Oskar Klug

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Oskar Klug (born November 28, 1902 in Hamburg , † 1987 ) was a German economist .

Professional background

Klug studied economics , sociology , law and history at the universities of Hamburg and Munich . In 1925 he obtained his degree in economics, in 1928 his doctorate in Hamburg, in 1931 his habilitation at the University of Geneva ; after that he was a private lecturer there. Klug aspired to the career of a professor or a scientific publicist. As a publicist, he had a certain feeling for current issues, but was unable to make a living from it. As a university professor, he remained at the level of an extraordinary or part-time honorary lecturer. At the same time, he worked as a textile manufacturer in Berlin. From 1948 or 1949 he was employed as an honorary professor at the Free University of Berlin .

Political orientation

At first, Klug welcomed National Socialism enthusiastically. He was fascinated by the concept of German socialism , which he propagated through journalism. For him, liberalism was immoral and a transport economy with more common good should be strived for. He published in a series of the Nazi-compliant “ Academy for German Law ”.

After the Second World War, Klug acted as if he had never supported National Socialism and accused others of doing so. As he wrote in May 1957 a letter to the West Berlin Interior Senator, in which he talks about the then rector of the Free University, Andreas Paulsen , testified (1955-57), he was a "active supporter of Nazism, his appointment was Professor of the University of Jena then owes its active membership in the SED in 1947 “and generally represents his offices purely selfishly and selfishly. The background to this was that despite Paulsen's constant efforts, Klug had not been appointed to a full professorship. Because of his statements, he was convicted of defamation by an extended lay jury in West Berlin in April 1960, but was able to demonstrate Paulsen's political opportunism towards National Socialism:

Even after the Berlin university scandal of 1960, Klug remained true to the subject of the Nazi past of West German professors - despite his own Nazi affinities during the 1930s.

Journalistic topics

At first he tried to make a name for himself as a “structure theorist” in the field of business associations ( cartels , corporations , cooperatives, etc.). After 1945 he took up the cartel issue again, but focused more broadly overall: on social policy and the economic order . As early as 1950 he had written a general textbook on economics , which had three editions. In the course of his life, Klug wrote a number of reviews in Dutch in the Economisch-Statististikberichte and even more in German in Schmoller's yearbook .

Works (selection)

  • The essence of the cartel, corporate and trust movement. An economic and sociological problem. Fischer, Jena 1930.
  • Basic problems of capitalist educational theory and its practical consequences: A contribution to d. Problem "economy and politics"; [Inaugural speech before d. Faculté des Sciences Economiques et Sociales de l'Université de Genève on February 23, 1931]. Junker u. Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1931.
  • Het economisch stelsel van het Nationaal-Socialisme , in: Economisch-Statististikberichte, Jg. 1934 (19), issue 968, p. 627.
  • "Cartel" theory and "cartel" policy in liberal capitalism and German socialism. In: Kartell-Rundschau. Volume 33, 1935, Part 1 in Volume 3, pp. 156-174; Part 2 in volume 4, pp. 232–245; Part 3 in volume 5, pp. 531-544.
  • Corporations in the new economy. What are they entitled to or not? Buchholz & Weißwange, Berlin-Charlottenburg 1935, 2nd edition 1936 (publications of the Academy for German Law).
  • The basics of economics. 1950; 3rd edition, Oldenbourg, Munich [u. a.] 1982.
  • People's capitalism through the dispersion of property. Illusion or reality? Stuttgart 1962.
  • Catholicism and Protestantism on the question of property. Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1966.
  • Braune Universität: German university professors yesterday and today. In: Freedom and Law. The voice of the resistance fighters for a free Europe. Volume 12, 1966, No. 10, pp. 2-4.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Who is who? Volume 26, Schmidt Rönhild, 1987, p. 704
  2. ↑ Who is who . Lübeck, 21st edition 1981, p. 619
  3. ↑ a b Academic style 1960? The professors' dispute at the Free University of Berlin - last resort: the court. In: The time. April 8, 1960, p. 1 ( online )
  4. ↑ “Kartell” theory and “Kartell” policy in liberal capitalism and German socialism. In: Kartell-Rundschau. Volume 33, 1935, Part 1 in Volume 3, pp. 156-174; Part 2 in volume 4, pp. 232–245; Part 3 in volume 5, pp. 531-544
  5. ↑ Academic style 1960? The professors' dispute at the Free University of Berlin - last resort: the court. In: The time. April 8, 1960, p. 2 ( online )
personal data
SURNAME Smart, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH 1987