Littera Scripta (Jan 2015)
Entry of West German Investments into the Czechoslovak Economy in the 1970s through the Example of Schwarzkopf AG
Abstract
This article deals with the economic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Czechoslovakia in the 1960´s and 1970´s. Its goal is to establish whether the current economic interconnection of the German and Czech economies has its roots in the period of the so-called normalization. Particular emphasis is placed on the institutional anchoring of mutual relations, the development of trade and West German investments in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Interest is drawn to the joint cooperation agreements and projects in the automobile industry and engineering that came to fruition. The circumstances surrounding the intensive inflow of such investments from West German into Czechoslovakian companies prior to 1989 is analysed using the example of the licensing agreement with Schwarzkopf AG. The author’s conclusions are based upon the interpretation of unpublished sources, primarily from the collections of the Bundesarchiv Koblenz and the Konzernarchiv Henkel.
