Romania between Economic Nationalism and International Integration: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Magnates Max Ausnit and Nicolae Malaxa (1918 bis 1941)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Marie-Janine Calic
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2014 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 269230986

World War I ended an epoch that was marked by the closest connections and the highest concentrations of international economic, financial, and trade systems that the world had known up to that time. Romania, like many other countries, reverted to protectionism and import substitution. This research project will examine the biographies of two Romanian entrepreneurs whose careers exemplify how economic nationalism functioned in the interwar period, and the obstacles it encountered. In the 1930s Max Ausnit (1887 to 1957) and Nicolae Malaxa (1884 to 1965) not only directed the most important enterprises in Romanian heavy industry but were members of King Carol IIs camarilla which, under the kings increasingly authoritarian rule, exercised political influence by by-passing constitutional institutions. Ausnit s and Malaxa s activities provide the best illustration of the close connection between economics and politics and reveal the specific mechanisms that facilitated a state capture by special interests. Both entrepreneurs acted in a mixed zone where national economic policies confronted international capital interests, primarily those of England, France, and Germany. Despite the entrepreneurs extremely important roles, to date their careers have not been the subject of a comprehensive scholarly study. The proposed research project will investigate Romanian economic nationalism from a variety of perspectives. Using transnational approaches it will examine the interaction between societies as the driving force of change and modernization. To this end it will evaluate the relevant archive records and documents in Romania, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States. Especially important in this regard are the documents that have become available in the last twenty-five years from Romanian bank and company archives and from Romanian and American police and secret service archives. The goal of the research project is the writing of a monograph based on archival research and combining the methodologies of economic and political history.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants