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Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State
A "provocative" account of great "intellectual significance," illuminating the economic workings of the Third Reich—and the reasons ordinary Germans supported the Nazi state (The New York Times Book Review)
In this groundbreaking book, historian Götz Aly addresses one of modern history's greatest conundrums: How did Hitler win the allegiance of ordinary Germans? The answer 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 generous social programs—Hitler literally "bought" his people's consent.
Drawing on secret files and financial records, Aly shows that while Jews and citizens of occupied lands suffered crippling taxation, mass looting, enslavement, and destruction, most Germans enjoyed an improved standard of living. Buoyed by millions of packages soldiers sent from the front, Germans also benefited from the systematic plunder of Jewish possessions. Any qualms were swept away by waves of tax breaks and government handouts.
Hitler's Beneficiaries has been hailed as "startling" by Richard Evans, and as "fascinating and important" by Christopher Browning. Above all, as Omer Bartov testifies, this remarkable book "irreversibly transforms our understanding of the Third Reich."
In this groundbreaking book, historian Götz Aly addresses one of modern history's greatest conundrums: How did Hitler win the allegiance of ordinary Germans? The answer 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 generous social programs—Hitler literally "bought" his people's consent.
Drawing on secret files and financial records, Aly shows that while Jews and citizens of occupied lands suffered crippling taxation, mass looting, enslavement, and destruction, most Germans enjoyed an improved standard of living. Buoyed by millions of packages soldiers sent from the front, Germans also benefited from the systematic plunder of Jewish possessions. Any qualms were swept away by waves of tax breaks and government handouts.
Hitler's Beneficiaries has been hailed as "startling" by Richard Evans, and as "fascinating and important" by Christopher Browning. Above all, as Omer Bartov testifies, this remarkable book "irreversibly transforms our understanding of the Third Reich."
431 pages, Hardcover
First published April 30, 2005
46 people are currently reading
1855 people want to read
About the author
Götz Aly
26 books71 followersGötz Haydar Aly is a German journalist, historian and social scientist.
After attending the German School of Journalists, Aly studied history and political science in Berlin. As a journalist, he worked for the taz, the Berliner Zeitung and the FAZ. Presently, from 2004 to 2005, he is a visiting professor for interdisciplinary Holocaust research at the Fritz Bauer Institut in Frankfurt am Main.
After attending the German School of Journalists, Aly studied history and political science in Berlin. As a journalist, he worked for the taz, the Berliner Zeitung and the FAZ. Presently, from 2004 to 2005, he is a visiting professor for interdisciplinary Holocaust research at the Fritz Bauer Institut in Frankfurt am Main.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
November 28, 2012
I was absolutely thrilled with this book. Recommended by Allison by way of Caldwell, this book delighted me for three main reasons:
1. The figures on the economies of Nazi allies and Nazi-occupied countries were staggering and incredibly enlightening. It is amazing what the bureaucrats, especially those in the finance ministry of the Third Reich, were able to get away with.
2. Albeit rather trite, I appreciate that Aly looked at the "socialism" part of national socialism, rather than adding another work on the rabid nationalism of the NSDAP to the field.
3. The book addresses the topic/question that I find most helpful when I think about how the third (and fourth) generation of Germans can think of their relationship with the war: how have I benefitted from what happened? How did my family benefit? Through conversations with professors and other second-generation Germans during my time there, I found a growing sense of dismay that the third and fourth generations are "sick of" learning about and hearing about the Holocaust. They say, "We weren't even alive, how can we possibly be responsible?" The best response to that that I heard, and, the point of this rant that makes it relevant to the book: "Of course you aren't personally criminally responsible. Of course, you weren't alive. But how have you or your family benefitted from what happened? Where did your furniture come from? Whose apartment did you move into? What foodstuffs and amenities were you able to get during the war, that weren't available during peacetime?"
A fantastic read for anyone interested in the period and the people who lived in it.
1. The figures on the economies of Nazi allies and Nazi-occupied countries were staggering and incredibly enlightening. It is amazing what the bureaucrats, especially those in the finance ministry of the Third Reich, were able to get away with.
2. Albeit rather trite, I appreciate that Aly looked at the "socialism" part of national socialism, rather than adding another work on the rabid nationalism of the NSDAP to the field.
3. The book addresses the topic/question that I find most helpful when I think about how the third (and fourth) generation of Germans can think of their relationship with the war: how have I benefitted from what happened? How did my family benefit? Through conversations with professors and other second-generation Germans during my time there, I found a growing sense of dismay that the third and fourth generations are "sick of" learning about and hearing about the Holocaust. They say, "We weren't even alive, how can we possibly be responsible?" The best response to that that I heard, and, the point of this rant that makes it relevant to the book: "Of course you aren't personally criminally responsible. Of course, you weren't alive. But how have you or your family benefitted from what happened? Where did your furniture come from? Whose apartment did you move into? What foodstuffs and amenities were you able to get during the war, that weren't available during peacetime?"
A fantastic read for anyone interested in the period and the people who lived in it.
December 26, 2009
You don't know much about the Nazis. That's because we don't get much about the Nazis in school and most of the "common knowledge" about them is wrong. For example, many people are under the false impression that the Nazis were "right wing" or conservative, yet the term "Nazi" is short for "National Socialist German Workers Party." That doesn't sound like a right wing party to me. This book, while it is not entertaining, will teach you that the Nazis were a left wing group that gained and kept power in Germany for so long because they provided a plethora of social entitlements and then invaded and looted their neighboring countries and plundered their undesirable minorities to pay for them. This is an important book to read, not only to understand history correctly, but to see the similarities between developments in Nazi Germany and those happening now in the US, and to remember that when the government starts providing entitlements, somebody has to pay for them.
May 11, 2013
-Un título muy evocador pero engañoso a la vez.-
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. Ensayo sobre el interés del nacionalismo en mantener un “estado de bienestar” para sus ciudadanos a pesar de las enormes inversiones en la industria bélica, a expensas del saqueo de los bienes, valores y fuerzas laborales de los grupos, poblaciones y países sometidos (y otros simplemente alineados), plagado de ejemplos y de números.
¿Quiere usted saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://www.librosdeolethros.blogspot....
Género. Historia.
Lo que nos cuenta. Ensayo sobre el interés del nacionalismo en mantener un “estado de bienestar” para sus ciudadanos a pesar de las enormes inversiones en la industria bélica, a expensas del saqueo de los bienes, valores y fuerzas laborales de los grupos, poblaciones y países sometidos (y otros simplemente alineados), plagado de ejemplos y de números.
¿Quiere usted saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://www.librosdeolethros.blogspot....
October 22, 2023
Fascinating and thought provoking book - I honestly do not know enough to comment on it except to say that it has opened up a whole new way of looking at how the Nazis used plunder from the Jews and most specifically the conquered territories of Poland and the Soviet Union to keep ordinary German happy. I suggest reading it thoughtfully and trying to avoid the more superficial conclusions that some of the reviewers have.
July 8, 2009
The conventional view is that the Holocaust was mostly about racial ideology, and only partly about plunder. With reading books such as this one (and one of my other current reads, The Secret War Against The Jews) I’m really starting to believe it was probably the other way around!
Update after finishing the book:
We’ve traditionally seen the Holocaust as a racial war by Hitler’s Europe against its Jewish population; as a program of extermination accompanied by incidental plunder. The picture that emerges here is of a process of systematic dispossession and plunder, in a sense “covered up” by genocide.
This “murderous larceny” now comes across as one of the aims, rather than as a side-effect of the Holocaust, with the proceeds of the industrial-scale theft being used to fund Germany’s war effort, keep the standard of living of Germans at home buoyant (including compensating those affected by Allied bombing) and prevent the currencies of allies, occupied and collaborating states (I sometimes struggle to tell them apart) from collapsing. In a very real sense, the condemned Jews of Europe were forced to fund their own execution, as well as the larger war effort.
We also see the unedifying sight of the German home front, the man (or rather, women and children) on the street quite literally eating their way through occupied/collaborating Europe by means of food parcels from the front, while starvation was the order of the day elsewhere.
To quote from the book (p285):
“The Holocaust will never be properly understood until it is seen as the most single-mindedly pursued campaign of murderous larceny in modern history.”
An excellent work, but not light-hearted or light bed-time reading, and certainly not uplifting.
Update after finishing the book:
We’ve traditionally seen the Holocaust as a racial war by Hitler’s Europe against its Jewish population; as a program of extermination accompanied by incidental plunder. The picture that emerges here is of a process of systematic dispossession and plunder, in a sense “covered up” by genocide.
This “murderous larceny” now comes across as one of the aims, rather than as a side-effect of the Holocaust, with the proceeds of the industrial-scale theft being used to fund Germany’s war effort, keep the standard of living of Germans at home buoyant (including compensating those affected by Allied bombing) and prevent the currencies of allies, occupied and collaborating states (I sometimes struggle to tell them apart) from collapsing. In a very real sense, the condemned Jews of Europe were forced to fund their own execution, as well as the larger war effort.
We also see the unedifying sight of the German home front, the man (or rather, women and children) on the street quite literally eating their way through occupied/collaborating Europe by means of food parcels from the front, while starvation was the order of the day elsewhere.
To quote from the book (p285):
“The Holocaust will never be properly understood until it is seen as the most single-mindedly pursued campaign of murderous larceny in modern history.”
An excellent work, but not light-hearted or light bed-time reading, and certainly not uplifting.
May 1, 2015
Aly presents a very simple thesis about the Nazi regime: that it inspired the widespread loyalty that it did in significant measure because it made life good for the average (non-Jewish) German. He notes that taxes were kept considerably lower than in other belligerent states; that the material standards were kept high; and that the secret police force was surprisingly small.
He describes how the appropriation of property from Jews and others marginalized by the regime, and occupied countries, was often motivated by impending budget shortfalls, and how the expropriation was often done through compulsory purchase of (ultimately worthless) government bonds, manipulation of exchange rates, and other maneuvers that gave a semblance of legality to the procedings.
Aly documents how ordinary Germans, even those like Heinrich Böll, who were not enthusiastic supporters of the regime, were quite willing to participate in the purchase of commodities in occupied countries through a system of scrip that made the economy of the conquered nations bear the cost.
The most sobering element is the degree to which comfortable circumstances for oneself can blunt the desire to ask questions about the effects on others who bear the price of prosperity. The legal and economic methods used for the transfer of wealth to those who were part of Hitler's Volk allowed them to experience the Third Reich as essentially normal life, and indeed a better normal life than many had during the years of hyperinflation and depression. It didn't look like they were being ruled by thieives.
The sheer normality of it erodes one's ability, as a beneficiary of a first-world economy, to smugly assume superiority to the average German of that era.
He describes how the appropriation of property from Jews and others marginalized by the regime, and occupied countries, was often motivated by impending budget shortfalls, and how the expropriation was often done through compulsory purchase of (ultimately worthless) government bonds, manipulation of exchange rates, and other maneuvers that gave a semblance of legality to the procedings.
Aly documents how ordinary Germans, even those like Heinrich Böll, who were not enthusiastic supporters of the regime, were quite willing to participate in the purchase of commodities in occupied countries through a system of scrip that made the economy of the conquered nations bear the cost.
The most sobering element is the degree to which comfortable circumstances for oneself can blunt the desire to ask questions about the effects on others who bear the price of prosperity. The legal and economic methods used for the transfer of wealth to those who were part of Hitler's Volk allowed them to experience the Third Reich as essentially normal life, and indeed a better normal life than many had during the years of hyperinflation and depression. It didn't look like they were being ruled by thieives.
The sheer normality of it erodes one's ability, as a beneficiary of a first-world economy, to smugly assume superiority to the average German of that era.
October 26, 2019
Amikor korábban a második világháború hadtörténetéről olvastam, nem tudtam mit kezdeni azzal a ténnyel, hogy a németek csak 1944-ben álltak át hadigazdálkodásra. Ennyire jól ment volna addig a szekér, és csak a háború végén eszméltek rá, hogy egy fél világgal folytatott háborúhoz gazdasági áldozatokra van szükség? Hadtörténészeknél azt a magyarázatot olvastam, hogy ez katonai szempontból egy végzetes hiba volt Hitler részéről, akárcsak a német női munkaerő kihasználatlanul hagyása. Götz Aly az első történész, aki megértette velem, miért húzták a dolgot olyan sokáig. Nem “végzetes hiba” volt, hanem logikus lépés, ami a náci állam természetéből fakadt.
Aly szerint a Harmadik Birodalom támogatói nem ideológiai meggyőződésből tarottak ki a rendszer mellett, hanem anyagi érdekből, a jólét látszata által hipnotizálva. A hatalom szó szerint megvásárolta a németek bizalmát és passzív lojalitásba kényszerítette őket. Nagyobb tömegeket érintő adókedvezményekkel (a háborús terheket a felsőbb osztályok, illetve a “nép ellenségei” aránytalanul nagyobb arányban viselték, mint a munkások vagy a mezőgazdasági dolgozók), a zsidóság módszeres anyagi kifosztásával, a háborús hódítások során beszerzett javakkal érték el, hogy az elhúzódó fegyveres konfliktus ne éreztesse annyira hatását az átlag német polgár pénztárcáján. Még mielőtt a kurucinfó elit 88/14 osztaga megörülne a náci jóléti csodáról olvasván: Aly részletezi azt is, hogy itt sokkal inkább a jólét látszatáról volt szó (pl. a háborúból a katonák által tömegével hazacsempészett luxuscikkek minden német családra motiváló hatással voltak), hiszen a német háborús életszínvonal így is elmaradt pl. a Nagy-Britanniáétól.
A német történész különböző forrástípusokon (naplók, levelezések, statisztikai kimutatások, levéltári anyagok) keresztül érvel amellett, hogy a holokauszt egyáltalán nem volt annyira értelmetlen, mint azt sokan állítják. A zsidóság elpusztítása az utolsó márkáig ki volt centizve: a deportáltak ingó és ingatlan vagyonát mindenhol pénzzé tették és pénzmosás útján (pl. a zsidóság tárgyait a magyar hatóságok adták el magyar átlagembereknek, a befolyt pénz ment a magyar államkasszába, onnan pedig folyt tovább a németekhez a “megszállási költségek” címszó alatt) a német háborús erőfeszítéseket támogatták vele.
Széleskörű európai panoráma bontakozik ki a könyv fejezeteiben, amelyből kiderül, hogy Franciaországtól Szovjetunióig a náci gazdaságpolitika mindenhol masszív pénzmosásra és pénzügyi machinációkra, a megszállt országok kirablására épült. A németek tényleg mindenből pénzt csináltak: “fun” fact, hogy 1943-ban külön rendelet szólt a zsidók bélyeggyűjteményeinek megszerzésének szükségességéről.
Aly koncepciója rendkívül egyedi és komoly morális konzekvenciákat von maga után, hiszen nem választja szét a népet és politikai vezetését – a háborúból és holokausztból széles tömegek profitáltak egyenlő mértékben. A szerző finomkodás nélkül beleszállt a pozitív emberképembe is, könyve alapján ugyanis – értékek ide vagy oda – nem sokan tudják kivonni magukat az anyagi javak korrumpáló hatása alól: a náci szimpátiával nehezen vádolható Heinrich Böll és Sophie Scholl egyaránt lelkesek voltak, hogy háborús zsákmányokban dúskálhatnak.
A könyv írója nem teszi bele valamilyen nagy történetbe nácizmus-értelmezését, eszmék és ideológiák minimális szerepet játszanak benne. Csekély történeti felvezetés után, egyszer csak ott találjuk magunkat az 1918 utáni új német generáció forradalmi és radikálisan egyenlőségelvű elképzeléseit olvasva, amiből egyenes és gyors út vezet Európa kifosztásáig. Nincsenek hosszadalmas fejtegetések német különutasságról (ha németül is leírom, az értelmiségibb: Sonderweg-ről), a németek valamiféle speciális antiszemitizmusáról, kisiklott vagy nem siklott modernizációról. A szerző “egyszerűen” annyit mond, hogy a holokauszt és a háború anyagilag sokaknak megérte, s kivitelezéséhez még csak nácinak vagy antiszemitának sem kellett lenni. A könyv narratívája egyébként ide-oda ugrál a makro- és mikroszint között, igazából kronológiai rendje sincs.
A német történész tézise persze vitatható (szerintem még több alapkutatás szükséges ahhoz, hogy a teóriát tesztelhesse ennyi állam második világháborús történelmére nézve, néhol épp csak pár oldalon intéz el egy országot), és mint az Utószóból kiderül, vitatják is. Például nem csoda, hogy a német különutasság elméletét valló Hans-Ulrich Wehler idegállapotba jött ettől a műtől és csúnyán személyeskedő vitát folytatott le szerzőjével. Aly vitatkozási szokásait azért lehetne kritizálni: sokszor nagyon fellengzős, érezhetően el van telve a figyelemtől és a tézisének kétségkívüli eredetiségétől.
(Érdekes lenne még összehasonlítani a munkát Ungváry Krisztián Horthy-rendszer mérlege c. könyvével, ami Aly tézisének egyik nagy port kavart recepciója)
A Hitler népállama olyan könyv, amely teljesen újragondoltat egy elvileg ismert történelmi korszakot, közben minden sorával provokálja az olvasót. Szóval a legjobb fajta történeti művek közé tartozik.
(Mint azt kénytelen voltam megtapasztalni, nem egy tipikus nyári olvasmány. Hiába vittem magammal kiránduláshoz vagy utazásokhoz, makacsul ellenállt a gyorsolvasási kísérleteimnek. Haladni akkor tudtam vele, ha teljes nyugalomban és otthon álltam neki. A számos adat, pénzügyi tranzakció és statisztika olykor csak akkor adta meg magát az értelmezésnek, ha többször átolvastam egy-egy oldalt.)
Aly szerint a Harmadik Birodalom támogatói nem ideológiai meggyőződésből tarottak ki a rendszer mellett, hanem anyagi érdekből, a jólét látszata által hipnotizálva. A hatalom szó szerint megvásárolta a németek bizalmát és passzív lojalitásba kényszerítette őket. Nagyobb tömegeket érintő adókedvezményekkel (a háborús terheket a felsőbb osztályok, illetve a “nép ellenségei” aránytalanul nagyobb arányban viselték, mint a munkások vagy a mezőgazdasági dolgozók), a zsidóság módszeres anyagi kifosztásával, a háborús hódítások során beszerzett javakkal érték el, hogy az elhúzódó fegyveres konfliktus ne éreztesse annyira hatását az átlag német polgár pénztárcáján. Még mielőtt a kurucinfó elit 88/14 osztaga megörülne a náci jóléti csodáról olvasván: Aly részletezi azt is, hogy itt sokkal inkább a jólét látszatáról volt szó (pl. a háborúból a katonák által tömegével hazacsempészett luxuscikkek minden német családra motiváló hatással voltak), hiszen a német háborús életszínvonal így is elmaradt pl. a Nagy-Britanniáétól.
A német történész különböző forrástípusokon (naplók, levelezések, statisztikai kimutatások, levéltári anyagok) keresztül érvel amellett, hogy a holokauszt egyáltalán nem volt annyira értelmetlen, mint azt sokan állítják. A zsidóság elpusztítása az utolsó márkáig ki volt centizve: a deportáltak ingó és ingatlan vagyonát mindenhol pénzzé tették és pénzmosás útján (pl. a zsidóság tárgyait a magyar hatóságok adták el magyar átlagembereknek, a befolyt pénz ment a magyar államkasszába, onnan pedig folyt tovább a németekhez a “megszállási költségek” címszó alatt) a német háborús erőfeszítéseket támogatták vele.
Széleskörű európai panoráma bontakozik ki a könyv fejezeteiben, amelyből kiderül, hogy Franciaországtól Szovjetunióig a náci gazdaságpolitika mindenhol masszív pénzmosásra és pénzügyi machinációkra, a megszállt országok kirablására épült. A németek tényleg mindenből pénzt csináltak: “fun” fact, hogy 1943-ban külön rendelet szólt a zsidók bélyeggyűjteményeinek megszerzésének szükségességéről.
Aly koncepciója rendkívül egyedi és komoly morális konzekvenciákat von maga után, hiszen nem választja szét a népet és politikai vezetését – a háborúból és holokausztból széles tömegek profitáltak egyenlő mértékben. A szerző finomkodás nélkül beleszállt a pozitív emberképembe is, könyve alapján ugyanis – értékek ide vagy oda – nem sokan tudják kivonni magukat az anyagi javak korrumpáló hatása alól: a náci szimpátiával nehezen vádolható Heinrich Böll és Sophie Scholl egyaránt lelkesek voltak, hogy háborús zsákmányokban dúskálhatnak.
A könyv írója nem teszi bele valamilyen nagy történetbe nácizmus-értelmezését, eszmék és ideológiák minimális szerepet játszanak benne. Csekély történeti felvezetés után, egyszer csak ott találjuk magunkat az 1918 utáni új német generáció forradalmi és radikálisan egyenlőségelvű elképzeléseit olvasva, amiből egyenes és gyors út vezet Európa kifosztásáig. Nincsenek hosszadalmas fejtegetések német különutasságról (ha németül is leírom, az értelmiségibb: Sonderweg-ről), a németek valamiféle speciális antiszemitizmusáról, kisiklott vagy nem siklott modernizációról. A szerző “egyszerűen” annyit mond, hogy a holokauszt és a háború anyagilag sokaknak megérte, s kivitelezéséhez még csak nácinak vagy antiszemitának sem kellett lenni. A könyv narratívája egyébként ide-oda ugrál a makro- és mikroszint között, igazából kronológiai rendje sincs.
A német történész tézise persze vitatható (szerintem még több alapkutatás szükséges ahhoz, hogy a teóriát tesztelhesse ennyi állam második világháborús történelmére nézve, néhol épp csak pár oldalon intéz el egy országot), és mint az Utószóból kiderül, vitatják is. Például nem csoda, hogy a német különutasság elméletét valló Hans-Ulrich Wehler idegállapotba jött ettől a műtől és csúnyán személyeskedő vitát folytatott le szerzőjével. Aly vitatkozási szokásait azért lehetne kritizálni: sokszor nagyon fellengzős, érezhetően el van telve a figyelemtől és a tézisének kétségkívüli eredetiségétől.
(Érdekes lenne még összehasonlítani a munkát Ungváry Krisztián Horthy-rendszer mérlege c. könyvével, ami Aly tézisének egyik nagy port kavart recepciója)
A Hitler népállama olyan könyv, amely teljesen újragondoltat egy elvileg ismert történelmi korszakot, közben minden sorával provokálja az olvasót. Szóval a legjobb fajta történeti művek közé tartozik.
(Mint azt kénytelen voltam megtapasztalni, nem egy tipikus nyári olvasmány. Hiába vittem magammal kiránduláshoz vagy utazásokhoz, makacsul ellenállt a gyorsolvasási kísérleteimnek. Haladni akkor tudtam vele, ha teljes nyugalomban és otthon álltam neki. A számos adat, pénzügyi tranzakció és statisztika olykor csak akkor adta meg magát az értelmezésnek, ha többször átolvastam egy-egy oldalt.)
November 29, 2018
This was a bit dry unless you love WWII history and economics. I'm not a huge economics guy but this was interesting as the Germans were brilliant in figuring out how to fund their conquest and occupations of other countries by coming up with ways to have these other countries pay for the German occupation.
One example, German troops came into France with special currency usably only in France. They paid for everything they took or needed from the civilian populace. The French banks were required to exchange the Germany currency for French francs. And banks were paid back by the central French government who just printed more money to cover the expense. So Germany got all these items for the cost of printing paper currency that could only be used in France, individual French citizens and companies were paid by the French banks, who were paid by the French government. So everyone got paid and was happy and the overall French economy with higher taxes paid for it rather than any individual or corporation. This is just one example of how the Germans were able to fund their war efforts using the economy of countries they took over.
One thing I hadn't tracked on very well despite reading many books on the holocaust was how when Jews were rounded up their household goods were gathered and sent to various aid societies to give to bombing victims who lost their houses and goods. The timing of some of the Jews who were gathered up and shipped off to concentration camps was set so that their stuff could be taken for this purpose. Their houses, lands, and other assets were usually sold and the profits added to the Germany treasury to continue to fund the German government and war effort.
While a bit dry very fascinating look at how Germany had one of the most economically successful socialist countries in history.
One example, German troops came into France with special currency usably only in France. They paid for everything they took or needed from the civilian populace. The French banks were required to exchange the Germany currency for French francs. And banks were paid back by the central French government who just printed more money to cover the expense. So Germany got all these items for the cost of printing paper currency that could only be used in France, individual French citizens and companies were paid by the French banks, who were paid by the French government. So everyone got paid and was happy and the overall French economy with higher taxes paid for it rather than any individual or corporation. This is just one example of how the Germans were able to fund their war efforts using the economy of countries they took over.
One thing I hadn't tracked on very well despite reading many books on the holocaust was how when Jews were rounded up their household goods were gathered and sent to various aid societies to give to bombing victims who lost their houses and goods. The timing of some of the Jews who were gathered up and shipped off to concentration camps was set so that their stuff could be taken for this purpose. Their houses, lands, and other assets were usually sold and the profits added to the Germany treasury to continue to fund the German government and war effort.
While a bit dry very fascinating look at how Germany had one of the most economically successful socialist countries in history.
August 7, 2012
During the First World War, the standard of living of the German people suffered, which reduced support for the war. In order maintain support for World War II, the Nazis made sure that the German people lived comfortably during the war. This required a great deal of money, which the Nazis acquired, primarily from three sources: (a) taxing the rich, (b) looting the countries they invaded, and (c) confiscating the property of the Jews. Race, religion and prejudice clearly played a role in the Holocaust, but greed and envy were also important. The author shows that before the Nazis killed the Jews, they first stole their bank accounts, their businesses, their jewelry, their furniture, their land and their homes. At that point, there was nothing left to do with the Jews, except either to deport them or kill them. Since no one else wanted them, they killed them.
December 15, 2013
This book is brilliant. It's interesting for three reasons:
(1) an examination of Germany's real intentions in the war; (2) how governments run wars; and (3) how economies function during wars.
Germany's 'economic miracle' caused massive debts, which it attempted to reconcile by basically stealing other people's money. This makes the book very pertinent to the world today.
In many ways it's far more interesting than the accounts of the battles, though drier. The details are remarkable, such as Germany paying for the bombing of Britain in francs, as part of a currency manipulation scheme.
It's a bit of a shame that it isn't more detailed, and often we have to take Aly's word for some things. But probably almost nobody would read a more comprehensive version.
(1) an examination of Germany's real intentions in the war; (2) how governments run wars; and (3) how economies function during wars.
Germany's 'economic miracle' caused massive debts, which it attempted to reconcile by basically stealing other people's money. This makes the book very pertinent to the world today.
In many ways it's far more interesting than the accounts of the battles, though drier. The details are remarkable, such as Germany paying for the bombing of Britain in francs, as part of a currency manipulation scheme.
It's a bit of a shame that it isn't more detailed, and often we have to take Aly's word for some things. But probably almost nobody would read a more comprehensive version.
October 28, 2007
Gotz Aly shows how every German benefited from the Nazis' system of plunder during WWII and justifies how that plunder kept the German populace quiescent. While it's way too detailed on the financial records, it's an utterly fascinating read. He gives the monetary reasoning behind the Holocaust and destruction the Nazis perpetrated and has it all make sense. You'll never look at WWII the same way again.
February 7, 2022
Strangely sticky for a history book about - taxation
Nazi leaders’ propaganda claimed they’ve placed the cornerstone of a thousand years’ empire - all the while in everyday life, they didn’t know how they’ll pay bills on tomorrow morning.
A quote from close to the end of the book.
Nazism was (also) a Blitzkrieg against Germany’s own finances. Smoke and mirrors applied to the economic underpinnings of a ravished country made it look like there was a German economic miracle happening in the 1930s and 1940s.
Beneficiaries is a story about people who spun that story, people who bought it, and people who executed it.
Things you’ll love
Let’s play a little game.
It’s early July 1940, you’re in one of the fancy Parisian hotels. You’re sleep-deprived but can’t sleep as you look at the 19th-century chandelier above you. The task ahead of you makes you almost cry from happiness. The task? Squeeze the French so that homeland makes the most out of this war that was imposed on your Reich.
How would you do it? How would you get the most value: money, raw materials, consumer goods, soldiers, arms, and ammunition out of a country your army just conquered? Stop here. And think. Really, how would you?
In my case, even after watching so many documentaries, listening to piles of history podcasts, and reading a handful of history books, I had no clue. I didn’t know even where to begin.
“Beneficiaries” answers these questions by taking a very unorthodox angle to WWII. One of taxation, state budgets, clearing balances, and loose customs controls. The Internet adage that “Amateurs study strategy, while pros study logistics” could be extended with “Masters study taxation and finances”.
After all, you have to pay for the war, don’t you?
I guess it’ll be an interesting point of view for many who enjoy reading history books. That’s what made it almost a page-turner for me. Aly takes you on a grand tour of pre-WWII and WWII Europe seen through the lens of Reich’s state budget.
Expropriation of German Jews, creation of satellite countries, occupation of others, and finally death camps were all to some extent driven by concerns about state budget revenue and ample social provisions to Reich’s Germans.
He builds a case well-backed with research in archives, economic reports, and history papers. It seemed credible to me, but I’m not a historian, so as usual take everything with a grain of salt.
The first half of the book is a little bit more interesting. It’s about why Germans didn’t rebel, why they were complacent. Answer? Socialism (of sorts). The passive loyalty of average Otto was bought with measures we in Europe know as a welfare state. (Croatian translation is actually "Hitler's welfare state".)
Lower income taxes, higher capital gains and property taxes, no taxation of overtime work, pension bumps, free health care - it all made living in Reich better for most people.
To top that off, the first years of war allowed average Ottos, now G.I. Ottos, to send packages from front back to the homeland. Packages filled with eggs, butter, perfumes, fancy cloth, sausages, herring, and other goods. Stories of everyday Germans profiting from war resemble Mollier’s tragic characters speeding up their own doom.
All in all, Aly’s book is a great read about the tyranny of the majority and what was the price tag for buying complacency of Germans.
Things you won’t like
On a continuum from history textbook to popular history Beneficiaries falls right in the middle. Expect no Dan Carlin or Mike Duncan. Aly is a historian and writes plainly and in a straightforward fashion. There’s no pizzaz you’d find in a more of a popular history book.
Why is this a bad thing? Well, I’m a layman and like to be entertained while being educated. For some, the dry style might be a plus.
Second shortcoming: There are no visual aids to help readers understand the byzantine labyrinth of taxes, special fees, institutions, expropriations, and financial advisers that created that efficient robbery system.
Aly probably assumes readers can simply envision those things in their heads as they read. And if I were a history student who has to know this for an exam, I’d draw my own mind maps. But I’m not. So some of the richness of the book is lost in the walls of texts not being accompanied with visuals.
Also, there are troves of characters. It’d be helpful to see their picture when they’re mentioned for the first time. It makes things more vivid. Plus, you wouldn’t feel stupid when Aly writes something like “then our old friend Otto Hans comes back into play in Grecce” and you can’t remember who that guy was.
And lastly, the second part of the book becomes a little bit more repetitive as Aly explains how did careerists in the army, finance ministry, and central bank keep things afloat by robbing first Germans on the fringe of society and then all the occupied Europe.
Each story is interesting, but it does become a deja vu reading about a new country and seeing the same institutions and approaches being applied there, too.
Nazi leaders’ propaganda claimed they’ve placed the cornerstone of a thousand years’ empire - all the while in everyday life, they didn’t know how they’ll pay bills on tomorrow morning.
A quote from close to the end of the book.
Nazism was (also) a Blitzkrieg against Germany’s own finances. Smoke and mirrors applied to the economic underpinnings of a ravished country made it look like there was a German economic miracle happening in the 1930s and 1940s.
Beneficiaries is a story about people who spun that story, people who bought it, and people who executed it.
Things you’ll love
Let’s play a little game.
It’s early July 1940, you’re in one of the fancy Parisian hotels. You’re sleep-deprived but can’t sleep as you look at the 19th-century chandelier above you. The task ahead of you makes you almost cry from happiness. The task? Squeeze the French so that homeland makes the most out of this war that was imposed on your Reich.
How would you do it? How would you get the most value: money, raw materials, consumer goods, soldiers, arms, and ammunition out of a country your army just conquered? Stop here. And think. Really, how would you?
In my case, even after watching so many documentaries, listening to piles of history podcasts, and reading a handful of history books, I had no clue. I didn’t know even where to begin.
“Beneficiaries” answers these questions by taking a very unorthodox angle to WWII. One of taxation, state budgets, clearing balances, and loose customs controls. The Internet adage that “Amateurs study strategy, while pros study logistics” could be extended with “Masters study taxation and finances”.
After all, you have to pay for the war, don’t you?
I guess it’ll be an interesting point of view for many who enjoy reading history books. That’s what made it almost a page-turner for me. Aly takes you on a grand tour of pre-WWII and WWII Europe seen through the lens of Reich’s state budget.
Expropriation of German Jews, creation of satellite countries, occupation of others, and finally death camps were all to some extent driven by concerns about state budget revenue and ample social provisions to Reich’s Germans.
He builds a case well-backed with research in archives, economic reports, and history papers. It seemed credible to me, but I’m not a historian, so as usual take everything with a grain of salt.
The first half of the book is a little bit more interesting. It’s about why Germans didn’t rebel, why they were complacent. Answer? Socialism (of sorts). The passive loyalty of average Otto was bought with measures we in Europe know as a welfare state. (Croatian translation is actually "Hitler's welfare state".)
Lower income taxes, higher capital gains and property taxes, no taxation of overtime work, pension bumps, free health care - it all made living in Reich better for most people.
To top that off, the first years of war allowed average Ottos, now G.I. Ottos, to send packages from front back to the homeland. Packages filled with eggs, butter, perfumes, fancy cloth, sausages, herring, and other goods. Stories of everyday Germans profiting from war resemble Mollier’s tragic characters speeding up their own doom.
All in all, Aly’s book is a great read about the tyranny of the majority and what was the price tag for buying complacency of Germans.
Things you won’t like
On a continuum from history textbook to popular history Beneficiaries falls right in the middle. Expect no Dan Carlin or Mike Duncan. Aly is a historian and writes plainly and in a straightforward fashion. There’s no pizzaz you’d find in a more of a popular history book.
Why is this a bad thing? Well, I’m a layman and like to be entertained while being educated. For some, the dry style might be a plus.
Second shortcoming: There are no visual aids to help readers understand the byzantine labyrinth of taxes, special fees, institutions, expropriations, and financial advisers that created that efficient robbery system.
Aly probably assumes readers can simply envision those things in their heads as they read. And if I were a history student who has to know this for an exam, I’d draw my own mind maps. But I’m not. So some of the richness of the book is lost in the walls of texts not being accompanied with visuals.
Also, there are troves of characters. It’d be helpful to see their picture when they’re mentioned for the first time. It makes things more vivid. Plus, you wouldn’t feel stupid when Aly writes something like “then our old friend Otto Hans comes back into play in Grecce” and you can’t remember who that guy was.
And lastly, the second part of the book becomes a little bit more repetitive as Aly explains how did careerists in the army, finance ministry, and central bank keep things afloat by robbing first Germans on the fringe of society and then all the occupied Europe.
Each story is interesting, but it does become a deja vu reading about a new country and seeing the same institutions and approaches being applied there, too.
April 5, 2017
"Hitler's Beneficiaries" is perhaps one of the most compelling and important books on WWII history that I have ever read. All too frequently, people will ask (somewhat naively in my opinion) how the Germans "fell for it", and voted for Hitler. Indeed, an ex-lover once asked if she could borrow my copy of "Mein Kampf" to see if it contained any answers as to how Germans were able to support the Nazi regime. Aly's book is the tonic to these banalities.
Why did the German people support National Socialism? The answer lies in the seemingly mundane, but terribly important point that National Socialism created a more equal society for the "Volk", ethnic Germans. Indeed, "Hitler's Beneficiaries" asks some uncomfortable questions for many people. E.g. After the Allies had firebombed Dresden, how did the Nazis keep people happy and their morale high? The answer is that they dispossessed Jews of their houses in the aftermath of bombing and moved Germans in to those houses. They also refurnished the houses with looted furnishings from occupied Belgium, France and the Netherlands and their Jewish populations.
Aly shows that ordinary Germans were the biggest winners of a campaign of plunder and rapine carried out by the Werhmacht. But this was not all, no financial and economic experts in the Civil Service lent their hands to managing this rapine efficiently. The Nazis were able to ensure that occupied countries paid for the privilege of being occupied, and the biggest losers were the occupied Jews. Indeed, Aly shows how Bulgaria levied Jewish taxes in return for Wehrmacht support in occupying territory, how the Greeks profited from the plunder of Salonika's Jews and the subsequent deportation of said Jews to Auschwitz.
Indeed, the Germans were able to strengthen their currency, and ensure that the Wehrmacht went on one gigantic shopping spree, ensuring that Greeks and Norwegians starved whilst Germans could buy luxury salmon and coffee. Aly researches documents showing how the authorities ensured that ordinary Germans could benefit by removing customs barriers from occupied countries and how the economic system was rigged so as to constantly need expansion for more land o loot.
Ultimately, Nazism paradoxically showed the way for modern welfare states. However, the racial welfare state that Nazism created worked as bribes. By ensuring that housewives were able to buy things and that proletarians suffered no shortages throughout the war, Hitler insulated Germany from another 1918 style revolution. However, this levelling of society through higher taxes for the rich and welfare benefits to ensure proper social mobility ensured that it was the "Socialism" in National Socialism that ensured the popularity and survival of the Nazi regime.
Read this book, even if the calculations have been criticised, there is a deeply important point embedded within this book. That is that when the vast majority of a dominant group are in material comfort, their loyalty may be considered bought and paid for. This disturbing truth should resonate with us today, and remain a deeply important lesson from history for us all.
Why did the German people support National Socialism? The answer lies in the seemingly mundane, but terribly important point that National Socialism created a more equal society for the "Volk", ethnic Germans. Indeed, "Hitler's Beneficiaries" asks some uncomfortable questions for many people. E.g. After the Allies had firebombed Dresden, how did the Nazis keep people happy and their morale high? The answer is that they dispossessed Jews of their houses in the aftermath of bombing and moved Germans in to those houses. They also refurnished the houses with looted furnishings from occupied Belgium, France and the Netherlands and their Jewish populations.
Aly shows that ordinary Germans were the biggest winners of a campaign of plunder and rapine carried out by the Werhmacht. But this was not all, no financial and economic experts in the Civil Service lent their hands to managing this rapine efficiently. The Nazis were able to ensure that occupied countries paid for the privilege of being occupied, and the biggest losers were the occupied Jews. Indeed, Aly shows how Bulgaria levied Jewish taxes in return for Wehrmacht support in occupying territory, how the Greeks profited from the plunder of Salonika's Jews and the subsequent deportation of said Jews to Auschwitz.
Indeed, the Germans were able to strengthen their currency, and ensure that the Wehrmacht went on one gigantic shopping spree, ensuring that Greeks and Norwegians starved whilst Germans could buy luxury salmon and coffee. Aly researches documents showing how the authorities ensured that ordinary Germans could benefit by removing customs barriers from occupied countries and how the economic system was rigged so as to constantly need expansion for more land o loot.
Ultimately, Nazism paradoxically showed the way for modern welfare states. However, the racial welfare state that Nazism created worked as bribes. By ensuring that housewives were able to buy things and that proletarians suffered no shortages throughout the war, Hitler insulated Germany from another 1918 style revolution. However, this levelling of society through higher taxes for the rich and welfare benefits to ensure proper social mobility ensured that it was the "Socialism" in National Socialism that ensured the popularity and survival of the Nazi regime.
Read this book, even if the calculations have been criticised, there is a deeply important point embedded within this book. That is that when the vast majority of a dominant group are in material comfort, their loyalty may be considered bought and paid for. This disturbing truth should resonate with us today, and remain a deeply important lesson from history for us all.
January 19, 2020
I picked this up to better understand how and why German citizens were complicit in Nazi genocide. This line from the book sums it up - "The Nazi leaderhsip did not transform the majority of Germans into idealogical fanatics.. Instead it succeeded in making them well fed parasites." The other revelation was the massive scale of the machinery put in place to steal - no other word for it - and channel wealth from Jews and occupied countries to the German public and the war effort. Turns out a well fed and pampered populance will look the other way from the genocide of others when the good days seem like they will never end.
Three stars because I wasn't prepared for a book that leans more towards being an accountant's ledger than a narrative with descriptions.
Three stars because I wasn't prepared for a book that leans more towards being an accountant's ledger than a narrative with descriptions.
April 1, 2016
Spesso e volentieri, quando si ha a che fare con reati, si dice che bisogna seguire i soldi per capire che cosa è successo, e seguire i soldi è esattamente quello che fa Aly per analizzare il Reich nazista, che altro non fu se non una immebnsa associazione a delinquere, i cui capi furono i gerarchi nazisti, e i felici gregari furono l'intero popolo tedesco, sottratto alle conseguente delle decisioni dei suoi capi da una politica sociale tesa ad ottenerle sempre e comunque l'approvazione.
E seguendo l'immane flusso di denaro provocato dai crimini nazisti, costituito dai patrimoni ebraici, ma non solo, si capisce molto anche dell'Europa moderna.
E seguendo l'immane flusso di denaro provocato dai crimini nazisti, costituito dai patrimoni ebraici, ma non solo, si capisce molto anche dell'Europa moderna.
June 6, 2024
Well this book I wouldn't call "good" but I would say I learned a lot about WW2 I didn't know, and while it makes sense, I had no idea to the extend the Nazis looted and pillaged and laundered money through the countries they occupied in order to pay for the war, and keep the lives of lower class Germany from feeling any impact, and perhaps have even a better way of life, than even prior to the war. Imagine learning your own belongings that were plundered, covered the cost to send you and your family to a concentration camp, and allowed German officers to enjoy the finer things in life. The mass planning of all of this detailed in the book focuses on who benefited from the war and the awful secret ways the Nazi regime went about covering the costs. While the book does talk a lot about economics and exchange rates and such that I know nothing about or find all that interesting, I kept at the book because the only way to learn from the past, and protect future, is to learn the ways countries and people were swindled, and tricked. The Holocaust was one aspect of the war, and atrocities abound, this book explains in great detail, how they funded it, and it's scary to know that the human minds that thought of these things decided to use it against, instead of for their fellow humans. I suggest reading this and plugging past the numbers directly and just learning more about what happened.
November 11, 2019
"Two clear conclusions emerge from these elaborate calculations. First, at least two-thirds of German war revenues were earned from foreign or 'racially foreign' sources. Second, the remaining third of the costs were distributed extremely unequally between the various economic classes in German society. One-third of taxpayers bore more than two-thirds of the burdens of war, while the vast majority of Germans paid only a small amount left over."
September 15, 2017
Very interesting and detailed look in the financing of the Nazi state and its implications. The ideas they had were novel, and managed to accomplish a lot with the relatively small resources they had, and some of their policies have stood on their own and found their way in our current states.
February 19, 2016
Al terminar de leer este ensayo, tengo una admiración aún mayor al sistema político e idiológico de los Nazis; y no me malinterpreten, me refiero al gigantesco organismo social, político y económico del cuál varios se beneficiaron para llevar a cabo el sueño Ario: El Tercer Reich.
Götz lleva al lector a través del esquema de trabajo del partido Nacional Socialista, y de como buscaron un ideal que llevara al pueblo aleman a su merecido lugar de honor y respecto histórico. Habiendo perdido una de las peores guerras de la humanidad (hasta ese entonces), el pueblo alemán se hallaba postrado en la devaluación y humillación mundial. No eran el mismo pueblo guerrero el cuál ha sido respetado por siglos, se encontraban en un bache histórico.
En este punto, Hitler y su grupo de trabajo (Göring, Goebbels, Himmler, etc), toman el mando del partido Nacional Socialista y llevan a cabo el trabajo de prometer al pueblo alemán, el famoso destino que tanto "les ha deparado el destino, una éra llena de grandeza y riqueza para todos los ciudadanos que duraría mil años".
Este es el primer plan de acción y primera parte del libro: Demagógos en acción; donde explica el tipo de planes y promesas hechas al pueblo ario para lograr su grandeza y bienestar social, un estado donde no todos eran iguales: los pobres y los ricos, con las mismas oportunidades.
La siguiente acción y segunda parte del libro: Someter y Explotar; busca expandir el territorio del Reich hacia el Este, y tomar venganza de aquellos enemigos del Estado que hicieron tanto daño al inocente pueblo alemán, y por esto me refiero a Francia, Holanda e Inglaterra. Ahora bien, los ingresos del Reich eran proporcionados por los territorios ocupados, donde emitían papel moneda canjeable en el Banco del Reich a un precio inferior del marco alemán. En otras palabras, sacaron el dinero del país ocupado y en su lugar metieron "vales de despensa alemanes".
Sin embargo, esto no era suficiente para saldar las deudas del partido, y en general, del país. ¿Quién pudiera tener riquezas que pudieramos confiscar para el mayor interés común que es el Tercer Reich? Se habían conquistado países pero no era suficiente. ¿Dónde estaba el dinero? ¿Quién lo tenía o administraba?... La respuesta es simple: los judios.
Este fue la tercera parte del libro, y respuesta final al problema Nazi: El expolio de los judios. Y si ustedes creen que fueron lo nazis los únicos beneficiados de este robo con asesinato, se equivocan. Cada uno de los países donde fueron detenidos los judios y enviados a los campos de concentración, se vieron beneficiados de la confiscación de bienes y tierras. Bulgaria, Grecia, Francia, Rumania, Hungría, Checoslovaquía, cada uno de ellos le entró a la famosa: "última solución aria", la única que podría resolver "la cuestión judía". ¿El pago? Oro, tierras, bienes en general. No cabe duda, además, que los funcionarios Nazis eran gente altamente instruida, lo cuál puede apreciarse al revisar el reporte de Michael Molho sobre el oro, joyas y bienes materiales recolectados a los judíos del pueblo de Salónica en Grecia: “En aquel espacio relativamente pequeño se amontonaban tales riquezas que ni la fantasía desbordada de un Alejandro Dumas habría podido poner ante los ojos de su conde de Montecristo”.
Si uno se pregunta aún, ¿cómo pudo ser posible que se permitiera el holocuasto?, la respuesta es sencilla, muchos se beneficiaron de estos asesinatos, ciudadanos comunes y corrientes tomaron las casas de los judios, y no les importaba que había sido de ellos, pero no solo en Alemania, sino en toda la Europa ocupada. La utopía nazi es algo que muchos buscaron, y ahora quieren olvidar que decidieron vivirla.
Götz lleva al lector a través del esquema de trabajo del partido Nacional Socialista, y de como buscaron un ideal que llevara al pueblo aleman a su merecido lugar de honor y respecto histórico. Habiendo perdido una de las peores guerras de la humanidad (hasta ese entonces), el pueblo alemán se hallaba postrado en la devaluación y humillación mundial. No eran el mismo pueblo guerrero el cuál ha sido respetado por siglos, se encontraban en un bache histórico.
En este punto, Hitler y su grupo de trabajo (Göring, Goebbels, Himmler, etc), toman el mando del partido Nacional Socialista y llevan a cabo el trabajo de prometer al pueblo alemán, el famoso destino que tanto "les ha deparado el destino, una éra llena de grandeza y riqueza para todos los ciudadanos que duraría mil años".
Este es el primer plan de acción y primera parte del libro: Demagógos en acción; donde explica el tipo de planes y promesas hechas al pueblo ario para lograr su grandeza y bienestar social, un estado donde no todos eran iguales: los pobres y los ricos, con las mismas oportunidades.
La siguiente acción y segunda parte del libro: Someter y Explotar; busca expandir el territorio del Reich hacia el Este, y tomar venganza de aquellos enemigos del Estado que hicieron tanto daño al inocente pueblo alemán, y por esto me refiero a Francia, Holanda e Inglaterra. Ahora bien, los ingresos del Reich eran proporcionados por los territorios ocupados, donde emitían papel moneda canjeable en el Banco del Reich a un precio inferior del marco alemán. En otras palabras, sacaron el dinero del país ocupado y en su lugar metieron "vales de despensa alemanes".
Sin embargo, esto no era suficiente para saldar las deudas del partido, y en general, del país. ¿Quién pudiera tener riquezas que pudieramos confiscar para el mayor interés común que es el Tercer Reich? Se habían conquistado países pero no era suficiente. ¿Dónde estaba el dinero? ¿Quién lo tenía o administraba?... La respuesta es simple: los judios.
Este fue la tercera parte del libro, y respuesta final al problema Nazi: El expolio de los judios. Y si ustedes creen que fueron lo nazis los únicos beneficiados de este robo con asesinato, se equivocan. Cada uno de los países donde fueron detenidos los judios y enviados a los campos de concentración, se vieron beneficiados de la confiscación de bienes y tierras. Bulgaria, Grecia, Francia, Rumania, Hungría, Checoslovaquía, cada uno de ellos le entró a la famosa: "última solución aria", la única que podría resolver "la cuestión judía". ¿El pago? Oro, tierras, bienes en general. No cabe duda, además, que los funcionarios Nazis eran gente altamente instruida, lo cuál puede apreciarse al revisar el reporte de Michael Molho sobre el oro, joyas y bienes materiales recolectados a los judíos del pueblo de Salónica en Grecia: “En aquel espacio relativamente pequeño se amontonaban tales riquezas que ni la fantasía desbordada de un Alejandro Dumas habría podido poner ante los ojos de su conde de Montecristo”.
Si uno se pregunta aún, ¿cómo pudo ser posible que se permitiera el holocuasto?, la respuesta es sencilla, muchos se beneficiaron de estos asesinatos, ciudadanos comunes y corrientes tomaron las casas de los judios, y no les importaba que había sido de ellos, pero no solo en Alemania, sino en toda la Europa ocupada. La utopía nazi es algo que muchos buscaron, y ahora quieren olvidar que decidieron vivirla.
August 17, 2019
In this book I see unfortunate parallels between what is happening today and what happened in the past. For instance, "people not tremendously interested in the potential costs of their short term welfare to their neighbors or to future generations." And, "Anti-authoritarian glee at the toppling of the old order with the authoritarian devotion to a new utopia...." Plus "...the German people perceived Hitler not as strident social divider and excluder but rather as a great integrator." Those statements have a familiar ring. What the Nazis did was promote greater equality among Germans at the expense of others.They essentially stole from the minorities and 'enemies of the state' to provide benefits for the 'ethnic German.' On p. 291 of this book it is noted "policy of plunder was the cornerstone for the welfare of the German people and a major guarantor of their political loyalty which was first and foremost based on material considerations." And on p. 292 the author states material self interest suppressed any acknowledgement of the criminal basis of the Nazi Social Welfare state among the majority of Germans." And the author posits on p. 304 that the majority of Germans were not rabid Nazis but just conformists eager to enjoy the advantages the state offered them. It was through a policy of plundering the countries they occupied to support the war and the German economy - providing material goods for the majority of ethnic Germans so they did not have to feel the effects of the war that the NAZIs stayed in power.
However, the Germans did massively increase taxes on companies and rich Germans when necessary to keep from increasing taxes on 95% of the German population.
In other words, the author notes it was through robbery and financial legerdemain that Hitler and his cronies stayed in power. By various financial chicanery they hid the financial costs of the war and maintenance of the German economy from the German people and as long as the German people were well fed and taken care of the NAZIs stayed in power.
However, the Germans did massively increase taxes on companies and rich Germans when necessary to keep from increasing taxes on 95% of the German population.
In other words, the author notes it was through robbery and financial legerdemain that Hitler and his cronies stayed in power. By various financial chicanery they hid the financial costs of the war and maintenance of the German economy from the German people and as long as the German people were well fed and taken care of the NAZIs stayed in power.
September 6, 2019
This is a fascinating study of something I have always wanted to learn more about: how did Nazi Germany pay for the war?
Ali (a German historian of Turkish ancestry) goes into considerable detail to document what was in effect state-sponsored piracy combined with a Ponzi scheme. The whole racket depended on the issue of debt that could only be paid off if Germany won the war (since the Nazi state would then have been able to sell off a vast portfolio of assets in the conquered territories of the East).
This book provides a disturbing view into the extent of bureaucratic complicity in Nazi crimes. Jews were delegitimised as citizens, extracted from their communities and packed off to murder camps not by some clique of fanatics but by a broad cadre of senior army officers and state officials. These latter were motivated by plunder. The wealth stolen was used to pay German occupation costs. In addition, personal effects of Jews, such as furniture and clothing, were distributed widely within Germany to those bombed out of their homes. Goetz Ali himself notes his revulsion on learning that certain items of antique furniture in his parents' house were "donated by the state" during the war and probably came from Jewish homes.
This book should be read by anyone seeking to appreciate just how frighteningly corruptible ordinary people are under the reign of clever, evil people. Disgracefully, the German people went along with the Nazis because they believed there was something in it for themselves. Scores of thousands of upper-middle-class Germans committed atrocities, yet these were law-abiding people before the war and returned to normal civilian life after the war. Very few were ever prosecuted.
There is nothing unique in this. It could happen again.
Ali (a German historian of Turkish ancestry) goes into considerable detail to document what was in effect state-sponsored piracy combined with a Ponzi scheme. The whole racket depended on the issue of debt that could only be paid off if Germany won the war (since the Nazi state would then have been able to sell off a vast portfolio of assets in the conquered territories of the East).
This book provides a disturbing view into the extent of bureaucratic complicity in Nazi crimes. Jews were delegitimised as citizens, extracted from their communities and packed off to murder camps not by some clique of fanatics but by a broad cadre of senior army officers and state officials. These latter were motivated by plunder. The wealth stolen was used to pay German occupation costs. In addition, personal effects of Jews, such as furniture and clothing, were distributed widely within Germany to those bombed out of their homes. Goetz Ali himself notes his revulsion on learning that certain items of antique furniture in his parents' house were "donated by the state" during the war and probably came from Jewish homes.
This book should be read by anyone seeking to appreciate just how frighteningly corruptible ordinary people are under the reign of clever, evil people. Disgracefully, the German people went along with the Nazis because they believed there was something in it for themselves. Scores of thousands of upper-middle-class Germans committed atrocities, yet these were law-abiding people before the war and returned to normal civilian life after the war. Very few were ever prosecuted.
There is nothing unique in this. It could happen again.
March 13, 2021
Exactly why did the German people follow Hitler and his gang of international criminals to disaster? It was not because they hated their Jewish neighbors. It was not because they wanted to conquer the world. The author argues (very convincingly) that it was basically because Hitler bought them off with social programs. Hitler decided early that the German people (other than the very richest) would not pay for the war. They would not face hardships and material shortages as they had from 1914 to 1918. They would have plenty to eat, not to mention fresh air to breathe, beautiful parks for weekend excursions, and clean rivers for swimming. (Incredibly, the first environmental protection laws in German history were passed by the Third Reich.) Instead, billions of dollars in cash and goods were confiscated from Jews scheduled for extermination and funneled back to Germany for distribution to German civilians in the form of welfare programs. This enabled Hitler to avoid the massive unpopular tax increases needed in other combatant countries to pay for their war effort. He also imposed crushing "reparations" on occupied countries, in effect making them pay for the cost of German occupation. He was thus able to retain the support of "ordinary" Germans until the bitter end. This book is well researched and written and always interesting. I took away one star only because the economics become too detailed and esoteric at times. But highly recommended.
July 4, 2018
Other reviews here have covered Ross' arguments well, so I'll just share a couple of my favourite quotes from the book.
1. “Concern for the people’s welfare- at any cost- was a mark of the Nazi system from its inception.” (3)
2. “The material interests of millions of individuals first had to be brought together with anti-Semitic ideology before the great crime we now know as the holocaust could take on its genocidal momentum.” (6)
3. Nazi “domestic policies were remarkably friendly toward the German lower classes, soaking the wealthy and redistributing the burdens of wartime to the benefit of the underprivileged.” (7)
4. “The financial experts represented a counterweight to the Nazi regime, which, owing to its tendency toward heedless action and, of course, the character of the Fuhrer himself, was often unstable. The collaboration between the two was makeshift and improvised, but it was efficient enough to support nearly twelve years of rearmament, violence, and annihilation.” (316)
1. “Concern for the people’s welfare- at any cost- was a mark of the Nazi system from its inception.” (3)
2. “The material interests of millions of individuals first had to be brought together with anti-Semitic ideology before the great crime we now know as the holocaust could take on its genocidal momentum.” (6)
3. Nazi “domestic policies were remarkably friendly toward the German lower classes, soaking the wealthy and redistributing the burdens of wartime to the benefit of the underprivileged.” (7)
4. “The financial experts represented a counterweight to the Nazi regime, which, owing to its tendency toward heedless action and, of course, the character of the Fuhrer himself, was often unstable. The collaboration between the two was makeshift and improvised, but it was efficient enough to support nearly twelve years of rearmament, violence, and annihilation.” (316)
May 15, 2013
I enjoyed his introduction a bit too much (because he claims that the Nazi regime was exceptionally a "young" one!), and didn't know to what extent he is taken seriously as a scholar since I do not study German history. I had to contextualize his work and found a review by John Connelly online (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n16/john-con...). Connelly's review was helpful in confirming the novelty of this work (as many reviewers mention, this is the first book to highlight how Nazis financed WWII through Jews-owned wealth). Connelly is a bit critical of Aly's point on how much support the Nazis attained from ordinary German people (and shifting the guilt consciousness among former Nazi participants), but these criticisms appeared strangely weak. All in all, Aly mapped out and made sense of the Nazi's financial plunders very thoroughly.
If you are in a hurry, the last three short chapters summarize his point pretty nicely.
If you are in a hurry, the last three short chapters summarize his point pretty nicely.
March 8, 2014
Gotz Aly nos descubre la complicidad de la mayoría del pueblo alemán que se dejó comprar a cambio de seguridad y bienestar material.
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May 26, 2025**Overview**
This book examines how ordinary Germans benefited materially from the Nazi regime’s policies of plunder, expropriation, and redistribution during the Third Reich. It argues that the Nazi state did not only rely on terror and propaganda to maintain control, but also used wealth stolen from Jews and conquered peoples to fund a welfare state that directly improved the standard of living for many “Aryan” citizens. The book reveals how these economic incentives created complicity and widespread support for the regime’s racial war.
**Key Themes and Insights**
* The Nazi regime systematically plundered property, assets, and resources from Jews, occupied territories, and targeted minorities.
* Confiscated wealth was redistributed through social benefits, cheap housing, tax breaks, and consumer goods to loyal German citizens.
* Ordinary Germans often acquired Jewish-owned businesses, homes, furniture, and valuables at bargain prices, sometimes through state auctions.
* Welfare programs, such as family allowances, pensions, and subsidies, were expanded significantly during the war, especially for those deemed racially valuable.
* The economic integration of loot and stolen property into everyday German life blurred the distinction between perpetrators, bystanders, and beneficiaries.
* Many Germans were aware—at least in part—of the origins of their newfound prosperity, yet benefited from or ignored the injustices for personal gain.
* Nazi economic policy encouraged a sense of entitlement and participation in the regime’s objectives, including the war and genocidal projects.
* The regime’s ability to deliver material improvements helped maintain public support, even as the realities of war intensified.
* The legacy of this plunder created both moral and practical challenges for post-war German society.
**Actionable Ideas**
* Promote historical education that emphasizes not just the crimes of the Nazi leadership, but also the everyday complicity and material benefits that supported the regime.
* Support research and transparency about the provenance of art, property, and assets with possible links to Nazi plunder.
* Encourage the inclusion of economic and social dimensions of the Holocaust in school curricula and public discourse.
* Advocate for restitution and reparations where feasible, and for honest dialogue about the long-term impacts of such policies.
* Foster critical discussions about the ways modern societies can become complicit in injustice through indirect benefits or passive acceptance.
* Examine and question contemporary policies that might use redistribution or welfare as a means of consolidating power or creating exclusionary benefits.
* Support local and international initiatives aimed at the restitution of looted property and remembrance of victims.
* Encourage individual reflection on the moral responsibilities of benefiting from unjust systems, both past and present.
**Practical Steps for Individuals**
* Educate yourself and others about the hidden economic aspects of authoritarian regimes and their impacts on society.
* When possible, research the history of inherited or acquired property for links to injustice or dispossession.
* Support museums, documentaries, and educational programs that focus on these themes.
* Participate in community events or initiatives that promote awareness and restitution for historical injustices.
* Stay vigilant about how current economic policies and benefits are sourced and distributed, advocating for fairness and transparency.
This book examines how ordinary Germans benefited materially from the Nazi regime’s policies of plunder, expropriation, and redistribution during the Third Reich. It argues that the Nazi state did not only rely on terror and propaganda to maintain control, but also used wealth stolen from Jews and conquered peoples to fund a welfare state that directly improved the standard of living for many “Aryan” citizens. The book reveals how these economic incentives created complicity and widespread support for the regime’s racial war.
**Key Themes and Insights**
* The Nazi regime systematically plundered property, assets, and resources from Jews, occupied territories, and targeted minorities.
* Confiscated wealth was redistributed through social benefits, cheap housing, tax breaks, and consumer goods to loyal German citizens.
* Ordinary Germans often acquired Jewish-owned businesses, homes, furniture, and valuables at bargain prices, sometimes through state auctions.
* Welfare programs, such as family allowances, pensions, and subsidies, were expanded significantly during the war, especially for those deemed racially valuable.
* The economic integration of loot and stolen property into everyday German life blurred the distinction between perpetrators, bystanders, and beneficiaries.
* Many Germans were aware—at least in part—of the origins of their newfound prosperity, yet benefited from or ignored the injustices for personal gain.
* Nazi economic policy encouraged a sense of entitlement and participation in the regime’s objectives, including the war and genocidal projects.
* The regime’s ability to deliver material improvements helped maintain public support, even as the realities of war intensified.
* The legacy of this plunder created both moral and practical challenges for post-war German society.
**Actionable Ideas**
* Promote historical education that emphasizes not just the crimes of the Nazi leadership, but also the everyday complicity and material benefits that supported the regime.
* Support research and transparency about the provenance of art, property, and assets with possible links to Nazi plunder.
* Encourage the inclusion of economic and social dimensions of the Holocaust in school curricula and public discourse.
* Advocate for restitution and reparations where feasible, and for honest dialogue about the long-term impacts of such policies.
* Foster critical discussions about the ways modern societies can become complicit in injustice through indirect benefits or passive acceptance.
* Examine and question contemporary policies that might use redistribution or welfare as a means of consolidating power or creating exclusionary benefits.
* Support local and international initiatives aimed at the restitution of looted property and remembrance of victims.
* Encourage individual reflection on the moral responsibilities of benefiting from unjust systems, both past and present.
**Practical Steps for Individuals**
* Educate yourself and others about the hidden economic aspects of authoritarian regimes and their impacts on society.
* When possible, research the history of inherited or acquired property for links to injustice or dispossession.
* Support museums, documentaries, and educational programs that focus on these themes.
* Participate in community events or initiatives that promote awareness and restitution for historical injustices.
* Stay vigilant about how current economic policies and benefits are sourced and distributed, advocating for fairness and transparency.
May 27, 2023
I read many books about Nazi Germany and almost all of them are concentrated on evils of nazi ideology or battles of WW2 but rearly if ever do historians speak about economic politics of nazi Germany. But it is very interesting question to ask on how nazis payed a war with whole world and at the same time ordinary Germans never tryed to rebel or was ever some social uphevel in Germany? Germans where happy and whole world at war.
Hitler's Beneficiaries is a fantastic book that tryes to answer that questions. Nazis created a economic system of mass military conquest and mass plunder of whole world that benefited ordinary Germans that created no interest in them to oppose Hitler and his cronies, Germans where basicly bribed in silence on evils of Nazi regime and they complied. Book is eye oppener on why Germans suported war effort and never rebeled. Almost whole German nation is guilty of system that exploited whole Europe. Ending paragraph is one of the best explenation on why Nazi regime emerged, how it operated and why it ended and it is shocking.
Now book is a bit long and dry in some parts but these are not bad things because of subject matter it has to be that way. I recommend this book to all who love WW2 themed books, it will open your eyes and give new perspective on evils of nazism.
Hitler's Beneficiaries is a fantastic book that tryes to answer that questions. Nazis created a economic system of mass military conquest and mass plunder of whole world that benefited ordinary Germans that created no interest in them to oppose Hitler and his cronies, Germans where basicly bribed in silence on evils of Nazi regime and they complied. Book is eye oppener on why Germans suported war effort and never rebeled. Almost whole German nation is guilty of system that exploited whole Europe. Ending paragraph is one of the best explenation on why Nazi regime emerged, how it operated and why it ended and it is shocking.
Now book is a bit long and dry in some parts but these are not bad things because of subject matter it has to be that way. I recommend this book to all who love WW2 themed books, it will open your eyes and give new perspective on evils of nazism.
July 12, 2024
This book covers the intricate and larcenous ways the Nazi regime funded its war effort not only by the systematic confiscation of assets, property, and even gold teeth of the targets of the Final Solution, but how those stolen assets benefited the ordinary citizens of the Reich in ways that kept discontent down. By providing warehouses of linens, furniture, and household goods to its people who suffered from Allied bombing raids, the ordinary citizens were given welfare on the backs of the victims of the Reich’s racial policies. The Reich also allowed its occupation troops to send unlimited goods home to the Reich, keeping food and luxury items in the hands of its core citizens thus reducing discontent, and keeping morale high among its troops. Herr Aly also goes into the intricacies of the Reich’s currency manipulation and theft from the occupied nations treasuries. Admittedly some of that was over my head, but it was very apparent that the Reich did everything it could to keep inflation away from the Reich’s citizens, and to force the occupied countries to bear every bit of cost they could make up in an effort to keep the Reich’s taxes low, and force the costs of the war onto the occupied peoples.
April 15, 2024
detailed description of how Nazi Germany plundered other countries economically during the 2nd world war. Basically the war itself as well as a large percentage of social welfare payments to Germans were funded by other countries and the Jews.
Contrary to most people's impression, Nazi Germany was not just based on a pure evil ideology, it used its tax policies and social welfare payments to "bribe" the average German middle class and work class people. The German government cannot just print money to fulfill their promises, they needed more resources and they decided to invade other countries to obtain more material, gold, wealth, land and slavery labour, so that their own people could live a better life, as a result the average German may tolerate and even cooperate with the Nazi's ideology.
So at the end, who commited the crime during the war? Is it just Adolf Hitler? or just his party and his government? or the entire country who were just "happy" with a better lifestyle thanks to the plundering?
didn't give the book a 5 star because it kind of was a bit too detailed to my liking....
Contrary to most people's impression, Nazi Germany was not just based on a pure evil ideology, it used its tax policies and social welfare payments to "bribe" the average German middle class and work class people. The German government cannot just print money to fulfill their promises, they needed more resources and they decided to invade other countries to obtain more material, gold, wealth, land and slavery labour, so that their own people could live a better life, as a result the average German may tolerate and even cooperate with the Nazi's ideology.
So at the end, who commited the crime during the war? Is it just Adolf Hitler? or just his party and his government? or the entire country who were just "happy" with a better lifestyle thanks to the plundering?
didn't give the book a 5 star because it kind of was a bit too detailed to my liking....
April 12, 2020
Gotz Aly shows how the Nazis financed World War II in significant measure by theft of the wealth of European Jews and by the systematic plunder of conquered nations and putative allies. The actions, he argues, allowed the Nazis to prop up living standards within Germany without the need for broad based tax increases. In fact, Nazi soldiers systematically shipped back to Germany goods otherwise in short supply, both luxury items like wine, spirits and fashion goods, but also daily necessities like eggs and meat. Gotz Aly argues that these thefts spared Germany from material privation, ensuring continued political support for the regime, at the cost of destruction of the plundered nations' economies. The economic analysis is not as sophisticated as Tooze's Wages of Destruction, but his major these appear generally sound, even if the exact amounts are uncertain. This is an important work; to the extent that Gotz Aly's estimates may be subject to further refinement, he has blazed a path for subsequent scholars.
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