This is the remark­able sto­ry of a pros­per­ous Jew­ish-Ger­man immi­grant fam­i­ly whose leader found­ed and shrewd­ly devel­oped a suc­cess­ful indus­tri­al busi­ness in pre- World War II Ger­many only to see it stolen away dur­ing the Nazi regime. Julius Fromm’s con­tri­bu­tion was to take advan­tage of the rub­ber vul­can­iza­tion process in new ways, pro­duc­ing a pro­phy­lac­tic prod­uct far supe­ri­or to any made before. ​“Fromms Act” con­doms were extreme­ly pop­u­lar, and Fromm’s pro­duc­tion facil­i­ties were trendsetting. 

The authors reveal, through the metic­u­lous­ly kept records of the Third Reich, the eco­nom­ic side of anti-Semi­tism, trac­ing the step-by- step ​“Aryaniza­tion” of Fromm’s wealth, prop­er­ty rights, and busi­ness. The sto­ry of the strained legalisms by which an entrepreneur’s vision and indus­try were con­fis­cat­ed is less hor­ri­fy­ing than exter­mi­na­tion camp nar­ra­tives, but it is con­sis­tent with such stories. 

Aly and Son­theimer adroit­ly present the social changes behind Fromm’s suc­cess: increased aware­ness about sex­u­al health, lib­er­al­ized sex­u­al mores, and the desire for fam­i­ly plan­ning. They also note that Fromm’s self-image as a thor­ough­ly Ger­man cit­i­zen-inno­va­tor did lit­tle to save him from Hitler’s grand plan. From exile in Eng­land, he watched the theft of his life’s work. Many of his rel­a­tives died in the camps. This read­able book presents its find­ings eco­nom­i­cal­ly and with a fine nar­ra­tive flair. Bib­li­og­ra­phy, geneal­o­gy, index, notes, photographs.