Reports on the financial results of the Holocaust. Example of Operation “Reinhardt”

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to examine the accounting discourse, including the accounting language, used in financial reports from the Holocaust process on the example of Operation Reinhardt. Methodology/approach: Archival research was carried out. The approach to discourse analysis based on Foucault’s social theory was used. Findings: The language of the reports on the financial results of the Holocaust was adapted to the needs of the recipients of the information contained in these reports. Accounting discourse, including the language of the reports, was determined by the Nazi ideology. The issues of maintaining the secrecy of the looting carried out, the control and settlement functions of accounting, and the requirement of maintaining credibility were highlighted. The research on the language of accounting used in the reports on the financial results of the Holocaust shows that the dominant Nazi discourse shaped the content of the state-ments and reports, making the accounting practice consistent with the priorities of the Third Reich. Research limitations/implications: A limited amount of archival material has been preserved; hence the study covered a small number of reports on the financial results of the Holocaust. Originality/Value: The article contributes to research on the use of accounting for ideo-logical purposes. It is the first presentation of the problem of the influence of the Nazi dis-course on the language of reports on the financial results of the Holocaust.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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