IG Farben

[Richard Romeo]

Reading a biography of Heinrich Himmler by P. Padfield--in the mid to late 
30s, there was power struggle over the economic future of Germany, pitting 
the heavy industry old-guard like Thyssen, who favored open market 
competition, contacts outside Germany, a player in the world market vs, the 
upstarts, personified by the folks at IG Farben, who believed in German 
economic prowess through its practicing of economic self-sufficiency, less 
of reliance on foreign exchange, obviously enticing Hitler in his views on 
such acquisition of such resources through conquest and outright plunder.
Could IG Farben's view on existing within such a closed system of power 
acquisition through aggression, outside the "normal" way of economic growth, 
be a parallel to the scientific evils so evidently outlined in GR, working 
within closed systems, to perpetuate an unatural kingdom of the dead?  Also, 
isn't IG Farben's insistence on such theories make it even more beholden to 
such nationalistic ideology? And how does this view fit in with Pynchon's 
treatment of IG Farben as a truly international corporation in GR--which 
seems to view Hitler as a convienent leader for the benefit of such economic 
views.  In other words, who was really the prime mover, or is it a question 
of the gray area that history will always be susceptible to, more of a 
meeting of like-minds.

Rich
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com