Unmasking the Invisible Hand : German perspectives and processes of foreign trade Aryanisation in Sweden, 1936-1945

This paper explores the mechanisms and processes within the German foreign trade Aryanisation project in Sweden from the mid-1930s to 1945. Aryanisation as a concept has, similarly to the Holocaust and National Socialism before it, for the longest time been seen as a uniquely German affair. While that situation has greatly changed when it comes to the Holocaust, Fascism and National Socialism, Aryanisation is still defined as a German affair affecting only Jews in Germany even by the US Holocaust museum’s Holocaust encyclopaedia.1 As a result, research into Aryanisation efforts in Nazi Germany’s foreign trade sector has been relatively sparse. Drawing on the small existing body of research that was sparked by Swedish historian Sven Nordlund, this paper seeks to complete the picture of the German trade Aryanisation campaign in Sweden by examining its inner workings on the German side of affairs. The study is framed within an elastic interpretation of the rationality v ideology binary and further tied to Holocaust research by highlighting characteristic elements of modernity, bureaucracy and artificiality in how NS ideology crept its way into every aspect of life, even trade with a neutral country. Through a thorough analysis of a large body of associated correspondence and official documents, this study uncovers the complex and evolving picture of German perspectives and processes within its project to shape its trade relations to Sweden according to Nazi ideas.