Accountability and ideology: The case of a German university under the Nazi regime

Abstract

This article studies accountability demands at an educational institution following extreme changes of societal conditions, as observed in Nazi Germany (1933–1945). We refer to the Handelshochschule Leipzig founded as the first free-standing business school in Germany to show how the Nazi doctrine made its way into this university, affecting academics on both the organizational and the individual levels. As political accountability became a dominant governance instrument, most academics submitted to this new accountability regime. They became subjects of accountability, who can only be understood by the norms that were imposed on them. The change in accountability demands created considerable challenges for individuals, and, ex post, it may be impossible to ascertain their moral attitudes and how they attempted to cope with ensuing ethical dilemmas.

Celebration of the centenary of a major scientific milestone thanks to Heinrich Barkhausen

“…Unfortunaltly, as many other scientists, Heinrich Barkhausen signed in November 1933, the "Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State" in support of the Third Reich. The role and attitude of German universities towards Nazism is not very glorious [13]. Although Heinrich Barkhausen was a brilliant inventor of electronics, it is sad he signed this act of allegiance to Nazism.…”

A thanatopolitical visualisation of accounting history: Giorgio Agamben and Nazi Germany

“…Walker’s (2000) investigation into the 1938 Fifth International Congress on Accounting held in Berlin led him to argue that accountants became integral to the Nazi State as the vehicle for the implementation of ‘economic order’ through Nazi ideology. Detzen and Hoffmann (2020) highlight the pervasiveness of Nazi doctrine on academics within a German university during the war years, and how accountability benchmarks became aligned with Nazi ideology. Although Funnell (1998), Lippman and Wilson (2007) and authors of more general business histories such as Billstein et al (2000), James (2001) and Hayes (2004) acknowledge the widespread complicity of business owners and managers and other professionals in the Holocaust, the accounting literature pays scant attention to the role of businesses in Aryanisations, slave labour, and the genocide of the Jews.…”

Digging deeper: German academics and universities under Nazi tyranny – A comment

“…In their paper ‘Accountability and ideology: The case of a German university under the Nazi regime’ Detzen and Hoffmann (2020, hereinafter: DH) contribute to this understanding. They focus on the totalitarian impact on the academic field and choose Handelshochschule Leipzig one of the first German business schools as their object of investigation.…”