Prompted by new findings, German media conglomerate Bertelsmann will open an investigation into the company's World War II publishing activities.
The new material, uncovered by German historian Hersch Fischler, has appeared in articles he wrote for the Swiss magazine die WelteWoche and in the American monthly the Nation. Fischler alleges that at least 15 books with pro-Nazi sentiments were published by Bertelsmann in the 1930s and 1940s, and scores of copies were distributed to the German army. Fischler also contends that the reason the Nazis shut down Bertelsmann in 1943 had more to do with black-market sales practices than with political dissent.
Titled "Bertelsmann's Nazi Past," the Nation piece claims that "only recently has the true story of Bertelsmann's Nazi activities begun to emerge," and accuses the publisher of printing 20 million books of wartime propaganda as well as several "patently anti-Semitic works." Fischler co-wrote the piece with Nation contributor John Friedman.
Reached by PW at his home in Berlin, Fischler reacted to the notion that the books at issue were few in number by saying that "in titles it may not have been that much, but in volume it was a lot."
Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middelhoff told PW that a three-person panel of historians will look into the exact nature of the objectionable books. One of these historians, from the University of Bochum in Germany, has already been chosen. A second expert will come from the U.S.; a third will represent the Jewish community.
"Maybe for some people it's not important that we published books with unacceptable content. For us it's important to know," Middelhoff said from company headquarters in Gutersloh. "We are responsible to find out what happened in the '30s and '40s."
The company, said Middelhoff, will make available to the panel all archives and internal documents. Bertelsmann will eventually publish its findings. (The company earlier published its history, before the new evidence, in 1985.) "It d sn't matter what we find; we will tell the public," Middelhoff said. "I believe that no one can claim that Bertelsmann is trying to keep a secret about its history."
