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Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties
"Meticulously researched ...compels us to confront the current-day legacy of these Nazi ties." --Wall Street Journal
A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II--and how America allowed them to get away with it.
In 1946, G�nther Quandt--patriarch of Germany's most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW--was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his archrival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still control Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight--until now.
In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany's wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of previously untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave laborers, and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler's army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how America's political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.
A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II--and how America allowed them to get away with it.
In 1946, G�nther Quandt--patriarch of Germany's most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW--was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his archrival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still control Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight--until now.
In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany's wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of previously untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave laborers, and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler's army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how America's political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2022
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10393 people want to read
About the author
David de Jong
7 books59 followersDavid de Jong is a journalist and author. His first book, Nazi Billionaires, is published in the US and the UK by HarperCollins and will be translated in more than twenty languages from English. He spent four years reporting from Berlin while researching and writing this book. David previously covered European banking and finance from Amsterdam and hidden wealth from New York for Bloomberg News. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek. A native of the Netherlands, he currently lives in Tel Aviv and works as a Middle East correspondent for the Dutch Financial Daily.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 419 reviews
May 17, 2022
This is an extraordinary investigation into the businessmen who financed the NSDAP German Nazi Party) almost from its inception including the financing and arming of the SS. These tycoons then went on to accumulate incredible wealth by equipping the Wehrmacht and the SS throughout the Second World War. Much of this wealth was accumulated initially by ‘the process of ‘Aryanisation’ by which Jewish owned businesses were either sequestered or purchased at an enormous discount to actual market value. Little of this value was recovered by the original owners after the War Later, contracts relating to German rearmament and the eventual prosecution of global conflict enabled these men to become billionaires. Most of them were ardent Nazis and joined the SS. During the war their enrichment was further accommodated via the SS by the employment of forced and slave labour drawn from Poland, The Soviet anion and other German occupied territories. Eventually, smaller concentration camps were built next to the factories to better accommodate arms and related warfare production. The eventual liberation of these camps and the terrible suffering inflicted on the people who worked in them is summed up in the damning indictment of US Army Colonel George Lynch, one of the liberators: “Some will say that the Nazis were responsible for this crime. Others will point to the Gestapo. The responsibility rests with neither.- it is the responsibility of the German people. Your so called Master Race has demonstrated that it is a master only of crime, cruelty and sadism. You have lost the respect of the civilised world”.
Following the cessation of hostilities in 1945, many of these German businessmen were put on trial at Nuremburg and some actually served short sentences. The British and Americans however, recognised the ominous threat to Western Europe posed by Stalin’s Soviet Union and the need to employ Germany as a bulwark against Soviet incursion. One means of achieving this was by rebuilding the German economy by rehabilitating its industrial capacity. The crimes of these entrepreneurs were thus conveniently ignored and they went on to accumulate even greater wealth, although not at the the same tragic cost in human life as in previous years. The outbreak of the Korean War meant that a considerable part of US industry was turned over to arms production. Much of the growing post-war demand for cars and consumer goods was therefore directed toward German industry and the wealth of these elderly tycoons grew at an even greater rate.
Today, the wealth accumulated by the likes of Gunther Quandt, Von Finck, Oetker, Porsche and Flick remain in the hands of their family heirs. These people remain in control of such well known names as BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche etc. The latter part of this book investigates the lengths that these grandchildren have gone to to obscure the human cost and suffering on which their immense wealth is founded.
This is a most necessary and revealing piece of research told in compelling but not exaggerated or hyperbolic terms. Thoroughly recommended although after reading this book you may never look at German cars etc in the same light again.
Following the cessation of hostilities in 1945, many of these German businessmen were put on trial at Nuremburg and some actually served short sentences. The British and Americans however, recognised the ominous threat to Western Europe posed by Stalin’s Soviet Union and the need to employ Germany as a bulwark against Soviet incursion. One means of achieving this was by rebuilding the German economy by rehabilitating its industrial capacity. The crimes of these entrepreneurs were thus conveniently ignored and they went on to accumulate even greater wealth, although not at the the same tragic cost in human life as in previous years. The outbreak of the Korean War meant that a considerable part of US industry was turned over to arms production. Much of the growing post-war demand for cars and consumer goods was therefore directed toward German industry and the wealth of these elderly tycoons grew at an even greater rate.
Today, the wealth accumulated by the likes of Gunther Quandt, Von Finck, Oetker, Porsche and Flick remain in the hands of their family heirs. These people remain in control of such well known names as BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche etc. The latter part of this book investigates the lengths that these grandchildren have gone to to obscure the human cost and suffering on which their immense wealth is founded.
This is a most necessary and revealing piece of research told in compelling but not exaggerated or hyperbolic terms. Thoroughly recommended although after reading this book you may never look at German cars etc in the same light again.
June 30, 2025
Holy research and detail, Batman! This one is so impressive. I know a good amount about Nazis and WWII but this was mostly all new for me. I was aghast throughout at what went down and how it’s all played out into the present. This book is a service to the people.
December 12, 2024
Рідко звертають увагу на те, як бізнес підтримував Гітлера, і наскільки допоміг розвинутись нацистській машині. А ця книга вичерпно розповідає як все було.
Без паралелей із сучасністю читати неможливо.
Без паралелей із сучасністю читати неможливо.
May 31, 2022
Excellent and well written account of major corporations run by family dynasties who were involved with the Nazis as out right collaborators or close.
January 9, 2024
Два дні на цю книгу. Вона просто влетіла у мою голову, залишила великий смуток у голові і серці. Чи існує історична справедливість? Чи дійсно, як кажуть релігії, лише небесна, трансцендентна справедливість?
Чи не існує ніякої, окрім знавіснілої жадоби до грошей, влади і насилля?
Чи не існує ніякої, окрім знавіснілої жадоби до грошей, влади і насилля?
August 23, 2025
Foarte bine documentat.
July 1, 2022
Almost as disturbing as the Dressmakers of Auschwitz. Their wealth is ill-gotten and so very blood tainted. I don't understand how they can look themselves in the mirror. Unfortunately, they are not the only humans to have gained so much by basically murdering others. How humans can be so cruel to other humans is mind boggling. It's been going on since the beginning of time but the Nazi's do seem to be the worst of the worst.
July 27, 2023
Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties is a comprehensively researched, well-written book about some of the key German industrialists (e.g., Günther Quandt; Friedrich Flick; Wilhelm von Finck Sr.; Ferdinand Porsche, his son-in-law Anton Piëch, and Porsche's son 'Ferry'; and Rudolf-August Oetker) who greedily enriched themselves and were able to expand their economic power through their support of the Nazis during their reign in Germany (1933-1945).
This is a history in which German industrialists supported Hitler and profited from their association with his government through the "Aryanization" of Jewish-owned businesses which became available for these industrialists to acquire and build their individual industrial empires upon. By so doing, they helped make possible the economic recovery and growth of the national economy in the 1930s, and the development of the German war machine.
The book goes a long way to highlight, in considerable detail, the ways in which these industrialists shamelessly used and exploited forced and slave labor during World War II in both Germany and German-occupied Europe, and their later efforts in the immediate post-war era to downplay or whitewash their past associations with the Nazis. For a time, most of these industrialists (even those like Quandt, Flick, von Finck Sr., the two Porsches and Piëch, and Rudolf-August Oetker) put on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes - most of these men either served short stints in prison or were --- in the case of Quandt --- acquitted - were able over time, due to Cold War imperatives and pressures, to reacquire some of their businesses, and rebuild and expand their wealth and influence in Germany.
Frankly, it amazed me to learn about the current generation of billionaires in Germany who are the direct heirs and beneficiaries of the prewar generation of industrialists. Sadly, much of this current generation, when presented with the Nazi past of their forebears, either choose to ignore that past or minimize its lasting impact on Germany and the world at large. I urge anyone with interests in German and postwar economic history, to read this book.
This is a history in which German industrialists supported Hitler and profited from their association with his government through the "Aryanization" of Jewish-owned businesses which became available for these industrialists to acquire and build their individual industrial empires upon. By so doing, they helped make possible the economic recovery and growth of the national economy in the 1930s, and the development of the German war machine.
The book goes a long way to highlight, in considerable detail, the ways in which these industrialists shamelessly used and exploited forced and slave labor during World War II in both Germany and German-occupied Europe, and their later efforts in the immediate post-war era to downplay or whitewash their past associations with the Nazis. For a time, most of these industrialists (even those like Quandt, Flick, von Finck Sr., the two Porsches and Piëch, and Rudolf-August Oetker) put on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes - most of these men either served short stints in prison or were --- in the case of Quandt --- acquitted - were able over time, due to Cold War imperatives and pressures, to reacquire some of their businesses, and rebuild and expand their wealth and influence in Germany.
Frankly, it amazed me to learn about the current generation of billionaires in Germany who are the direct heirs and beneficiaries of the prewar generation of industrialists. Sadly, much of this current generation, when presented with the Nazi past of their forebears, either choose to ignore that past or minimize its lasting impact on Germany and the world at large. I urge anyone with interests in German and postwar economic history, to read this book.
July 10, 2022
About 45% complete but my anger is forcing me to stop reading. The depth of barbarism that created extraordinary wealth is incomprehensible.
January 27, 2024
Після цієї книги вам не захочеться ні пити доктор пеппер, ні випікати з ч dr oetker, ні купувати BMW. І так само бойкотувати низку брендів. Бо ці бренди виросло на крові закатованих Німеччиною полонених. І їхні власники були тими, хто привів Гітлера до влади, а потім хто і спонсорував війну. І відверто на ній заробляв.
Але найгірше, що частина нащадків нацистів не прийняла ні правду, ні вчинки предків. І спокійно живуть, ігноруючи походження коштів. Так само ігнорують виплати постраждалим і будь-які компенсації.
Після книги таке гидке і сумне відчуття. Адже розумієш, що реальні злочинці уникнули покарання, підкупивши кого можна, зманіпулювавши фактами та комунікацію. Ці люди впливали на історію, а тепер їхні нащадки впливають на історію.
Але найгірше, що частина нащадків нацистів не прийняла ні правду, ні вчинки предків. І спокійно живуть, ігноруючи походження коштів. Так само ігнорують виплати постраждалим і будь-які компенсації.
Після книги таке гидке і сумне відчуття. Адже розумієш, що реальні злочинці уникнули покарання, підкупивши кого можна, зманіпулювавши фактами та комунікацію. Ці люди впливали на історію, а тепер їхні нащадки впливають на історію.
January 1, 2025
I was tempted to give this book more stars but I couldn't not because it is bad or information is incorrect but because I can't get excited about information that has long been known and written about - that various German business men got behind the Nazis and benefited from them in all sorts of ways including the aryanization of Jewish firms and properties, the looting of businesses and properties in Czechoslovakia the use of slave labour, etc. and that post war trials and denazification trials failed to bring any of these men to justice in any meaningful way - all of this is known and has been written about in better books. That any of this should come as a surprise to anyone reveals not that this is a secret but that there are a great many ignorant people in the world and does not warrant treating this book as anything but a cynical exercise in using 'Nazi' as a way to encourage sales.
Despite all Mr. de Jong's pomposities even he has to admit that very few of the companies he mentions still have direct connections to the families of the Nazis he mentions. That those Germans of the younger generation that do have links still to the firms their Nazi grandfathers or great grandfathers ran or owned are often right wing, unattractively ignorant and with propensity to say stupid things is not surprising. Rich people are rarely intelligent in the sense of having an awareness of others or even of there own families histories. These people may be shits but they aren't Nazis.
At the end of the first quarter of the 21st century I think it is time we broadened are sense of justice betrayed away from simply the failure to prosecute Nazis after the second world war and look at all our failures to face up the cremes in our pasts. How many histories of the UK or its noble families and grand country houses acknowledge how many were built in total or in part with the benefits of profits from the slave trade, slave plantations in the Caribbean or the systematic impoverishment of places like Bengal in India by greedy ancestors who didn't care anymore for the life of poor foreigners, and barely more about poor British or Irish people, who lived lives of indescribable horror to create and support the glittering lifestyle that our heritage industries celebrates.
I have read many biographies of the 18th century eccentric William Beckford author Vathek, builder on Fonthill Abbey, collector of incredible works of art like the Stanislas bureau, how many lines in his many biographies is given over to the source that supported his vastly extravagant lifestyle? Not enough to fill one printed page if extracted from all of them - that is all the attention his sugar plantations get - places were seven working years the average a slave could expect to live. Is it not time that we all look into our pasts and look at the vast advantages we received from all those places now casually termed 'the third world'?
What does any of that have to do with this book? Nothing and everything. Continuously harping back to the Nazis as some absolute evil that absolves any of the rest of us from having to do any retrospective reckoning is getting ever more shabby and thread bare. More people need to read authors like Sven Lindqvist's 'Exterminate All the Brutes' or 'Late Victorian Holocausts' by Mike Davis. I have no wish to relativize or reduce, excuse, diminish, justify or explain away what the Nazis did. But they are not the only ones with questions to answer.
Particularly not a stupid book like this that doesn't even give any attention to the firm of Krupp which was by far the greatest and most well known firm associated with the Nazis simply because the family ceased to have anything to do with the firm in the mid 1960s (though there are plenty of Krupp descendants living lives of great comfort on money from those years). When either the imprisonment of Alfred Krupp or confiscation of his property became problematic it was impossible to legally punish less prominent businessmen (I suggest reading the very interesting chapters in William Manchester's 'The Arms of Krupp' a flawed book in his view of German history but still the best book on the family and firm and on the use of slave labour).
So clearly this book annoyed me - there are plenty of questions to ask about our responsibility for what was done in the past - but silly books with scare titles about 'Nazi Billionaires' is to stupid for words.
Despite all Mr. de Jong's pomposities even he has to admit that very few of the companies he mentions still have direct connections to the families of the Nazis he mentions. That those Germans of the younger generation that do have links still to the firms their Nazi grandfathers or great grandfathers ran or owned are often right wing, unattractively ignorant and with propensity to say stupid things is not surprising. Rich people are rarely intelligent in the sense of having an awareness of others or even of there own families histories. These people may be shits but they aren't Nazis.
At the end of the first quarter of the 21st century I think it is time we broadened are sense of justice betrayed away from simply the failure to prosecute Nazis after the second world war and look at all our failures to face up the cremes in our pasts. How many histories of the UK or its noble families and grand country houses acknowledge how many were built in total or in part with the benefits of profits from the slave trade, slave plantations in the Caribbean or the systematic impoverishment of places like Bengal in India by greedy ancestors who didn't care anymore for the life of poor foreigners, and barely more about poor British or Irish people, who lived lives of indescribable horror to create and support the glittering lifestyle that our heritage industries celebrates.
I have read many biographies of the 18th century eccentric William Beckford author Vathek, builder on Fonthill Abbey, collector of incredible works of art like the Stanislas bureau, how many lines in his many biographies is given over to the source that supported his vastly extravagant lifestyle? Not enough to fill one printed page if extracted from all of them - that is all the attention his sugar plantations get - places were seven working years the average a slave could expect to live. Is it not time that we all look into our pasts and look at the vast advantages we received from all those places now casually termed 'the third world'?
What does any of that have to do with this book? Nothing and everything. Continuously harping back to the Nazis as some absolute evil that absolves any of the rest of us from having to do any retrospective reckoning is getting ever more shabby and thread bare. More people need to read authors like Sven Lindqvist's 'Exterminate All the Brutes' or 'Late Victorian Holocausts' by Mike Davis. I have no wish to relativize or reduce, excuse, diminish, justify or explain away what the Nazis did. But they are not the only ones with questions to answer.
Particularly not a stupid book like this that doesn't even give any attention to the firm of Krupp which was by far the greatest and most well known firm associated with the Nazis simply because the family ceased to have anything to do with the firm in the mid 1960s (though there are plenty of Krupp descendants living lives of great comfort on money from those years). When either the imprisonment of Alfred Krupp or confiscation of his property became problematic it was impossible to legally punish less prominent businessmen (I suggest reading the very interesting chapters in William Manchester's 'The Arms of Krupp' a flawed book in his view of German history but still the best book on the family and firm and on the use of slave labour).
So clearly this book annoyed me - there are plenty of questions to ask about our responsibility for what was done in the past - but silly books with scare titles about 'Nazi Billionaires' is to stupid for words.
October 5, 2023
UPDATE 10/5/23: Anyone looking to start arguments on the validity of the Holocaust will be blocked. All too often some dumbass tries to argue the Holocaust by posting "Historical Facts" from an author who literally has books blaming jews for {Insert whatever societal ill here} as a means to disregard stories like this.
When I think of the Nazi's rise to power I tend to focus on the million of Jews who were murdered by the deranged party. Who's lives seemingly overnight were ripped apart. The sheer scope of the suffering endured is a dark cloud not only on German's history but on humans. How we can be susceptible to such heinous acts if it is politically and culturally acceptable. It's terrifying, it revels how our faults can be manipulated and weaponized to commit unspeakable crimes. This story unpacks something I embarrassingly had not considered. What happens to wealthy Jews who owned factories, banks, pieces of land, store fronts etc? Who was working in these factories during the war and who profited from the war? These are some of the questions the book answers.
This story shows how businessmen who were fervent Nazis and opportunistic business men who do not care about Nazism but care about making money, built or maintained fortunes during the war through processes such as employing slave labor, stealing Jewish assets as their own for a fraction of the cost. Becoming extraordinarily wealthy, to such an extent that their 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation heirs are billionaires today in Germany. The sheer amount of wealth made and established in these times is astounding. The history is foggy as to where this money came from? The book tells the story, how business men were happy to smile and drink cocktails with Hitler during the war to then plead innocence in the aftermath and pretend that they were "forced" to do so. Their only option was to play nice with Hitler because of political pressure. This is what Nazi war criminals after the war pleaded, many who built fortunes that would last generations off of stolen assets, slave labor and even profiting off of the gas used by the Nazi party to exterminate Jews.
Horrific, whats worse is that the slave labors who worked in these factories were never paid, they were never given restitution for their illegal labor by the families who profited from their suffering.
One family donated 6 million due to the political blowback ...... In 2010's. Almost 70 years later, another court ordered some families to be paid in 1986 but this was minimal and 30 years after the suffering. Heirs of the dynastic wealth open up their mouths about the suffering and you wish they had not done so. They say things "Well it was a long time ago" or "We need to move on". These heirs hold fortunes that are above 30 billion in some cases. Businesses established with blood and suffering.
4 stars, remember anytime there is a tragedy, not far from its origins will be someone who will plot for economic gain.
When I think of the Nazi's rise to power I tend to focus on the million of Jews who were murdered by the deranged party. Who's lives seemingly overnight were ripped apart. The sheer scope of the suffering endured is a dark cloud not only on German's history but on humans. How we can be susceptible to such heinous acts if it is politically and culturally acceptable. It's terrifying, it revels how our faults can be manipulated and weaponized to commit unspeakable crimes. This story unpacks something I embarrassingly had not considered. What happens to wealthy Jews who owned factories, banks, pieces of land, store fronts etc? Who was working in these factories during the war and who profited from the war? These are some of the questions the book answers.
This story shows how businessmen who were fervent Nazis and opportunistic business men who do not care about Nazism but care about making money, built or maintained fortunes during the war through processes such as employing slave labor, stealing Jewish assets as their own for a fraction of the cost. Becoming extraordinarily wealthy, to such an extent that their 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation heirs are billionaires today in Germany. The sheer amount of wealth made and established in these times is astounding. The history is foggy as to where this money came from? The book tells the story, how business men were happy to smile and drink cocktails with Hitler during the war to then plead innocence in the aftermath and pretend that they were "forced" to do so. Their only option was to play nice with Hitler because of political pressure. This is what Nazi war criminals after the war pleaded, many who built fortunes that would last generations off of stolen assets, slave labor and even profiting off of the gas used by the Nazi party to exterminate Jews.
Horrific, whats worse is that the slave labors who worked in these factories were never paid, they were never given restitution for their illegal labor by the families who profited from their suffering.
One family donated 6 million due to the political blowback ...... In 2010's. Almost 70 years later, another court ordered some families to be paid in 1986 but this was minimal and 30 years after the suffering. Heirs of the dynastic wealth open up their mouths about the suffering and you wish they had not done so. They say things "Well it was a long time ago" or "We need to move on". These heirs hold fortunes that are above 30 billion in some cases. Businesses established with blood and suffering.
4 stars, remember anytime there is a tragedy, not far from its origins will be someone who will plot for economic gain.
July 27, 2023
Fascism and big business. A closely researched, brilliantly written, and depressing study of the close links between the Nazi regime and some of today's largest corporations, and how they (mostly) continue to cover up the legacy of where and how they got much of their capital. Read it.
October 23, 2024
Współczesne najbogatsze dynastie Niemiec i ich nazistowska przeszłość. I jak wiedziałam o np. Volkswagenie, BMW to np. o Alianz, Porsche czy Dr. Oetkerno i oczvwiście o tym jak Stanom zależało, by tych wielkich firm nie rozwalać po wojnie czy jak większość nie została w ogóle rozliczona z jawnej bezpośredniej współpracy z nazistami. Zresztą niektorzy potomkowie potentaci nadal wspieraja finansowo nacjonalistyczne partie/organizacje 🤯🤯🤯
November 20, 2024
До «Нацисти-мільярдери» Давида де Йонга думав, що Німеччина сповна спокутала свої гріхи, скоєні за часи нацистів🤔
Виявляється, що до сих пір найбагатші династії-спадкоємці мільярдерів Третього Райху не визнали своєї вини (використання рабської праці, незаконне заволодіння заводами та компаніями, аріїзація підприємств (очищення від євреїв)) та відмовляються від виплат постраждалим🤯
Книга практично не наводить позитивних прикладів (хоча я впевнений, що такі є), коли спадкоємці визнали участь старших родичів в збагаченні на війні та крові. А тотальна несправедливість та абсурдність судових процесів - це взагалі окрема тема🤷♂️
Ну а як можна реагувати на те, що значна кількість «нібито засуджених» спонсорів війни була реабілітована, змогла відновити свої статки і в деяких випадках навіть стати багатшою, ніж була за часів Гітлера?🤬
Та все ж, репутацію Німеччини відновили прості німці, які усвідомили провину, на відміну від тих магнатів
А от чи зможуть так росіяни? Ви знаєте відповідь
Виявляється, що до сих пір найбагатші династії-спадкоємці мільярдерів Третього Райху не визнали своєї вини (використання рабської праці, незаконне заволодіння заводами та компаніями, аріїзація підприємств (очищення від євреїв)) та відмовляються від виплат постраждалим🤯
Книга практично не наводить позитивних прикладів (хоча я впевнений, що такі є), коли спадкоємці визнали участь старших родичів в збагаченні на війні та крові. А тотальна несправедливість та абсурдність судових процесів - це взагалі окрема тема🤷♂️
Ну а як можна реагувати на те, що значна кількість «нібито засуджених» спонсорів війни була реабілітована, змогла відновити свої статки і в деяких випадках навіть стати багатшою, ніж була за часів Гітлера?🤬
Та все ж, репутацію Німеччини відновили прості німці, які усвідомили провину, на відміну від тих магнатів
А от чи зможуть так росіяни? Ви знаєте відповідь
October 12, 2022
Ein weiterer Grund, warum Reiche absolut nicht zu idealisieren sind, danke.
December 7, 2023
The author presents the complicated stories of some of Germany's wealthiest families during the 20th Century and fixates on their ties to the Nazis. The research seems solid. The human interest is present. The outrage at injustice is over-bearing. The key take-away is that the author has an agenda and his personal biases overwhelm the basic story of opportunistic businessmen.
Prior to reading this book, I had only a passing awareness of Krupp and Thyssen as major German firms during the Nazi Era. De Jong largely skips over these two firms and focuses on Gunther Quandt, Friedrich Flick, August von Finck, Ferdinand Porsche, Rudolf-August Oetker, and their immediate families (fathers and sons). All of them were wealthy industrialists by 1930 and early supporters of the Nazis. Some of their sons were members of the SS. All of them took advantage of the Nazis' Aryanization of Jewish and foreign firms. Some had concentration sub-camps built near their factories and profited from hundreds or thousands of forced laborers. Others enthusiastically raised funds for Nazi projects like museums and automobiles for the masses.
After the war, all of them were flagged for their Nazi support and profit from Aryanizations. Only one of them went on trial in Nuremburg. Most went through perfunctory de-nazification. Only the French exerted pressure on the group, specifically the Porsche Family, possibly due to pressure from a rival (French) automobile manufacturer. The other industrialists were quickly released and returned to control their big empires. These steadily grew especially during the Korean War and the rearmament of West Germany. However, when the sons of the patriarchs died, the families largely imploded. The grandchildren of the Nazi billionaires sold off their empires and became investors and playboys.
On top of this, De Jong paints the blackest picture that he can. Any contact between the moguls and the Nazis is a scandal of itself and an indictment on the business. These billionaires did profit unjustly through the Nazi Arayanizations and state-seizures of companies in occupied territories. But to imagine that billionaires in other countries would not do the same stresses credulity. Almost every page I read, I thought Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, Donald Trump, and definitely Elon Musk and the Koch Brothers would have immediately bought major businesses at state-forced fire-sale prices. After reading stories of Amazon workers urinating in soda bottles so as not to fall behind in quotas, I can totally imagine Jeff Bezos (and others) lining up to have forced labor available to them.
I was expecting to see a book about monsters. Instead, I got a book about opportunistic billionaires doing billionaire things. It is no wonder that they were mostly freed after the war. One "crime" that De Jong referenced time and again against the banker Finck was his connection to Hitler's art museum. The Oetkers had 700 forced laborers working in their cake mix and pudding factory. Talk about monsters! And Hitler did not even like the art! Part of the book focuses on Germans "accepting responsibility" for the past. This means donating money to Jewish groups and Holocaust centers. All of them have charitable arms; but De Jong minimized them and even gloated when there were protests against them by activists. Presumably, Krupp and Thyssen accepted responsibility. The other billionaires - focused in this book - usually fought against any sort of reparations. Hence the ire directed against them in this tome.
De Jong did disclose the injustices of these men forcing out their Jewish partners, especially Adolf Rosenberger, who was brutally cast out of the automobile company he founded with the Porsche Family. There was less detail with other businesses dealings, possibly because they were too complex or not documented as well. But double-dealing and back-stabbing often goes along with this group of people. Elon Musk was forced out of PayPal. Mark Zuckerberg forced Eduardo Severin out of Facebook. Arguably, they made off better than Rosenberger or Petschek Family; but these things happen. Nazi Germany just made it easier for the billionaires.
One major problem with this book was the organization. De Jong loosely organized it by era: pre-Nazi, early-Nazi, Nazi, post-Nazi, the end of the dynasties, and the grand kids. Each chapter followed each family. This made it far more confusing to follow, especially for readers unfamiliar with the cast. It made it all but impossible to recall which family had concentration camps, which family had cheated who, which family donated to Nazi museums, which family was related to Nazis, and which scion was doing what in the SS. The stories blurred together in a very confusing tabloid story. A chapter on each family would have alleviated that confusion; but would have created a clearer story that does not emphasize that all of them were rotten.
Overall, the book bored me. The blurring of stories, the long genealogy stories (Ok. the tabloid scandals of Magda Goebbels were fun reading.), the lack of detail about crimes, and the snotty-ness of the family members just made a dull book. The author's lampooning of Germany's richest heirs is entertaining. But it also strengthens the idea that the author has a grudge against elites, especially elites with Nazi backgrounds. Having read this book, I barely remember what business or industry each billionaire represents. But I do remember that De Jong worked hard to instill an impression of injustice and disgust at them.
Prior to reading this book, I had only a passing awareness of Krupp and Thyssen as major German firms during the Nazi Era. De Jong largely skips over these two firms and focuses on Gunther Quandt, Friedrich Flick, August von Finck, Ferdinand Porsche, Rudolf-August Oetker, and their immediate families (fathers and sons). All of them were wealthy industrialists by 1930 and early supporters of the Nazis. Some of their sons were members of the SS. All of them took advantage of the Nazis' Aryanization of Jewish and foreign firms. Some had concentration sub-camps built near their factories and profited from hundreds or thousands of forced laborers. Others enthusiastically raised funds for Nazi projects like museums and automobiles for the masses.
After the war, all of them were flagged for their Nazi support and profit from Aryanizations. Only one of them went on trial in Nuremburg. Most went through perfunctory de-nazification. Only the French exerted pressure on the group, specifically the Porsche Family, possibly due to pressure from a rival (French) automobile manufacturer. The other industrialists were quickly released and returned to control their big empires. These steadily grew especially during the Korean War and the rearmament of West Germany. However, when the sons of the patriarchs died, the families largely imploded. The grandchildren of the Nazi billionaires sold off their empires and became investors and playboys.
On top of this, De Jong paints the blackest picture that he can. Any contact between the moguls and the Nazis is a scandal of itself and an indictment on the business. These billionaires did profit unjustly through the Nazi Arayanizations and state-seizures of companies in occupied territories. But to imagine that billionaires in other countries would not do the same stresses credulity. Almost every page I read, I thought Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg, Donald Trump, and definitely Elon Musk and the Koch Brothers would have immediately bought major businesses at state-forced fire-sale prices. After reading stories of Amazon workers urinating in soda bottles so as not to fall behind in quotas, I can totally imagine Jeff Bezos (and others) lining up to have forced labor available to them.
I was expecting to see a book about monsters. Instead, I got a book about opportunistic billionaires doing billionaire things. It is no wonder that they were mostly freed after the war. One "crime" that De Jong referenced time and again against the banker Finck was his connection to Hitler's art museum. The Oetkers had 700 forced laborers working in their cake mix and pudding factory. Talk about monsters! And Hitler did not even like the art! Part of the book focuses on Germans "accepting responsibility" for the past. This means donating money to Jewish groups and Holocaust centers. All of them have charitable arms; but De Jong minimized them and even gloated when there were protests against them by activists. Presumably, Krupp and Thyssen accepted responsibility. The other billionaires - focused in this book - usually fought against any sort of reparations. Hence the ire directed against them in this tome.
De Jong did disclose the injustices of these men forcing out their Jewish partners, especially Adolf Rosenberger, who was brutally cast out of the automobile company he founded with the Porsche Family. There was less detail with other businesses dealings, possibly because they were too complex or not documented as well. But double-dealing and back-stabbing often goes along with this group of people. Elon Musk was forced out of PayPal. Mark Zuckerberg forced Eduardo Severin out of Facebook. Arguably, they made off better than Rosenberger or Petschek Family; but these things happen. Nazi Germany just made it easier for the billionaires.
One major problem with this book was the organization. De Jong loosely organized it by era: pre-Nazi, early-Nazi, Nazi, post-Nazi, the end of the dynasties, and the grand kids. Each chapter followed each family. This made it far more confusing to follow, especially for readers unfamiliar with the cast. It made it all but impossible to recall which family had concentration camps, which family had cheated who, which family donated to Nazi museums, which family was related to Nazis, and which scion was doing what in the SS. The stories blurred together in a very confusing tabloid story. A chapter on each family would have alleviated that confusion; but would have created a clearer story that does not emphasize that all of them were rotten.
Overall, the book bored me. The blurring of stories, the long genealogy stories (Ok. the tabloid scandals of Magda Goebbels were fun reading.), the lack of detail about crimes, and the snotty-ness of the family members just made a dull book. The author's lampooning of Germany's richest heirs is entertaining. But it also strengthens the idea that the author has a grudge against elites, especially elites with Nazi backgrounds. Having read this book, I barely remember what business or industry each billionaire represents. But I do remember that De Jong worked hard to instill an impression of injustice and disgust at them.
December 31, 2023
Дуже важлива і болюча книга. Автор висловлює наприкінці надію, що нові покоління сімей катів будуть поряднішими, ніж їх батьки та діди, але я особисто в цьому завжди сумнівався. Після прочитання книги — ще більше. Рекомендую до прочитання усім
July 28, 2025
Немає значення який ти покидьок, якщо в тебе є гроші.
Це перший і головний висновок після прочитання книги “Нацисти-мільярдери” Давида де Йонга.
Якщо коротко, то це ґрунтовне і детальне дослідження співпраці кількох великих німецьких промисловців і компаній із нацистським режимом. Автор детально описує їхні зв’язки з НСДАП, фінансування нацистів і війни в ціл��му, участь у злочинах проти людства та спроби післявоєнної реабілітації.
Не можу сказати, що книга відкрила для мене шокуючі факти: я і раніше знала про відомі компанії, які виробляли зброю чи танки для Вермахту. Але вона допомогла зрозуміти родинні зв’язки в таких компаніях, історію та масштаб їх співпраці з Третім Рейхом і байдужість до моральної відповідальності після його падіння. А ще відкрила імена конкретних очільників цих компаній: Гюнтер Квандт, Фердинанд Порше, Фрідріх Флік, Август фон Фінк та інші.
Читаючи це в умовах війни в Україні, коли щодня бачиш новини про злочини російської армії, колабораціонізм і пособництво країні-агресору, та і загалом маючи певне уявлення про жахи Другої світової - інформація про злочини Третього Рейху вже не дивує. Всі ми знаємо про Голокост, концтабори, примусову працю і т.д. Але, що насправді дивує, то це:
🚩наскільки охоче і швидко світ закрив очі на ці злочини, і почав знову співпрацювати з колишніми “нацистами”-бізнесменами;
🚩що самі промисловці і їх нащадки здебільшого не визнавали злочинів своїх родичів (за невеликим виключенням). Не просто не визнавали, а робили спроби відбілити їх репутацію і виправдати жахіття, які ті вчиняли;
🚩і те, наскільки поверхневим був Нюрнберзький процес щодо представників бізнесу - більшість винних уникла відповідальності, а ті одиниці, кого засудили, після відбуття покарання чудово інтегрувалися у повоєнний світ і стали ще багатшими.
Залишився гидкий післясмак, бо сумно усвідомлювати, що світ такий цинічний і готовий збагачуватись на чужих кістках.
Це перший і головний висновок після прочитання книги “Нацисти-мільярдери” Давида де Йонга.
Якщо коротко, то це ґрунтовне і детальне дослідження співпраці кількох великих німецьких промисловців і компаній із нацистським режимом. Автор детально описує їхні зв’язки з НСДАП, фінансування нацистів і війни в ціл��му, участь у злочинах проти людства та спроби післявоєнної реабілітації.
Не можу сказати, що книга відкрила для мене шокуючі факти: я і раніше знала про відомі компанії, які виробляли зброю чи танки для Вермахту. Але вона допомогла зрозуміти родинні зв’язки в таких компаніях, історію та масштаб їх співпраці з Третім Рейхом і байдужість до моральної відповідальності після його падіння. А ще відкрила імена конкретних очільників цих компаній: Гюнтер Квандт, Фердинанд Порше, Фрідріх Флік, Август фон Фінк та інші.
Читаючи це в умовах війни в Україні, коли щодня бачиш новини про злочини російської армії, колабораціонізм і пособництво країні-агресору, та і загалом маючи певне уявлення про жахи Другої світової - інформація про злочини Третього Рейху вже не дивує. Всі ми знаємо про Голокост, концтабори, примусову працю і т.д. Але, що насправді дивує, то це:
🚩наскільки охоче і швидко світ закрив очі на ці злочини, і почав знову співпрацювати з колишніми “нацистами”-бізнесменами;
🚩що самі промисловці і їх нащадки здебільшого не визнавали злочинів своїх родичів (за невеликим виключенням). Не просто не визнавали, а робили спроби відбілити їх репутацію і виправдати жахіття, які ті вчиняли;
🚩і те, наскільки поверхневим був Нюрнберзький процес щодо представників бізнесу - більшість винних уникла відповідальності, а ті одиниці, кого засудили, після відбуття покарання чудово інтегрувалися у повоєнний світ і стали ще багатшими.
Залишився гидкий післясмак, бо сумно усвідомлювати, що світ такий цинічний і готовий збагачуватись на чужих кістках.
January 19, 2023
Dieses Buch zeichnet ein umfassendes, detailreiches und mehrere Jahrzehnte umspannendes Bild deutscher Unternehmerdynastien: Die Quandts, die Flicks, die von Fincks, die Porsche-Piëchs, die Oetkers und die Reimanns. Es wird von Grund auf erzählt, wie sie zu ihrem Vermögen gekommen sind, welche Verbrechen sie begangen haben und wie sie ab der Nachkriegszeit agierten.
Ich wusste zwar vorher schon in groben Zügen, was es mit diesen Industriellen-Familien auf sich hat und mir war bewusst, dass ihr Vermögen auf Zwangsarbeit, dem Raub jüdischer Unternehmen und Rüstung beruht. Trotzdem war das Buch erhellend für mich: De Jong zeigt in einer angenehmen journalistisch-sachlicher Sprachgewandtheit die Beziehungen der Industriellen zwischen dem Nazi-Regime, aber auch zwischen den Familien selbst auf, was vieles noch einmal in das korrekte Licht rückte.
Was mir etwas gefehlt hat, bei allem Detailreichtum, wäre eine noch stärkere gesellschaftspolitische Einordnung, vor allem zur Zeit nach dem 2. Weltkrieg.
Trotzdem absolut empfehlenswert, eigentlich sollten alle dieses Buch lesen, um sich eine fundierte, aufgeklärte Meinung über diese Unternehmen zu bilden, die auch heute noch so viel (insbesondere politischen) Einfluss haben.
Ich wusste zwar vorher schon in groben Zügen, was es mit diesen Industriellen-Familien auf sich hat und mir war bewusst, dass ihr Vermögen auf Zwangsarbeit, dem Raub jüdischer Unternehmen und Rüstung beruht. Trotzdem war das Buch erhellend für mich: De Jong zeigt in einer angenehmen journalistisch-sachlicher Sprachgewandtheit die Beziehungen der Industriellen zwischen dem Nazi-Regime, aber auch zwischen den Familien selbst auf, was vieles noch einmal in das korrekte Licht rückte.
Was mir etwas gefehlt hat, bei allem Detailreichtum, wäre eine noch stärkere gesellschaftspolitische Einordnung, vor allem zur Zeit nach dem 2. Weltkrieg.
Trotzdem absolut empfehlenswert, eigentlich sollten alle dieses Buch lesen, um sich eine fundierte, aufgeklärte Meinung über diese Unternehmen zu bilden, die auch heute noch so viel (insbesondere politischen) Einfluss haben.
October 4, 2023
Erg interessant boek over de mensen en bedrijven die de Nazipartij financierde en/of profiteerde van de tweede wereld oorlog. Het boek gaat er ook nog in diepte over hoe de bedrijven hier na de tweede wereld oorlog mee om zijn gegaan. Helaas moet ik nu wel telkens aan Nazi’s denken als ik een diepvriespizza in de oven schuif.
May 8, 2022
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I was very interested in this topic because I studied in Germany and Austria and have long felt like Germany as a political entity has done a good job reckoning with its past (Austria, not at all) so I wanted to see if that held true from the perspective of corporations. The author presents an extensively researched accounting of five dynasties, their activities during rearmament and WWII, their Nazi party activities, the lies they told immediately after the war, and how the companies and families have, or more often have not, reckoned with their pasts. The only thing lacking for me was a deeper exploration of why the Allies didn’t fight harder to hold these people to account immediately after the war. The author does offer a few answers, but those left me with more questions. Overall this is a very readable book. I think the book does a good job reminding us of some of the absolute horrors of the war and the Holocaust without losing focus on the main topic — for example, it discusses forced labor, the subcamps that were built to provide companies with concentration camp labor, the abuses these forced laborers suffered, and how these practices were used by and benefitted these dynasties. I hope the book leads to further investigations as well as the translation of the company-funded histories into languages other than German so that more people have access to this history.
April 12, 2023
In dieser historischen Aufarbeitung wird eindrucksvoll dargestellt, wohin vor und im 2. Weltkrieg das Geld gewandert ist, was die Wirtschaftsmagnaten gemacht haben, um sich beim NS-Regime anzubiedern und welche Firmen und Familien sich sehr darum bemühen zu vergessen, weshalb sie heute immer noch Multimilliardäre sind.
Es scheint sogar so zu sein, dass Parteien wie AfD und FPÖ und Co nur deshalb so stark werden konnten, weil einige dieser NS-treuen Familien bis in die Gegenwart Gelder in diese Parteien fließen lassen. Von einer strikten wirtschaftlichen Ausrichtung bei der Entscheidungsfindung kann also tatsächlich kaum die Rede sein.
Es scheint sogar so zu sein, dass Parteien wie AfD und FPÖ und Co nur deshalb so stark werden konnten, weil einige dieser NS-treuen Familien bis in die Gegenwart Gelder in diese Parteien fließen lassen. Von einer strikten wirtschaftlichen Ausrichtung bei der Entscheidungsfindung kann also tatsächlich kaum die Rede sein.
January 5, 2025
Це захоплююче дослідження історика і журналіста Девіда де Йонга, яке розкриває темну сторону німецьких бізнес-династій, які збагачувалися під час нацистського режиму. У книзі автор показує, як великі корпорації та впливові родини співпрацювали з Третім Рейхом, а також як вони змогли зберегти свої багатства і репутацію після Другої світової війни.
Автор провів величезну роботу, аналізуючи архівні документи, судові справи, сімейні історії та біографії, щоб скласти цілісну картину зв'язків бізнесу і політики.
Книга мене шокувала в багатьох аспектах висвітлення правди. Відомі бренди сучасності, з яких далеко не всі розповіли правду про свої статки та минуле предків:
1)Родина Квандтів, власники компанії BMW, використовували примусову працю під час війни. Вони зберегли свої багатства і досі контролюють значну частину BMW.
2)Батько династії Квандтів, Гюнтер, став одним із головних вигодонабувачів нацистських конфіскацій активів у євреїв.
3)Фрідріх Флік був одним із найбільших промисловців Третього Рейху. Його компанія активно використовувала примусову працю, а після війни Флік залишився одним із найбагатших людей Німеччини.
4)Династія Круппів, відома своєю металургійною імперією, забезпечувала нацистів зброєю і військовою технікою, також використовуючи примусову працю.
5)Рудольф Август Еткер — ключова фігура у родині під час нацистського режиму. Він приєднався до СС (Waffen-SS) і був активним прихильником нацистської ідеології. Еткер не лише підтримував режим фінансово, а й користувався примусовою працею у виробничих процесах.
Книга змусила задуматися про відповідальність бізнесу під час кризових історичних подій та про те, чи достатньо сучасні корпорації визнають свої минулі помилки.
Автор провів величезну роботу, аналізуючи архівні документи, судові справи, сімейні історії та біографії, щоб скласти цілісну картину зв'язків бізнесу і політики.
Книга мене шокувала в багатьох аспектах висвітлення правди. Відомі бренди сучасності, з яких далеко не всі розповіли правду про свої статки та минуле предків:
1)Родина Квандтів, власники компанії BMW, використовували примусову працю під час війни. Вони зберегли свої багатства і досі контролюють значну частину BMW.
2)Батько династії Квандтів, Гюнтер, став одним із головних вигодонабувачів нацистських конфіскацій активів у євреїв.
3)Фрідріх Флік був одним із найбільших промисловців Третього Рейху. Його компанія активно використовувала примусову працю, а після війни Флік залишився одним із найбагатших людей Німеччини.
4)Династія Круппів, відома своєю металургійною імперією, забезпечувала нацистів зброєю і військовою технікою, також використовуючи примусову працю.
5)Рудольф Август Еткер — ключова фігура у родині під час нацистського режиму. Він приєднався до СС (Waffen-SS) і був активним прихильником нацистської ідеології. Еткер не лише підтримував режим фінансово, а й користувався примусовою працею у виробничих процесах.
Книга змусила задуматися про відповідальність бізнесу під час кризових історичних подій та про те, чи достатньо сучасні корпорації визнають свої минулі помилки.
October 23, 2025
a really compelling and comprehensive investigation into germany's nazi billionaire families - business dynasties which profited enormously from war and genocide, and for the most part got away with it. crucially, the nazi billionaires were already enormously wealthy (athough not yet billionaires) prior to hitler becoming chancellor in 1933. they were prepared to donate large sums to the nazi party because they recognised the truth in hitler's pronouncement that 'private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy'. these industrialists would go on to multiply their fortunes a hundred times over in the 12 years hitler was in power, playing indispensible roles in germany's re-armament, providing critical support to the war effort, benefiting from the state-decreed expropriatation of jewish businesses and the exploitation of slave and enforced labour.
one of the most important things de jong does is demonstrate the way in which the generationally wealthy are able to consolidate and in some cases recoup (after being brought to account) their fortunes by leveraging their business and personal relationships and taking advantage of tax loopholes and tax havens like Monaco, Switzerland and Luxembourg (and also Austria to an extent) - all the while assisted by an army of lawyers of course. many of the nazi billionaires' descendants have carried on the family tradition of (surreptitiously, through several layers of subisidiaries) financially supporting extreme right wing political causes in germany (see e.g. August von Finck jr and the AfD). would shelve this book alongside quinn slobodian's fantastic 'crack-up capitalism' as a deeply insightful study of the symbiotic relationship between fascism and the corporation.
one of the most important things de jong does is demonstrate the way in which the generationally wealthy are able to consolidate and in some cases recoup (after being brought to account) their fortunes by leveraging their business and personal relationships and taking advantage of tax loopholes and tax havens like Monaco, Switzerland and Luxembourg (and also Austria to an extent) - all the while assisted by an army of lawyers of course. many of the nazi billionaires' descendants have carried on the family tradition of (surreptitiously, through several layers of subisidiaries) financially supporting extreme right wing political causes in germany (see e.g. August von Finck jr and the AfD). would shelve this book alongside quinn slobodian's fantastic 'crack-up capitalism' as a deeply insightful study of the symbiotic relationship between fascism and the corporation.
May 27, 2024
A very eye opening read about the German industrialist dynasties that profited from the Nazi movement. My one critique is that the author continually switches from one story to the next throughout the book, which can make following along a little tough if you put it down for a few days. Other than that a very well researched and well put together book
December 6, 2025
We should stop buying BMWs
July 20, 2022
„Ich bin Kapitalist. Mir gehört ein Viertel von Bahlsen, da freue ich mich schon drüber.“ Mit diesen Worten redete sich Verena Bahlsen 2019 um Kopf und Kragen. Dass sie mit ihrem Geld auch weiterhin Segeljachten und so was kaufen möchte, war da nur ein Sahnehäubchen. Um Jachten und so was ging es auch in einem Interview mit einer anderen schwerreichen Deutschen: „Manche glauben, dass wir ständig auf einer Jacht im Mittelmeer herumsitzen“, so Susanne Klatten, Milliardärin und Mitglied des Quandt-Clans, als sie betonte, wie hart ihr Leben sei („Wer würde mit uns tauschen wollen?“). Was die beiden gemeinsam haben, hat der Wirtschaftsjournalist David de Jong in seinem Buch „Braunes Erbe. Die dunkle Geschichte der reichsten deutschen Unternehmerdynastien“ beleuchtet. Exemplarisch erzählt er am Beispiel der Unternehmerfamilien Quandt, Porsche, Flick, von Finck und Oetker über ihren Aufstieg in der Nazizeit. Dabei schlägt er in dem informativen, interessanten und äußerst lesenswerten Buch einen Bogen vom Damals der Kaiserzeit zum Heute, von den Patriarchen zu den oben genannten Erben der Dynastien.
Aber von vorn.
Sowohl bei Bahlsen wie auch in der Familie Klatten/Quandt entstand ein nicht unbeträchtlicher Teil des Vermögens zwischen 1933 und 1945. Durch großzügige Spenden an die NSDAP („Der NSDAP drohte permanent die Pleite, sie brauchte alle Mittel, die sie bekommen konnte.“), Investitionen in Rüstungsindustrie und die Beschäftigung von Zwangsarbeitern wurden Familien wie Quandt, Flick, Oetker/Kaselowsky, Porsche/ Piëch oder von Fink, die zum Großteil vorher schon wohlhabend waren, schwerreich. Und ihre Spenden an die NSDAP leisteten dem Nationalsozialismus enormen Vorschub.
Und als wären ihr Kriegsprofit, die Arisierungen (dadurch rissen sie nicht nur Fremde und Konkurrenten, sondern ehemalige Kollegen und sogar Freunde ins Verderben) und die Ausbeutung von Zwangsarbeitern nicht schockierend genug, beschreibt de Jong ausführlich den Umgang der Nachkommen mit ihrem „braunen Erbe“. Nachdem die Firmenchefs nach 1945 überwiegend mit einem „Klaps auf die Finger“ (persil)reingewaschen in die Nachkriegszeit gingen, bekamen sie größtenteils ihr Vermögen zurück, mehrten es und hatten weiterhin ihre Finger in allen möglichen Firmen, unter anderem auch in solchen, die sie sich durch Arisierung angeeignet hatten. Nur einer der Finanzmagnaten der Nazizeit wurde bei den Nürnberger Prozessen verurteilt. Und statt mit sich selbst wegen des begangenen Unrechts ins Gericht zu gehen, praktizierten sie, wie beispielsweise Ferry Porsche, eine Täter-Opfer-Umkehr. „Nach dem Krieg wirkte es so, als würden diese Menschen, die von den Nazis verfolgt worden waren, es als ihr Recht ansehen, zusätzlichen Gewinn zu machen, selbst in Fällen, in denen bereits eine Entschädigung gezahlt worden war“, schrieb er unter anderem über den ehemaligen Porsche-Mitbegründer Adolf Rosenberger, dessen Firmenanteil „arisiert“ worden war.
Intransparenz ist bei vielen Firmenerben heute noch Programm, Leugnen, Relativieren und Verharmlosen an der Tagesordnung. Nach Aussage der Erben waren ihre Vorfahren also alle keine überzeugten Nationalsozialisten und keiner verfolgte ideologische Ziele und Zwangsarbeiter wurden immer gut behandelt. Und wenn man ihnen anhand von Quellen nachweisen kann, dass alles doch ganz anders war? Dann geben sie exakt so viel zu, geben eigene Studien zum Thema in Auftrag und spielen, wenn möglich, die Beteiligung ihrer Vorfahren herunter.
Das möchte der Niederländer David de Jong, dessen Großeltern die Nazizeit nur durch Glück überlebt haben, nicht so stehenlassen. Er hat ein wahres Fleißwerk abgeliefert. Minutiös ackert er sich durch Welt- und Familiengeschichte, belegt mit zahllosen Quellen und Querverweisen seine Ergebnisse. Es ist ein teilweise spannendes, auf jeden Fall aber schockierendes Buch, das sehr nachdenklich macht. Von mir eine absolute Lese-Empfehlung für alle, die sich für das Thema interessieren, und fünf Sterne.
Aber von vorn.
Sowohl bei Bahlsen wie auch in der Familie Klatten/Quandt entstand ein nicht unbeträchtlicher Teil des Vermögens zwischen 1933 und 1945. Durch großzügige Spenden an die NSDAP („Der NSDAP drohte permanent die Pleite, sie brauchte alle Mittel, die sie bekommen konnte.“), Investitionen in Rüstungsindustrie und die Beschäftigung von Zwangsarbeitern wurden Familien wie Quandt, Flick, Oetker/Kaselowsky, Porsche/ Piëch oder von Fink, die zum Großteil vorher schon wohlhabend waren, schwerreich. Und ihre Spenden an die NSDAP leisteten dem Nationalsozialismus enormen Vorschub.
Und als wären ihr Kriegsprofit, die Arisierungen (dadurch rissen sie nicht nur Fremde und Konkurrenten, sondern ehemalige Kollegen und sogar Freunde ins Verderben) und die Ausbeutung von Zwangsarbeitern nicht schockierend genug, beschreibt de Jong ausführlich den Umgang der Nachkommen mit ihrem „braunen Erbe“. Nachdem die Firmenchefs nach 1945 überwiegend mit einem „Klaps auf die Finger“ (persil)reingewaschen in die Nachkriegszeit gingen, bekamen sie größtenteils ihr Vermögen zurück, mehrten es und hatten weiterhin ihre Finger in allen möglichen Firmen, unter anderem auch in solchen, die sie sich durch Arisierung angeeignet hatten. Nur einer der Finanzmagnaten der Nazizeit wurde bei den Nürnberger Prozessen verurteilt. Und statt mit sich selbst wegen des begangenen Unrechts ins Gericht zu gehen, praktizierten sie, wie beispielsweise Ferry Porsche, eine Täter-Opfer-Umkehr. „Nach dem Krieg wirkte es so, als würden diese Menschen, die von den Nazis verfolgt worden waren, es als ihr Recht ansehen, zusätzlichen Gewinn zu machen, selbst in Fällen, in denen bereits eine Entschädigung gezahlt worden war“, schrieb er unter anderem über den ehemaligen Porsche-Mitbegründer Adolf Rosenberger, dessen Firmenanteil „arisiert“ worden war.
Intransparenz ist bei vielen Firmenerben heute noch Programm, Leugnen, Relativieren und Verharmlosen an der Tagesordnung. Nach Aussage der Erben waren ihre Vorfahren also alle keine überzeugten Nationalsozialisten und keiner verfolgte ideologische Ziele und Zwangsarbeiter wurden immer gut behandelt. Und wenn man ihnen anhand von Quellen nachweisen kann, dass alles doch ganz anders war? Dann geben sie exakt so viel zu, geben eigene Studien zum Thema in Auftrag und spielen, wenn möglich, die Beteiligung ihrer Vorfahren herunter.
Das möchte der Niederländer David de Jong, dessen Großeltern die Nazizeit nur durch Glück überlebt haben, nicht so stehenlassen. Er hat ein wahres Fleißwerk abgeliefert. Minutiös ackert er sich durch Welt- und Familiengeschichte, belegt mit zahllosen Quellen und Querverweisen seine Ergebnisse. Es ist ein teilweise spannendes, auf jeden Fall aber schockierendes Buch, das sehr nachdenklich macht. Von mir eine absolute Lese-Empfehlung für alle, die sich für das Thema interessieren, und fünf Sterne.
October 3, 2022
Recently, I read, 'The Order of the Day,' by Eric Vuillard. My review of that short novel began, 'This begins on the 20th February, 1933, when twenty four industrialists enter the palace of the President of the Assembly. Men whose names are inextricably linked to their companies, to industry and finance. Names like Opel, Krupp and Siemens. There to meet the President of the Reichstag, Hermann Goring, before the upcoming elections on March 5th. To have their egos flattered, hands shaken, to meet the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler To be warned that the weak regime needs to be ended, that unions can be elimated, that they can make a profit, it they put their hands in their pockets...'
As happens so often, one book led to another and I could not shake off that image, painted so well in Vuillard's novel, which I recommend highly. That led me to this exposure of Germany's wealthiest and most influential businessmen. There are names we know from their products, such as Porsche or Siemens, other names we may be less familiar with - Flick, Kaselowsky and, central to this book, Gunther Quandt, whose second wife later became Magda Goebbels. Although Magda killed the children she had with Goebbels, her son with Quandt, Harald, survived the war and later took up his father's empire with his half-brother. The core of this book revolves around the odd relatioship between Quant and the Goebbels and their attempts to use, control and manipulate each other, often through Magda's eldest son.
This book asks difficult questions. Why are Germany's business leaders so unwilling to confront their pasts? Did the Allies allow those involved in crimes, such as buying out Jewish companies for a pittance before the war, or using slave labour during the war, to go without punishment in order to re-build Europe against the threat of Russia in the Cold War? How have such wealthy dynasties managed to avoid paying for their crimes, or to give recompense to their victims, or the families of those left behind?
However, David de Jong manages to combine asking those difficult questions with a very readable and gripping account of how these events happened. How easy it was for those with a desire to make money to become vulnerable to flattery or the fear of opposing those with power in the New Germany. Why not obtain more companies, for little money, if those who had built up that company wanted to leave the country? How simple to rid themselves of a business partner who was Jewish and own more of their company? However, although it could be seen as so, what is the real cost of turning against, or away from, people that these businessmen knew and worked with? To ignore desperate pleas for help and how ironic to think that, after the War, they would themselves be asking for letters to show they 'helped' or 'supported' Jewish workers or colleagues and - surprisingly - how often were such Jewish people, now living elsewhere in the world, willing to do so. Possibly, they knew how despeate you had to be to write such a request and found it harder to turn away, but the sheer ability of those who had to flee homes (often moved into by said industrialists), leaving everything they had behind, to show any humanity towards their oppressors says so much about them in comparison to those who frankly sold their souls for money. Those companies are still tainted by this history, which seems never to have been addressed by so many and this book helps to do so and show the reality of those companies still successful today who benefited from the war.
As happens so often, one book led to another and I could not shake off that image, painted so well in Vuillard's novel, which I recommend highly. That led me to this exposure of Germany's wealthiest and most influential businessmen. There are names we know from their products, such as Porsche or Siemens, other names we may be less familiar with - Flick, Kaselowsky and, central to this book, Gunther Quandt, whose second wife later became Magda Goebbels. Although Magda killed the children she had with Goebbels, her son with Quandt, Harald, survived the war and later took up his father's empire with his half-brother. The core of this book revolves around the odd relatioship between Quant and the Goebbels and their attempts to use, control and manipulate each other, often through Magda's eldest son.
This book asks difficult questions. Why are Germany's business leaders so unwilling to confront their pasts? Did the Allies allow those involved in crimes, such as buying out Jewish companies for a pittance before the war, or using slave labour during the war, to go without punishment in order to re-build Europe against the threat of Russia in the Cold War? How have such wealthy dynasties managed to avoid paying for their crimes, or to give recompense to their victims, or the families of those left behind?
However, David de Jong manages to combine asking those difficult questions with a very readable and gripping account of how these events happened. How easy it was for those with a desire to make money to become vulnerable to flattery or the fear of opposing those with power in the New Germany. Why not obtain more companies, for little money, if those who had built up that company wanted to leave the country? How simple to rid themselves of a business partner who was Jewish and own more of their company? However, although it could be seen as so, what is the real cost of turning against, or away from, people that these businessmen knew and worked with? To ignore desperate pleas for help and how ironic to think that, after the War, they would themselves be asking for letters to show they 'helped' or 'supported' Jewish workers or colleagues and - surprisingly - how often were such Jewish people, now living elsewhere in the world, willing to do so. Possibly, they knew how despeate you had to be to write such a request and found it harder to turn away, but the sheer ability of those who had to flee homes (often moved into by said industrialists), leaving everything they had behind, to show any humanity towards their oppressors says so much about them in comparison to those who frankly sold their souls for money. Those companies are still tainted by this history, which seems never to have been addressed by so many and this book helps to do so and show the reality of those companies still successful today who benefited from the war.
May 1, 2024
Після прочитання залишаєшся таке гидотне відчуття, наче життя простих людей це непотріб, а в світі головне сила, влада і бажання ще більшої наживи.
Сумно те, що незважаючи на те що, люди і далі печуть з розпушувачем Еткера, їздять на BMW, купляють всю ту продукцію - нащадкам нацистських прихильників важко на загал переосмислити історію свліх предків.
А ще сумнішим є те, що бізнес тоді і зараз продовжує підтримувати праві та ультраправі партії
Сумно те, що незважаючи на те що, люди і далі печуть з розпушувачем Еткера, їздять на BMW, купляють всю ту продукцію - нащадкам нацистських прихильників важко на загал переосмислити історію свліх предків.
А ще сумнішим є те, що бізнес тоді і зараз продовжує підтримувати праві та ультраправі партії
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