Three hundred German men determine the economic fate of the continent. Walther Rathenau wrote this sentence at the beginning of the 20th century in reference to the intricately interwoven network of bankers, captains of industry, and lobbyists that had formed through the rise of companies like Allianz, Krupp, and Siemens. All these men knew one another, spoke regularly – and wheeled and dealed with one another. Right up into the 1990s, this network, known as »Deutschland AG«, which roughly translates to »Germany Inc.«, decisively shaped both political decision-making and the business culture in West Germany and the newly reunified Federal Republic.