Ein ehrbarer Kaufmann?

Since 1933, Albert Schäfer determined the corporate policy of Phoenix Gummiwerke AG. During the National Socialist regime, this included the conversion to a war economy, the "Aryanisation" of companies, the use of forced labourers and participation in the policy of exploitation in the occupied territories of Europe. After the end of the Second World War, Schäfer also helped to shape the public debate on the National Socialist past in Hamburg as the longstanding president of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. Numerous honours, culminating in the public staging of his 75th birthday in 1956 and the Matthiae-Mahl, which was re-established for the occasion, also made him himself an object of urban remembrance culture and history policy. The image of the honourable merchant had a central place in this.