Hitler's Benefiaries Plunder, Racial war and tha Nazi Welfare State

This is a stunning account of the economic workings of the Third Reich - and the reasons ordinary Germans supported the Nazi state. In this groundbreaking book, historian Gotz 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 channelling 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. Gripping and important, "Hitler's Beneficiaries" makes a radically new contribution to our understanding of Nazi aggression, the Holocaust, and the complicity of a people.