ECONOMIC GROWTH CENTER YALE UNIVERSITY P.O. Box 208629 New Haven, CT 06520-8269 http://www.econ.yale.edu/~egcenter/ CENTER DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 905 DEMYSTIFYING THE GERMAN “ARMAMENT MIRACLE” DURING WORLD WAR II. NEW INSIGHTS FROM THE ANNUAL AUDITS OF GERMAN AIRCRAFT PRODUCERS Lutz Budraß University of Bochum Jonas Scherner University of Mannheim Jochen Streb University of Hohenheim January 2005 Notes: Center Discussion Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussions and critical comments. The first version of this paper was written while Streb was visiting the Economic Growth Center at Yale University in fall 2004. We are grateful to the Economic Growth Center for financial support. We thank Christoph Buchheim, Mark Spoerer, Timothy Guinnane, and the participants of the Yale economic history workshop for many helpful comments. Corresponding author: Prof. Dr. Jochen Streb, University of Hohenheim (570a), D- 70593 Stuttgart, Germany, E-Mail:
[email protected]. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network electronic library at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=661102 An index to papers in the Economic Growth Center Discussion Paper Series is located at: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~egcenter/research.htm Demystifying the German “armament miracle” during World War II. New insights from the annual audits of German aircraft producers by Lutz Budraß, Jonas Scherner, and Jochen Streb Abstract Armament minister Albert Speer is usually credited with causing the boom in German armament production after 1941. This paper uses the annual audit reports of the Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG for seven firms which together represented about 50 % of the German aircraft producers.