General Discussion

The German oligarchs in the 1930s profited wildly and then walked away with the loot.

‘People should be more aware’: the business dynasties who benefited from Nazis

excerpts:

A new book, Nazi Billionaires, investigates how Germany’s richest business dynasties made fortunes by aiding and abetting Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. It also examines how, eight decades later, they still escape close scrutiny and a nation that has done so much to confront its catastrophic past still suffers a very particular blind spot.
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Ferdinand Porsche convinced Hitler to put the Volkswagen Beetle into production. The company thrived under his son, Ferry Porsche, who volunteered for the SS, became an officer and lied about it for the rest of his days. Ferry Porsche designed the first Porsche sports car and surrounded himself with former SS members in the 50s and 60s.
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Herbert Quandt inherited vast wealth from his father and saved BMW from bankruptcy, becoming the company’s biggest shareholder. Two of his children, Stefan Quandt and Susanne Klatten, are now Germany’s wealthiest family, with close to majority control of the BMW Group, large holdings in the chemical and technology industries and a net worth of about $38bn.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/18/nazi-billionaires-book-hitler-bmw-porsche

How Nazi Billionaires Thrived in Postwar Germany

excerpts:

In Nazi Germany, industrialists built vast fortunes from slave labor and stolen Jewish property. In postwar West Germany, they were allowed to keep them — with denazification doing little to trouble those who had profited most from the regime.

The Americans limited the number of trials against industrialists because they didn’t want to put capitalism on trial. At that time, the Cold War was getting started, and the Americans made this policy decision where they wanted to rebuild West Germany as a democratically viable and economically strong state, which would act as a buffer against the Soviet Union and the encroachment of communism.

The denazification of Germany is a myth. It never took place. There was a continuation of money and power from Nazi Germany to West Germany, and also, to an extent, in East Germany, because former SS officers became high-ranking Stasi and party officials. But it was far more pervasive in West Germany, where — in whatever part of society, whether business, legal, medical, academic, or media — there was no denazification.

https://jacobin.com/2022/10/nazi-billionaires-businesses-denazification-de-jong-interview

The Nazi Evil Behind Germany's Wealthiest Companies

It is well known that many dynastic German companies owe their standing to their complicity — even willful participation — in Nazi evil.

excerpts -

Supplying uniforms to the German empire, textile magnate Gunther Quandt made millions during World War I. Shortly after, when electrification was booming worldwide, he gained control of one of the world's largest battery-makers. He soon acquired one of Germany's primary arms and ammo manufacturers. This was just the beginning. He went on to gain stupendous wealth and power through deals with the Nazis. The story of Quandt, as told in David de Jong's Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties, evokes awe and dread. For it is about soulless profiteering and participation without any qualms in the enslavement and massacre of millions of Jews.

With the advent of the Cold War in 1947, President Harry S. Truman's priorities shifted from punishing Germany to enabling its economic recovery. American occupation made way for German self-governance. Suspected war criminals and Nazi sympathizers were handed over to German courts. Punishments were minor because Germans were reluctant to judge compatriots for what they themselves had indulged in. Truth was a casualty. While Nazi industrialists scrubbed their records clean, the U.S. oversaw a series of acts of clemency in 1950–51, including for Flick. The Korean war was on, so America needed Germany and its industry.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/05/the_nazi_evil_behind_germanys_wealthiest_companies.html