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    A forgotten past: The historical roots of the mandatory affiliation of german cooperatives to auditing federations ‘Anschlusszwang’
    A forgotten past: The historical roots of the mandatory affiliation of german cooperatives to auditing federations ‘Anschlusszwang’
    A forgotten past: The historical roots of the mandatory affiliation of german cooperatives to auditing federations ‘Anschlusszwang’
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    A forgotten past: The historical roots of the mandatory affiliation of german cooperatives to auditing federations ‘Anschlusszwang’

    By Wilhelm Kaltenborn

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    The statutory obligation of all cooperatives to be affiliated to an auditing federation is a German speciality and is considered one of the reasons why there are relatively few cooperatives in Germany. Small cooperative companies, in particular, are often established as a registered association (e.V), a rather complex legal form, to avoid the costs entailed by a registered cooperative. Kaltenborn uses a wealth of material to prove that mandatory affiliation to auditing federations (Anschlusszwang), introduced with the amendment to the German Cooperative Societies Act in 1934, did not aim to enhance the economic resilience of cooperatives but was nothing more than the implementation of the National-Socialist Führerprinzip in the cooperative system.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBooks on Demand
    Release dateDec 21, 2015
    ISBN9783739266664
    A forgotten past: The historical roots of the mandatory affiliation of german cooperatives to auditing federations ‘Anschlusszwang’
    Author

    Wilhelm Kaltenborn

    Wilhelm Kaltenborn, geboren 1937 in Berlin; seit 1991 beim Verband der Konsumgenossenschaften (heute: Zentralkonsum eG) in Berlin; dort seit 2002 Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender; Funktionen in verschiedenen auch internationalen genossenschaftlichen Gremien, diverse Veröffentlichungen zur Idee und Geschichte von Genossenschaften.

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      Book preview

      A forgotten past - Wilhelm Kaltenborn

      Table of content

      The issue in question

      Origins of the modern cooperative movement

      The Cooperative Societies Act and its development

      The development of federations

      Anschlusszwang – its establishment in October 1934

      Anschlusszwang – its justification today

      Economic stability of cooperatives during the Great Depression

      Auditing and enforced membership: the federations’ position up until 1934

      Anschlusszwang as part of the National Socialist’s ruling policy

      National Socialist ideology in cooperatives

      The cooperative federation system 1933 – 1945

      The cooperative system and Verbandszwang after 1945

      No Anschlusszwang – more cooperative freedom

      Bibliography

      The issue in question

      I published a book entitled Schein und Wirklichkeit¹ in May 2014 which examined the existing system of cooperatives in Germany, aspects of which I was very critical of (see Kaltenborn 2014: passim). This critical examination was motivated by the fact that I have had great consideration for cooperatives for decades. I find that the German cooperative system, on the other hand, demonstrates a succession of peculiarities and contradictions which are so numerous and so serious that it was not particularly difficult, although it was time-consuming, to fill a whole book with them. One of the central points of my criticism is the statutory obligation of (registered) cooperatives to be affiliated to an auditing federation. Apart from the fact that I am fundamentally averse to forced obligations, my hostility was considerably exacerbated by the historical roots of this statutory enforced affiliation. It is namely the result of an amendment to the German Cooperative Societies Act dated October 1934, in other words 21 months after the National Socialists came to power. This amendment was part of the overall Gleichschaltung² and repression of cooperative systems by National Socialist authorities. After 1945, there was no public examination of the National Socialist past of cooperative federations. Indeed nothing happened, other than the invention of a few stories, spreading the idea that the cooperative system had not been tainted in any way, not even by the law of October 1934, signed by Adolf Hitler as Führer and Reichskanzler. And finally, what is seen by cooperative federations as being a positive effect of Anschlusszwang, namely protection from insolvency, can in fact also be achieved by other means.

      The passages from my book which deal with the origin of Anschlusszwang, the destruction of cooperative identity under National Socialist rule and the story fabricated by the official cooperative system have been summarised, revised and added to in the present publication. I would particularly like to thank Burchard Bösche here for his valuable additional contributions.

      ¹ Appearance and Reality

      ² Political synchronisation

      Origins of the modern cooperative movement

      It is first necessary to make a few remarks about the historical origin of modern cooperatives in Germany and their original aims. Cooperative organisational structures date back to ancient times and can be found in many, if not all cultures throughout the world, in a wide variety of forms. The history of modern cooperatives begins in Germany with a man named Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, who remains a renowned figure today. I should add that as I have long acquired the habit of referring to him as Schulze instead of Schulze-Delitzsch, I will continue to do so here. He was born Hermann Schulze in 1808 in the town of Delitzsch, which became part of Prussia as of 1815 (it was previously and is today once again part of Saxony), and his name never officially changed. He himself used the double-barrelled version in public life – particularly for his publications – as of the 1850s. However, even in Friedrich Thorwart and Philipp Stein‘s portrayal of his life and work – a quasi-official biography –in the final fifth volume of Schulze’s writings and speeches, he is referred to throughout as Schulze (see Thorwart 1913: passim).

      Schulze, member of the Prussian National Assembly which came into being after the revolution of 1848, a firm democrat, co-founder of the liberal Progressive Party in Prussia and leading national politician, founded two cooperatives in his home town of Delitzsch, a direct form of which still exist today. These were so-called raw materials associations (one for carpenters and one for shoemakers), in other words purchasing cooperatives. Many similar associations quickly sprang up all over Germany, including in the Habsburg Monarchy which was part of the German Confederation at that time. Credit associations, the forerunners of today’s Volksbanks, were of significant importance in this movement. Schulze developed a theoretical concept with the founding of these cooperatives. He saw cooperatives as a – small – part of a comprehensive socio-political reform programme with which he aimed to achieve nothing less than a solution to social issues. His concept also included the founding of trade unions, called trade associations until 1933, and which later held the biggest strike in German history at that time in the Waldenburg coal mining district in Silesia in the winter of 1869/1870. As a parliamentarian, he resolutely fought for the freedom of association of workers - and was ultimately successful.

      The main principle behind Schulze’s solution to social issues was self-help. He also saw this as an indispensable doctrine for cooperative associations. He resolutely rejected state assistance, unless necessary, for example, in the event of natural disasters. For Schulze, self-help also entailed the unlimited liability of cooperative members. He called cooperatives schools of democracy as they were also to be used as a means of exercising self-management within municipalities and the state. The – at that time largely authoritarian – state was not to have any role. These views arose from Schulze’s fundamentally democratic and liberal convictions. The voluntary nature of cooperatives was another of Schulze’s unconditional principles, observed by all those that followed him in the cooperative movement, even Raiffeisen. There was no room for forced obligation in cooperative life (see Kaltenborn 2012a and 2012b: passim).

      Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen is another name linked to the development of modern cooperatives. He attempted to overcome rural misery by founding associations under his own concept. As mayor of a village in Westerwald, he began experimenting with different institutional models from 1847 onwards, finally developing his own cooperative concept. He too was fundamentally committed to self-help, however in a somewhat modified form. As Raiffeisen, unlike Schulze, was driven by a resolutely Christian outlook, the more prosperous could and were expected to be more widely involved in his associations than the poor. Raiffeisen was, however, even more uncompromising on

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