Reviews
Braunes Erbe: Die dunkle Geschichte der reichsten deutschen Unternehmerdynastien by David de Jong
nina_the_reader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
lukat_the_books's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
luisagerdsmeyer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Racism, and Racial slurs
ninjakiwi12's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Fun(ny) fact(s): Summer reading challenge Bingo with the Dayspring youth #16: a book that will scare me! Shoutout to my county's public library Ebook system for suggesting and providing me with this thought-provoking read.
Favorite quote/image: "A dictatorship is successful, not because everybody opposes it, but because powerful people support it." (Telford Taylor in his opening statement in the trial of Flick, Part IV, Chapter 18)
Honorable mention: "It's the intoxication of the pursuit of power, the intoxication of building a huge corporation, the obsession with self-affirmation that is at the root of all this, and it's the belief that in the value of one's own work, not only because work is something moral, but because building the corporation is the ultimate good, and because anything that resists building it out is bad." (Julius Herf, on requesting that Günther be held accountable, Part IV, Chapter 14)
Why: This is a brilliant, carefully researched account of several German industry dynasties who partnered with the Nazis for their own economic gain (and their subsequent covering up of their pasts, with very few exceptions) spanning from the 1910s to present day. Although the depths of human greed can be truly horrifying and blinding, I could not help but also be reminded of the industries that I too am complicit in sustaining with my purchases, which also do not truly value all humans as equal.
Favorite quote/image: "A dictatorship is successful, not because everybody opposes it, but because powerful people support it." (Telford Taylor in his opening statement in the trial of Flick, Part IV, Chapter 18)
Honorable mention: "It's the intoxication of the pursuit of power, the intoxication of building a huge corporation, the obsession with self-affirmation that is at the root of all this, and it's the belief that in the value of one's own work, not only because work is something moral, but because building the corporation is the ultimate good, and because anything that resists building it out is bad." (Julius Herf, on requesting that Günther be held accountable, Part IV, Chapter 14)
Why: This is a brilliant, carefully researched account of several German industry dynasties who partnered with the Nazis for their own economic gain (and their subsequent covering up of their pasts, with very few exceptions) spanning from the 1910s to present day. Although the depths of human greed can be truly horrifying and blinding, I could not help but also be reminded of the industries that I too am complicit in sustaining with my purchases, which also do not truly value all humans as equal.