ABSTRACT
This contribution contends that, in studying the role of völkisch thought within the Central European Economic Conference (Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftstag, MWT), we have to do more than simply measure the latter’s proximity to Nazism. Völkisch thought within the MWT needs rather to be situated within the context of the early twentieth century and contemporary conceptions of Mitteleuropa (Central Europe) and a German-led Großwirtschaftsraum (Greater Economic Area). The effect of völkisch thought within such visions was to assign the nations in this Großwirtschaftsraum particular “natural” qualities that supposedly enabled them to fulfill particular functions. Similarly, the MWT conceived Southeast Europe as a predominantly agrarian area that would be placed under the quasi-colonial leadership of an industrialized Germany.
