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 Götz 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 channeling 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. Buoyed by millions of packages soldiers sent from the front, Germans also benefited from the systematic plunder of conquered territory and the transfer of Jewish possessions into their homes and pockets. Any qualms were swept away by waves of government handouts, tax breaks, and preferential legislation. 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.

“Götz is a highly original thinker who has made a range of breakthroughs in Holocaust Studies.” — Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews

“Thoroughly researched and fluently written, this book offers a new, brilliant, gripping and convincing dimension to the understanding of one of the most puzzling questions of the history of our times: why did so many Germans, both Nazis and ‘ordinary people,’ support the persecution of the Jews? Enough with ideology, sociology, and psychology; it wa mostly about profit.” — Tom Segev, author of The Seventh Million: Israel Confronts the Holocaust

One of the most respected historians of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, Götz Aly is the author of Architects of Annihilation, among other books. Winner of Germany’s prestigious history award, the Heinrich Mann Prize, Aly has been a visiting fellow at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C., and currently teaches at the University of Frankfurt. He lives in Berlin.