How Hitler Built a War Economy on Debt and Plunder | SLICE | Full Documentary

Jan 23, 2026 | As soon as he came to power in 1933, Hitler wanted to go to war. Warfare was central to Nazi ideology; the strong had to crush the weak. To go to war, he needed weapons and an army, but Germany had neither. A far cry from the fake images of prosperity, years of adversity had worn the country down. It was a medium-size power like Iran or South Africa today.

The Nazis launched themselves into an extraordinary operation of financial manipulation and managed to revive the economy by producing enormous quantities of weapons. That was the Nazi economic miracle of the 1935-1936 period: an overheated economy that needed a war to continue its mad race. In 1939, Hitler embarked on a war financed on credit, enormous credit using spoliation and upcoming appropriation as collateral.

Documentary: Blood Money Inside the Nazi Economy EP1 : A World War on Credit Directed by Gil Rabier Production: GoGoGo Films (2021)


WIKIPEDIA: Hjalmar Schacht’s Mefo bills »

Blood Money : Financial Secrets of the Third Reich - Episode 1 : How to Finance a War ? | PURE WW2

When Hitler seized power in 1933, war was already his endgame. Violence lay at the heart of Nazi ideology: the strong must dominate, the weak must fall. But there was a problem—Germany had no modern army, no weapons, and an economy worn down by years of crisis. Far from the myth of a thriving Reich, the country was a middling power, no stronger than a present-day regional state. The Nazi regime then launched one of the most audacious financial operations of the 20th century. Through secret debt schemes, industrial coercion and massive state manipulation, they rebuilt the economy by pouring resources into weapons production.

In 1939, Hitler finally plunged Europe into war — a war financed entirely on credit, using looted assets and anticipated spoils as collateral. A conflict born from a financial illusion that could only survive through expansion.

How Switzerland Helped Finance Hitler’s War – Historical Documentary

October 9, 2025 | Suisse : La Banque des Nazis

Hjalmar Schacht: The Nazi Regime’s Financial Architect I Slice History | Full Documentary

Hjalmar Schacht is a largely forgotten figure. And yet, Hitler’s rise to power depended on him. Adapted from the novel The Devil’s Banker by Jean-François Bouchard, this documentary paints the portrait of a fascinating character, at once intellectually brilliant and imbued with an icy cynicism, and who, paradoxically, was never a member of the Nazi party, despite being one of its pillars.

Documentary: Inside Hitler’s Killing Machine: The Banker of the Third Reich
Directed by: François Pomès
Production: Label News

Behind The Nazi Origins Of The Volkswagen Beetle (1997)

The Volkswagen - Hitler's Car: How Hitler's people's car became a left-wing symbol.

Greece Demands Nazi War Reparations and German Assets Seizures as Creditor Squeeze Continues

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras revives claims for compensation and the possibility of seizing German assets in return for the crimes carried out by the Third Reich

Greece's prime minister has demanded Germany pay back more than €160bn (£112bn) in Second World War reparations as his country is squeezed by creditors to overhaul its economy in return for vital bail-out funds.

In an emotive address to his parliament, Alexis Tsipras said his government had a "duty to history, to the people who fought and to the victims who gave their lives to defeat Nazism."

The Leftist government maintains it is owed more than €162bn - nearly half the value of its total public debt - for the destruction wrought during the Nazi occupation of Greece.

"The government will work in order to honour fully its obligations. But, at the same time, it will work so that all of the unfulfilled obligations to Greece and the Greek people are met," said Mr Tsipras on Tuesday at a parliamentary debate on the creation of a reparations committee.

Syriza's leader added the atrocities of the Nazi occupation remained "fresh in the memory" of Greek people and "must be preserved in the younger generations."

Greece's demand for reparations centres on a war loan of 476m Reichsmarks the Greek central bank was forced to make to the Nazis. Athens is also calling for wider compensation for the destruction and suffering caused by the occupation.

The country's justice minister went further, threatening the seizure of German assets in order to compensate the relatives of Nazi war crimes. » | Mehreen Khan | Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Cyprus Fallout: Moscow Accuses Euro Zone of Theft -- and Worse

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Russia has sharply criticized the bailout deal for Cyprus, with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accusing the EU of theft. Russian state television even likened the forced levy imposed on wealthy investors -- many of them Russian -- to the expropriation of Jews by Nazi Germany.

The verdict of Russian state television on Europe's effort to save Cyprus was damning. The last week "will enter the history books of the EU as a destructive one," said Dmitry Kiselev, the presenter of the popular news program Vesti Nedili on the Rossiya channel.

Kiselev heaped criticism on the forced levy to be imposed on bank deposits in Cyprus. He said the last time a Western European government proceeded so recklessly was when Adolf Hitler expropriated the Jews.

Nazi propaganda at the time described the money held by Jewish people as "dirty," said Kiselev. That was precisely how Europe was talking about Russian assets deposited in Cyprus, he added.

"The new world order is being founded against Russia, at Russia's costs and on the rubble of Russia," said a Rossiya correspondent from the Mediterranean island nation.

The Kremlin feels it has been sidelined in the tug-of-war over the Cypriot bailout, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso visited Moscow for talks last Friday, but just a few days later, Europe's new attempt to avert a financial meltdown in Cyprus has elicited fierce criticism from Moscow. » | Benjamin Bidder in Moscow | Monday, March 25, 2013

Germany Backs Down on Tax Demand for Compensation Payments

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Germany has backed down on a controversial demand that former slave labourers for the Nazis should pay tax on pensions paid to them as compensation after protests from Belgium and Holland.

Belgium first contacted Germany a month ago to express its fury after "morally indefensible" tax bills were sent to victims of the Nazi forced labour programme during the Second World War.

After initially failing to respond, Berlin was forced to abandon the policy after Belgium threatened to raise the issue during emergency eurozone talks on Nov 30.

A spokesman from Germany's finance ministry on Monday announced that emergency legislation would be passed on Friday to make sure that the pensions would remain tax-free.

"This problem no longer exists, or at least will no longer exist very soon," he said. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Monday, November 21, 2011

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BMW Dynasty Breaks Silence Over Nazi Past

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The dynasty behind the German car manufacturer BMW has broken its silence over its dark Nazi past and admitted to using forced labourers in its factories and profiting from the "aryanisation" of Jewish businesses.

The Quandt family empire, which became a major shareholder in BMW after the Second World War building it up to become one of the most desirable car brands, launched a project to investigate its Nazi-era activities after unpleasant revelations were aired in a 2007 TV documentary.

The ensuing research using company files from the 12-year period of the Third Reich has established the depth of collaboration between the family patriarch, Günther Quandt and his son Herbert, and Hitler's regime. » | Fiona Govan, Berlin | Thursday, September 29, 2011

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