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Nazi Billionaires
- The Dark History of Germany’s Wealthiest Dynasties
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
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Summary
A groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II – and how the world allowed them to get away with it.
In 1946, Günther 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 arch-rival, 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, investigative journalist 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 untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave labourers and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler’s army as Europe burnt around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how the wider world’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.
Critic reviews
‘It is impossible to fault de Jong’s fierce indignation in his book. He must be right to urge that the descendants of Hitler’s tycoons should admit their ancestors’ criminality’
Max Hastings, Sunday Times
‘Fascinating … de Jong tells the story with the brisk clarity of the good financial journalist he is and lets the fact speak for themselves. It leaves you awestruck at the power of greed’
Daily Telegraph
‘The author cleverly weaves his astonishing facts and figures into human stories … Its fascinating detail and engaging style make Nazi Billionaires a forceful book, revealing to a wide audience a vital aspect of Germany’s ongoing discussion with itself’
Spectator
‘Lucid, and damning, Nazi Billionaires unearths decades of family secrets and exposes the tainted origins of several of the world's most significant dynastic fortunes. As adept in the archive as he is on the page, de Jong draws on a vast wealth of historical evidence to tell an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup, and denial, and to unearth the sordid war crimes behind some of today's most vaunted consumer brands’
Patrick Radden Keefe, bestselling author of Empire of Pain
‘Eloquent, thorough, and profound, David de Jong’s brilliant debut illuminates a dark chapter of the past while also shining a stark and uncanny light onto our present, and, perhaps, our near future – showing how an insidious mix of capitalism and fascism can destroy democracy and countless lives. An absolute must-read’
Norman Ohler, bestselling author of Blitzed
‘As riveting as it is disturbing. At times, it felt like reading the anti-Schindler's List: instead of secretly helping the Jews, Germany's most powerful tycoons brutally exploited their suffering for personal profit’
Bradley Hope, bestselling co-author of Billion Dollar Whale
What listeners say about Nazi Billionaires
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lady Essex
- 23-04-23
Well researched, but from my point of view, politically flawed.
Such a pity, but listening to this important and much needed work, I became aware of a creeping left wing viewpoint which made me question certain aspects of the writing.
Whenever I hear of current threats from rising right wing politicians, as from this author, I need to remind myself that the mainstream media currently only obsesses with this and ignores the far more pervasive, anti liberal, antisemitism and homophobia from ultra left wing ideologies. These are hardly ever criticised by politicians, Trades Unions, academic institutions etc etc. Certainly antisemitism is very much on the rise in Europe, from all sectors, including large parts of the newly arrived, mainly young male, refugees. The author fails to mention this, as if it doesn’t exist.
Hope springs eternal, but closed ears and eyes don’t help one bit….
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- Eoin Lynch
- 16-04-23
Excellent
Very well presented and thoroughly researched. Great flow and easy to understand for the financially unaware.
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- Mr R.
- 21-08-23
Eye opening
Fascinating and important story that’s brilliantly told. The lack of remorse from many of the dynasties in this book is telling.
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- paulfitzy
- 04-05-23
A Must Read
An excellent superlative piece of investigative journalism, how many people use the products, and services of these German companies without realising they are rinsed in blood and complicit in murder, torture and death. To know our future we must learn from the mistakes of the past.
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- Anonymous User
- 22-03-24
Thought provoking .!
Excellently delivered with as much information as you could possibly need or want on this topic. Makes you think about how wide spread the money has traversed the earth and who benefits from war and crimes.
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- ian brennan
- 28-06-22
Informative
Very well written, very informative, and well paced. A little one-sided in the modern chapters.
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- Anonymous User
- 27-01-24
Review
Very good. Important history. Disturbing that everything had also to be said in dollars - irrelevant.
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- riley36
- 24-05-22
vert well researched
not sure what I expected from this book. the title made me buy it. the story was very interesting.
the narrator was very good
definitely worth a listen
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- bob clarke
- 29-06-22
Story which deserves the widest audience
Remarkable piece of research and writing delivered dispassionately to all the more chilling effect.
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- Jiri
- 26-04-23
Fascinating dark history
Well researched and written. This book is a journey to the world behind the mirror.
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