ABSTRACT
The scolding that banks received in the aftermath of one of the biggest business scandals of the Federal Republic harks back to the public debate about sensational finance scandals of the Weimar Republic. Severe business crises should initiate a learning process and lead to improvements within institutions. The foreign shares and the increasing activities in the transport insurance business provided financial backing for further activities. The Bremen business family Lahusen had been an important figure in Bremen’s oversees trade since the 1840s, although they specialised themselves in South American business as of 1853, and after the acquisition of Argentine properties they concentrated on wool importation. Retrospective analyses of the business management up to the collapse have assigned the management of Nordwolle a mixture of megalomania, incorrigible optimism, stubbornness, and a failure to face reality. The claim of a direct connection between the effects of the business scandals among the public and their later voting behaviour must of course remain speculative.
