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Title: Günter Reimann papers
Date (inclusive): 1927-2005
Collection Number: 2008C55
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
German
Physical Description:
69 manuscript boxes
(27.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Includes correspondence, writings, notes, and printed matter, relating to international economic conditions, and to national
socialism and communism in Germany.
Creator:
Reimann, Günter, 1904-2005
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2008.
[Identification of item], Günter Reimann papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives
| 1904 November 13 | Born, Hans Steinicke, Angermünde, Germany |
| 1919 | Member, Free Socialist Youth |
| 1920-1924 | Member, Communist Youth League |
| 1923-1926 | Student, Berlin School of Economics (Degree in Micro and Macro Economics) and Berlin University |
| 1924-1935 | Member, Communist Party of Germany (with the pseudonym Günter Reimann) |
| 1925-1926 | Leader, Revolutionary Students League |
| 1925-1930 | Editor, economic section, Die Rote Fahne (central newspaper of Communist Party of Germany) |
| Since 1930 | Freelance writer, numerous articles about the world economy |
| 1930 and 1932 | Research study trips, USSR |
| 1931 | Economic Advisor, Western European Trade Delegation of the USSR, Berlin |
| 1932 | Investigation on the changes in the structure of the working class after the Great Depression and its impact on labor organizations (performed at the request of the Comintern) |
| 1933-1934 | Organiser, underground resistance, Berlin Editor, Gegen den Terror (underground weekly) |
| 1934-1937 | Residence in London (after flight via Prague, Vienna, Paris), research studies about the international finance system |
| 1938 | Emigration to New York, USA |
| Author, <title render="italic">Germany – World Empire or World Revolution</title> | |
| 1939-1945 | Director of International Research, International Statistical Bureau, New York, and Editor, Foreign Letter |
| 1939 | Author, The Vampire Economy – Doing Business under Facism |
| 1941 | Author, The Myth of the Total State |
| 1942 | Author, Patents for Hitler |
| 1944 | Acquired U.S. citizenship |
| 1945-1947 | Opposition to Trading with the Enemy Act in order to allow CARE-packages for Germany |
| 1947-1983 | Founder and Editor-in-Chief, International Reports on Finance and Currencies (1983 sale to Financial Times, London) |
| 1966 | Author, The Challenge of International Finance |
| 1968 | Author, Der Rote Profit – Preise, Märkte, Kredite im Osten |
| 1973 | Author, The Future of The Dollar |
| Since 1984 | Biographical and historical works, travels to Europe and Asia |
| 1993 | Author, Die Ohnmacht der Mächtigen and Berlin-Moskau 1932. Das Jahr der Entscheidung |
| 2004 February 19 | Awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit (First Class), New York |
| 2005 February 5 | Died, New York |
Scope and Content of Collection
Acquired by the Hoover Institution in 2008, the Günter Reimann papers describe the life of a German-American journalist, author,
economist and intellectual. Living from 1904 until 2005, Reimann bore witness to and participated in many pivotal events of
20th century German history. These events included World War I and the collapse of the German Empire, the years of the Weimar
Republic, the rise of Hitler and Nazism, World War II and the life of an émigré in exile, the Cold War division of Germany,
and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic and reunification of Germany in 1990.
As a member of the Communist Party in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s, he was particularly active in resisting the rise
of Nazism as well as becoming an opponent of Stalinism within the Communist Party during the 1930s, which subsequently led
him to give up membership in the party. Although most of his papers from this phase of his career had to be abandoned when
he fled Germany in 1934, much of his later correspondence and writings reflect on this period, and provide ample source material
for the researcher.
Reimann published several works about Nazi Germany prior to and during the war years, but in 1947 he established a financial
newsletter, the
International Reports on Finance and Currencies, and his editorial work on this publication as well as economic and business consulting absorbed much of his time in the
following decades. With the collapse of East Germany and the unification of Germany in 1990, his activities in the Communist
Party during the 1930s received new scholarly attention in the former East Germany, and led Reimann to write and publish several
books about that period of his life during the 1990s. In addition to his book
Berlin-Moskau 1932, which was an account of his trip to the Soviet Union and his disillusionment with the ascendant Stalinism of this period,
he also published a collection of his correspondence from the 1940s with Herbert Wehner, the former communist who became an
influential leader in the Social Democratic Party in West Germany during the 1960s and 1970s. Reimann's papers contain many
manuscript drafts and fragments of the texts for these books, as well as autobiographical vignettes used in some of his writings,
and subject material he collected while working on these books.
Günter Reimann was born Hans Steinicke. In consequence of his political activities he assumed various pseudonyms in his life.
Most of all he used his official adopted name Günter Reimann. Other pseudonyms were Robert Braun and Hans Anders. Alternatively
he applied several spellings of the mentioned names. Therefore you will find in the papers the following versions of his name:
a) Günt(h)er (German version) or Guent(h)er (English version) b) Reiman(n) or Reimen(n) c) R(obert) Braun or R(obert) Brown
d) Hans Anders.
The collection is divided into six series and includes a variety of material such as correspondences, speeches, writings,
articles, newspapers and books.
The collection is organized into 6 series: Biographical File, Correspondence, Writings, Autobiography/Memoirs, International
Reports on Finance and Currencies, and Printed Matter.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalists
Economics
Journalism -- United States
Germany -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Communism -- Germany
National socialism
International economic relations