Profits and Persecution

by Peter Hayes

What role did German big business play in the persecution of European Jews during the Holocaust? What were its motivations? And how did it respond to changing social and economic circumstances after the war? Profits and Persecution examines how the leaders of Germany's largest industrial and financial enterprises played a key part in the catastrophes and crimes of their nation in the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on evidence concerning the roughly one hundred most significant German firms of the Nazi era, Peter Hayes explores how large German corporations dealt with Jews, their property, and their labor. This study unites business history and the history of the Holocaust to consider both the economic and personal motivations that rendered German corporate leaders complicit in the actions of the Nazi Party. In doing so, it demonstrates how ordinary, familiar thought processes came to serve the ideological purposes of the Third Reich with lethal consequences.

Genres: History

232 pages, Hardcover

Published January 30, 2025

About the author

Librarian's Note: There are multiple authors with this name in the goodreads database.

You might be looking for:
Peter^^Hayes, holocaust historian

Reviews

[Madison]

DNF at I don't even know. This book was an absolute chore to try to get through--dense as poundcake, confusing to a reader unfamiliar with Hayes's previous works, and in possession of the longest sentences known to mankind--and my brain started leaking out of my ears while trying to read it. Read this if you are trying to fall asleep, are genuinely interested in the economics of WWII, or have an IQ of 130+. I fully understand that I am not smart enough to comprehend this content. And, let it be known, I fully respect and recognize the gravity of all aspects of WWII and the Holocaust. However, this book was not one for me.