Hitler's beneficiaries : plunder, racial war, and the nazi welfare state
Götz Aly (Author), Mazal Holocaust Collection
In this groundbreaking book, distinguished historian Gotz Aly addresses one of modern history's greatest conundrums: How did Adolf Hitler win the allegiance of ordinary Germans for his program of mass murder and military conquest? The answer Aly provides is as shocking as it is persuasive. By engaging in a campaign of theft on an almost unimaginable scale, and by channeling the proceeds into a succession of generous social programs, Hitler literally bought the consent of the German people. Drawing on secret Nazi files and unexamined financial records, Aly shows that while Jews and citizens of occupied lands suffered crippling taxation, mass looting, enslavement, and destruction, most Germans enjoyed a marked improvement in their standard of living. He documents the many millions of packages soldiers sent from the front stuffed with valuables and provisions; the systematic plunder of conquered territory for raw materials, industrial goods, and food supplies; and the disappearance of Jewish property and fortunes into German homes and pockets across the Reich. Whatever moral qualms Germans may have felt toward Nazi policies were swept away by waves of government handouts, tax breaks, and preferential legislation
History
viii, 431 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
9780805079265, 0805079262
70630569
Part I Political Opportunists in Action
1 The Dream of a Peopleʼs Empire
2 The Accommodating Dictatorship
Part II Subjugation and Exploitation
3 With Unwavering Efficiency
4 Profits for the People
5 The Mainstay: Western Europe
6 Room for Expansion: Eastern Europe
Part III The Dispossession of the Jews
7 Larceny as a State Principle
8 Laundering Money for the Wehrmacht
9 Subsidies to and from Germanyʼs Allies
10 The Trail of Gold
Part IV Crimes for the Benefit of the People
11 The Fruits of Evil
12 Speculative Politics
13 Nazi Socialism
A Note on Calculations
Currency Exchange Rates