fordism and Unfree Labour

Aspects of the Work Deployment of Concentration Camp Prisoners in German Industry between 1941 and 1944

Bibliographic Data

ID9969595
AuthorsRüdiger Hachtmann (Leibniz-Centre for Contemporary History, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume55
Issue3
Pages485-513
Publication date2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Social History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8590 • E-ISSN: 1469-512X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0020859010000416
OpenAlexW2125003706
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited27

This article examines the relationship between Fordism and unfree labour in Nazi Germany. Fordism is understood here as a form of workplace rationalization (especially assembly-line production), but also as a “technology of domination” and an “exploitation innovation”. In contrast to the Weimar Republic, Fordism was established in broad sectors of German industry under Nazi rule in the form of “war Fordism”. In order to examine the connections between the specific historical variants of these two apparently contradictory production regimes – Fordism and forced labour – the article focuses on the “labour deployment” of the most severely terrorized and brutalized group of labourers in Nazi Germany: concentration camp prisoners. Surveying the existing literature, it explores the compatibilities and tensions between Fordism and the deployments of concentration camp prisoners in German industry. In closing, several theses are presented on how Fordism between 1941 and 1944 can be classified within an entire history of Fordism in Germany

Archaeology · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Fordism · German · Nazism · Political science · Sociology · World War II · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law

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