Nazi Billionaires - David de Jong

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Eloquent, thorough, and profound,David de Jongs brilliant debut illuminatesa dark chapter of the pastwhile also shining astarkand uncanny lightontoour present,and, perhaps, ournear futureshowinghow an insidious mix of capitalism and fascismcan destroydemocracy and countless lives.An absolute must-read." Norman Ohler,New York Timesbestselling author ofBlitzed: Drugs in the Third ReichA groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War IIand how America allowed them to get away with it.In 1946, Gnther Quandtpatriarch of Germanys most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMWwas 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 ofbillionaires continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brandswhose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz, and still controlPorsche, Volkswagen, and BMW has remained hidden in plain sightuntil now.In this landmark work of investigative journalism, David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germanys 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 Hitlers army as Europe burned around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how Americas 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.Meticulously researched compels us to confront the current-day legacy of these Nazi ties. Wall Street Journal