“My book isn’t nostalgic.”
For decades, a close-knit network of bankers, industrialists and managers steered the German economy – informally, but effectively. As early as 1909, the journalist Walther Rathenau coined a phrase to describe this phenomenon that still resonates today: 300 men who determine the country’s economic fortunes. Who were these men really? How did a system work in which Deutsche Bank, Siemens and others exercised mutual control through shareholdings and seats on supervisory boards, and what remains of this so-called ‘Deutschland AG’?
“All I can say is that interest in the German economy has fallen dramatically.”
Konstantin Richter is a journalist and was awarded the 2026 German Non-Fiction Prize for his book *Three Hundred Men: The Rise and Fall of Deutschland AG*. In doing so, he has created a literary monument to the German economic elite – without romanticising them. In conversation with Georgiy Michailov, he explains how entrepreneurs really behaved under National Socialism, why ‘Deutschland AG’ fell apart in the 1990s, and why international funds such as BlackRock cannot replace the old networks.
*Video only in German
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