Question for History Buffs, World War II.

[Alle_Gory]

Before Hitler started the war, where did he get the money to do so?

From what I read, Germany was in a pretty bad state at the time from the First World War and that they were in debt to the allied countries who won at the time. So how did he manage to build up his war machine?

Printing money? Paying people with IOUs?

 

[BigJimbo]

Hitler was great for Germany's economy. He helped rebuild the country. No question about that. Actually it was the Americans who were in huge trouble. Of course, anything that is remotely against anything Jewish will be labeled as a monster by the Americans.

 

[Alle_Gory]

Hitler was great for Germany's economy. He helped rebuild the country. No question about that. Actually it was the Americans who were in huge trouble. Of course, anything that is remotely against anything Jewish will be labeled as a monster by the Americans.

I never asked about America. Thanks for trolling, post reported.

 

[Ease]

He was a great man. what he did was terrible... but great.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

Post WWI Germany was the most miserable hellhole in the history of human civilization. Complete economic collapse, six million unemployed people, 250,000 suicides, it was the worst of times. Before Hitler, the government collapsed once a year and it was abject chaos. The Nazi party was strong, resolute, organized, and highly disciplined. They really were exactly what Germany needed, though we all know how that story ends.

His first move was to consolidate every facet of German society under a national socialist regime. The German people were so miserable, so beat down, that Hitler's government literally had to take control of EVERYTHING. Germany had sunk so low, that only such a drastic effort could give it a swift enough kick in the pants.

None of this is to endorse socialism, btw.

Anyway, Hitler seduced the old guard, the military leaders, and the labor unions by honoring the old ways and establishing that labor would be treated as equals. There would be no classes in Hitler's society, so everybody became a proud and dedicated worker and German citizen.

His biggest problem was unemployment. He had to get Germans working and feeling good about being Germans again. He appointed Dr. Schacht, a titan of finance, as President of their new nationalized bank. Hitler needed billions of marks to get the country working again, but both he and Schacht agreed that printing money was not the way to do it. Schacht came up with "Mefo Bonds", they paid 4% which was a great deal for the time. Germans dug their cash out from under mattresses and bought the Mefo Bonds en force, which capitalized the investments of Hitler's new government.

They turned German factories from gloomy dumps into bright and shining plants, they invested in public parks and national infrastructure, they built entire cities of new houses for the newly employed workforce to buy. As a supply initiative, they invested in creating a supply chain for the new Volkswagen, which became the German Model T. Before the Volkswagen, most workers had never been out of their town; now, they could drive on the new Autobahn in their new Volkswagen and see their magnificient country.

Due to everything that came later, Hitler is never given any credit for the tremendous job he did in rebuilding Germany. He took a country that had fallen apart and put it back to work, cleaned it up, and the people were ecstatic. It's the reason he was so worshipped later on; it wasn't because Germans hated Jews, it was because he saved their country.

 

[Alle_Gory]

I see, so be basically printed enough IOUs that it became legal currency. Also, you say socialism but then mention how the goal of the game was to create equality between all the classes. I'm assuming that he left the private businesses to operate individually otherwise that sounds more like communism.

What about building up the military? Weren't there restrictions imposed by the allies after the First World War?

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

He didn't have to print money; he just sold bonds. There is a famous story about post-WWI Germany where an old lady walked a wheelbarrow full of marks down to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. When she came outside, someone dumped all the cash on the ground but stole the wheelbarrow. Hitler had lived through that time and he knew the outcome of massive currency dilution.

But the German banks were a disaster in the 20's and 30's and, much like America in those days, nobody kept what money they had in the bank. The people held Hitler and his new government in confidence, so they bought the bonds.

Flush with his new burgeoning industrial society, Hitler set out to build the German military to heights never before seen. Much of the industrial activity in Germany was for defense; they were building submarines, warships, planes, tanks, etc. He snubbed his nose at the rest of the world while building Germany into a superpower in a very short time. By the time the world noticed what was going on, Germany had arrived.

It is chilling to note the similarities between the explosive growth of 1930's Germany and that of China in the last decade.

 

[Alle_Gory]

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but from what I remember in the allies imposed limits on how many troops the country could have after the first war. The military got around these restrictions by having more lieutenants than troops in the ranks.

Also, seems to me that America was saved thanks to the war production as well. Nobody really had a solution to the great depression in the 30s.

 

[Julius_Seizeher]

Unfortunately, there is merit to the notion that war is often great for the economy. You have the government dumping the public treasury into production which spurns industrial activity on a massive scale.

It's good to do business with the winning country, but if your country loses your factory gets blown up and your society is decimated once again, as was the sad fate of Germany.

 

[EA Gold]

As do most bankers and central bankers know, loans to governments or kings are more profitable then to individuals or businesses. Not only are the loans bigger but are secured by the nation's taxes.

When does a nation need to borrow the most money? When that nation is at war. To the banker, a war means a jackpot of profits on behalf of your country's honor, blood and the blood of your sons. It is common for one bank to finance both sides of a war and at the end the victor has to pay for all the debts of the loser, either way the bankers win.

That is why they will find any way to create war or perpetual war,(war on terror) and will even finance any radical ideology to create any type of opposition (The Nazis party, The Bolsheviks/Communists, Terrorists).

To spark that war they will create any event or terrorist act and frame it on any opposing group or nation (Sinking of the Maine incident-Spanish American war, The Gulf of Tonkin Incident-Vietnam War, Gleiwitz incident-German Invasion of Poland, Marco Polo Bridge Incident-Sino Japanese War, The Reichstag fire-Nazis party Suspension of civil liberties).

To answer your question, I'll quote from Congressman Louis T. McFadden of Pennsylvania from 1934.

On April 27, 1932, the Fed outfit sent $750,000 belonging to American bank depositors in gold to Germany. A week later another $300,000 in gold was shipped to Germany. About the middle of May $12,000,000 in gold was shipped to Germany by the Fed. Almost every week there is a shipment of gold to Germany. These shipments are not made for profit on the exchange since the German marks are blow parity with the dollar.

"Mr. Chairman, I believe that the National Bank depositors of these United States have a right to know what the Fed are doing with their money. There are millions of National Bank depositors in the Country who do not know that a percentage of every dollar they deposit in a Member Bank of the Fed goes automatically to American Agents of the foreign banks and that all their deposits can be paid away to foreigners without their knowledge or consent by the crooked machinery of the Fed and the questionable practices of the Fed.

All the money came from the Stock Market crash of 1929 when billions of dollars changed hands from the American people to the federal reserve and international bankers and sent it to Germany to create the war juggernaut, the war of wars.

 

[seagull]

Those who think Hitler's economic policy was great do not understand the full extent of it. In the short term, it was good in getting people back to work in the midst of the Great Depression.

However, the German economy could not afford and sustain the excessive amount of money that Hitler spent on re-armament especially in the late 1930s. The only way Germany could pay for it was by plundering other countries, which is why one by one Hitler invaded neighbouring states and quickly seized their gold reserves e.g. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland (before escalating into WWII). Of course, Hitler didn't care because this was in line with Nazi ideology of conquering Eastern Europe, but it was a reckless economic policy in the long run (with or without the war) and not the great success story that everyone seems to think it was.

 

[Vice]

Woah, this is some interesting and heavy stuff. Never learned about the details in history class. We watched Schindler's List and the first half of Saving Private Ryan. Portrayed most German soldiers as evil people. Valkyrie was interesting because it portrayed the inner conflict that was going on in the seemingly cold organization.

And for once I'd have to agree with BigJimbo; there is quite a bit of Jewish influence in the United States to the point of making it one-sided.

Moral of the story? Get on the right side; the bankers.

I wonder: would Europe have been a better place under German rule? I'm Ukrainian and I can't exactly boast much about the country except for the pretty girls and easy social status since I live in the USA.

 

[EA Gold]

I understand that some people might be unsettled or angry about these bankers and what they have been doing for centuries. What these people have done are just the effects of a sinful nature. I'm capable and your capable of doing it since we are all human.

It is true what Jesus said about these people calling them a den of theives and the only time he used physical force to drive them out.

We can't undue what has been done in the past WWII, bankers, but what we can do now is what they weren't able to do. Which is to love, to Love God and love our neighbor as our selves and maybe, just maybe we can change the world for the Good.

One life at a time, starting with ourselves and with God.

 

[Paradox]

I understand that some people might be unsettled or angry about these bankers and what they have been doing for centuries. What these people have done are just the effects of a sinful nature. I'm capable and your capable of doing it since we are all human.

It is true what Jesus said about these people calling them a den of theives and the only time he used physical force to drive them out.

We can't undue what has been done in the past WWII, bankers, but what we can do now is what they weren't able to do. Which is to love, to Love God and love our neighbor as our selves and maybe, just maybe we can change the world for the Good.

One life at a time, starting with ourselves and with God.

This thread is about Pre WWII German economic policy and not about religion or religious beliefs but I see what you mean.

Banking reform is necessary but as long as there are greedy selfish people it will be hard to initiate and maintain a fair banking system.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Hitler got a lot of his money by simply seizing it. It has been theorized that he didn't really hate jews, he just wanted their money. He started with bank accounts first.

After bank accounts, some of the first tangible assets he seized were dog kennels, especially those which bred German Shepherds. The lesser dogs were killed and the rest were given to the SS police. The name "Adolf" means 'the wolf,' and German Shepherds were associated as coming from wolves, so they became an inherent part of Hitler's political image in Germany. The Germans, who had basically been sh!t on by the rest of the world since WWI, were attracted to the symbol of strength. It soon became fashionable for all good Nazi Party members to own a German Shepherd.

At the end of the war, they hunkered down in the last bunker, awaiting their imminent death: Hitler, Ava Braun, Hitler's shepherd dog Blondie, and his last few remaining friends. Ava Braun suicided first, but no one really cared, because she was a b!tch anyway. After that, Hitler became convinced in his paranoia that his SS had given him a fake cyanide tablet for his own suicide, so he tested it on Blondie, who died immediately. That broke everyone's spirit. It was mass suicide after that, Hitler included. The exact moment that Nazi Germany fell was when their dog died.

 

[Vice]

Ava Braun suicided first, but no one really cared, because she was a b!tch anyway.

Bahaha, only on this forum... AW?

 

[Alle_Gory]

Hitler got a lot of his money by simply seizing it. It has been theorized that he didn't really hate jews, he just wanted their money. He started with bank accounts first.

Wasn't that once the war was under way and he needed a scapegoat?

 

[Andy_Dufresne]

It reminded me of when I worked with a guy who told me he owned a house in West Texas where the brass ball valves on the water pipes in his '30s built house had swastikas on them.

I used to read WWII books as a kid, like Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich", he was the interior minister. What basically happened is when the Nazis took power they reevaluated the currency, and very quickly influenced a nationalistic export culture that still exists in Germany today. Imports were drastically reduced to just basic raw materials such as some food stuffs and oil, and there was an intense focus on the manufacture of value added products such as machined goods like the brass ball valves mentioned above. In addition, workers were encouraged by the government to work far longer hours for less pay than they received even in the early '20s. The standard of living for the average German was actually lower in 1939 than it was in 1925. The trade off was pride in rebuilding their nation and a chance to reverse the Versailles treaty (so they thought). The high command kept morale high by giving the citizens free radios where they could pipe in the speeches and rallies.

Of course, (in addition to Government bonds) German companies like Focke-Wulf, Junkers, BMW and Mercedes Benz were also traded on the international markets, and due to the quality of the exports internationals invested heavily in these stocks as well. An example today: If you invest, you've certainly have heard of Baidu, China Mobile, Sinopec. Can anyone say China?

I'm sure a fair percentage of the financing could be attributed to the looting as well.....

 

[Alle_Gory]

Wait, so during the second world war, these German companies were still traded internationally or was that all restricted to German borders only once the war was well underway. I'm curious how many of them survived four years of war. I know Siemens survived by helping out the regime at the time, helping with various fund raising, lending their equipment and etc.

But what about the rest of them?

 

[Bible_Belt]

Companies in Florida were very happy to sell phosphates to the Nazis long after the war had started, but the US had not joined. After the US joined the war, Congress eventually passed the Trading with the Enemy Act, which forbade such behavior, but before then it was open season. I have run across old newspaper articles from the late 1930's with headlines like Nazi's to Buy More Florida Phosphates! Those articles typically have a happy overtone, stating how great it was that Florida was getting business from the Nazis. It was good for the local economy.