Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State (58 page)

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Authors: Götz Aly

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36.
Otto Donner (FfW), early October 1944, BA R 2/30679.
37.
NA RG 238/case XI/F24, microfilm 308.
38.
RFM (Trapp), March 17, 1941, BA R 2/59888, pp. 67-71. The final text read: “Abandoned assets should be directed toward furtherance of solving the Jewish question” (RGBl. 1/1941, p. 722).
39.
For example, Preussische Staatsbank [Prussian State Bank] to RFM (Rade-bach), Sept. 24, 1942, BA R 2/3180; RFM, chronicle (Parpatt), Aug. 31, 1945, NA T 1139/53, NG-5294.
40.
Hitler’s Decree on the Utilization of Wealth Confiscated from Enemies of the Reich, May 29, 1941, RGBl. 1/1941, p. 303; procedural orders and numerous individual cases, BA R 1501/1838 (RMI); RFM (Office of State Secretary), 1942, BA R 2/31098, pp. 53-65.
41.
RFM (Burmeister) to Finance Division of the GG (von Streit), May 22, 1942, BA R 2/5056, p. 7.
42.
RFM (Bayrhoffer) to financial administrators of local governments, Sept. 26, 1942, NA T 1139/50, NG-4997. In January 1942, changes had been made in how Jewish assets were recorded. Until that point they were entered in Individual Measures XV,
chapter 3
, part 10. RFM (Maedel), Jan. 6, 1942, Conference (Maedel, Patzer, Matthaeus, Pape), Dec. 23, 1941, NA T 1139/50, NG-5001; RFM, Vereinfachung des Rechnungswesens [Simplification of Accounting Procedures] (Maedel), Jan. 26, 1945, BA R 2/56201, pp. 51, 62. German stocks, mining shares, and government bonds were transferred to the Prussian State Bank, and all other securities to the Reichsbank, RFM (Patzer) to OFP, Cologne, May 11, 1942, NA T 1139/51, NG-5059; RFM (Schwerin von Krosigk), Haushaltsführung im Reich im Rechnungsjahr 1945 [Reich Finances in the Fiscal Year 1945], Jan. 2BA R 2/, BA R 2/56201, p. 14.
43.
RFM (Maedel), Jan. 17, 1944, on the visit of the ministers to the alternate location of Sigmaringen, NG-5338.
44.
Memorandum to head of SS administration, Lublin, and administrative director, Auschwitz (Frank), Sept. 26, 1942, NO-724 (NA RG 238/case XI/39, microfilm 548f.); calculations of gold, currency, fountain pens, watches, and “other valuables” collected in the death camps up until Feb. 3, 1943, can be found in IMG, vol. 33, pp. 60ff. (PS-4024).
45.
Thoms statement, May 8, 1946, NA RG 238/case XI/39, microfilm 551-56; Thoms interrogation, IMG, vol. 13, pp. 661-78; RB on worth of jewelry, etc., March 31, 1944, PS-3947; SS Main Office of Economic Administration (Frank) to RFM, July 24, 1944, NA RG 238/case XI/44, microfilm 383-84; Patzer (RFM) to Gossel (RHK), Nov. 16, 1944, NG-5544; IMG, vol. 33, pp. 577-81.
46.
Emil Puhl, declaration, May 3, 1946, in Baden-Baden, NA RG 238/case XI/39, microfilm 594-95.
47.
RHK (Gossel) to RFM (Patzer), Sept. 7, 1944, NG-4094; Patzer to Gossel, Nov. 16, 1944, NG-5544.
 
48.
Chief of Security Police and Security Service to AOK 11, Feb. 12, 1942, NOKW-631.
49.
ZFS (Scheplitz, Dolderer) to OFP, Berlin, April 1, 1941, Verwertung von Juwelen und Edelmetall [Utilization of Jewels and Precious Metals], BA R 2/appendix/80, pp. 11-18; Zuständigkeits-Verordnung [Jurisdiction Regulations], RGBl. 1/1939, p. 37; Leeuw, Griff, p. 226.
50.
Four-Year Plan, Geschäftsgruppe Devisen [Currency Business Group], June 24, 1943, LArch, Berlin, B Rep. 039-01/304, p. 17; BA R 2/56240, pp. 265ff.
51.
RFM, March 26, 1941, NG-4063.
 
52.
Kwiet, “Pogrom,” pp. 564-65.
53.
Möllenhoff and Schlautmann-Overmeyer, Familien, vol. 2, pp. 793-94.
54.
Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 669ff.
Chapter 8: Laundering Money for the Wehrmacht
 
1.
Einziehung jüdischen Vermögens [Confiscation of Jewish Wealth] (Quisling), Oct. 28, 1942, to the head of the Norwegian State Police, copy to the Finance Department, LArch, Berlin, B Rep. 039-01/381, pp. 3aff. The letter was preceded by a cabinet decision, Hilberg, Vernichtung, pp. 538-39; Reisel and Bruland, Report, p. 10.
2.
Übersichtsbericht u.a. zur Beschlagnahme jüdischen Eigentums in Norwe-gen [Summary Report on the Confiscation of Jewish Property in Norway], LArch, Berlin, B Rep. 03-01/381.
3.
The Finance Ministry (Maedel) got involved on Jan. 29 and May 26, 1943, in the administration of “Jewish Wealth in Norway,” BA R 2/30513.
4.
RH (Müller) to Reich commissioner for Norway and RFM, Nov. 18, 1943, BA R 2/11444, pp. 62ff.
5.
Liquidation Office to administrator of housing, no date, LArch, Berlin, B Rep. 039-01/381, p. 54a.
 
6.
Reich commissioner for Norway, Finance Department (Korff) to RFM, Nov. 3, 1943, BA R 2/357, pp. 55ff. Reich commissioner Bohn did not mention the Liquidation Office.
7.
This command was apparently issued simultaneously in both Belgium and France after the meeting in the Ritz Hotel in Paris (see p. 214). My account is based on the Final Report of MVB/NF, section 16, Treuhandvermögen, III Abschnitt: Judenvermögen [Trustee Wealth, Division III: Jewish Wealth] (MVOR, Dr. Pichier), pp. 108-09, BA-MA RW 36/227, subsequently cited as Treuhandvermögen.
8.
Treuhandvermögen, pp. 128-29, 164-65; Doorslaer, “Raub,” pp. 137-38.
9.
Treuhandvermögen, pp. 119-20.
10.
Finance Ministry excerpt from the diary of the military commander in Belgium and northern France, Feb. 1941, BA R 2/274, pp. 129ff.
11.
Doorslaer, “Raub,” pp. 135-36.
12.
Treuhandvermögen, pp. 119ff.
13.
Währung und Finanzen [Currency and Finances], pp. 15-16. BA-MA RW 36/225.
14.
Doorslaer, “Raub,” p. 140.
15.
RFM, Sept. 27, 1944, BA R 2/305, p. 37.
16.
Commander of the Security Police and the Security Service, Netherlands, June 21, 1941, in Leeuw, “Reichskommissariat,” p. 239.
17.
Verwaltung des Judenvermögens in den Niederlanden [Administration of Jewish Assets in the Netherlands] (Friedrich), Dec. 11, 1943, BA R 2/11443b, pp. 74-97.
18.
Aalders, Geraubt, p. 311.
 
19.
The Customs Investigation Office [Zollfahndungsstelle] in Lübeck (1943-44, BA R 2/56101, pp. 82-95) documented the corruption of civil servants working in Holland.
20.
See Dreyfus, “Enteignung,” pp. 50-54. In gauging the value of property seized by the Reich from Jews and others, it is wrong to use the totality of liquidated securities. A distinction must be drawn between compulsorily and voluntarily acquired state securities, on the one hand, and stocks in private companies, on the other. Whereas stocks first had to be sold off before they could be used to bolster state finances, state bonds did not need to be—since the state was already in possession of their monetary value. In terms of currency policies, it made no difference whether assets converted into government securities continued to exist in the names of their involuntarily dispossessed owners or whether they disappeared into anonymous funds.
21.
Aalders, Geraubt, pp. 189, 191, 244, 272.
22.
Rauter to Himmler, Sept. 24, 1942, LArch, Berlin, B Rep 039-01/320, pp. 174ff. On February 2—that is, before the final dispossession ordinances—the director of the Rosenberg Task Force in Amsterdam (an SS group leader named Schmidt-Stähler) reported on the “Jewish question” that “the German authorities do not think the time is ripe for mandatory evacuation to the East.” Ibid., p. 168.
23.
“Arisierung des niederländischen Wirtschaftslebens,” Wirtschaftliche Tageschronik, April 21, 1942, PA AA R 107903.
24.
Verwaltung des Judenvermögens in den Niederlanden [Administration of Jewish Assets in the Netherlands] (Friedrich), Dec. 11, 1943, BA R 2/11443b, pp. 74-97.
25.
Compare Aalders, Geraubt, p. 393.1 find the sums for the burdens of occupation estimated there too low and therefore the Jewish portion too high.
26.
MBiF, Report by Group Wi 1/2 on the Treatment of Enemy Wealth in the Area of Responsibility of the Military Commander in France (Oct. 20, 1940-Aug. 15, 1944), AN AJ 40/589, p. 6 (Feindvermögen).
27.
Ibid., p. 10.
28.
Ibid., pp. 24, 28.
29.
Ibid., pp. 71-72, 100. (French securities, jewelry, table silver, and works of art were not confiscated from enemies of the state.)
30.
Ibid., pp. 35, 41.
31.
Luftgaukommando Westfrankreich, unbarer Zahlungsverkehr [Noncash Payments for Transactions], Jan. 21, 1941, AN AJ 40//1106 (Luftwaffe money transfers).
32.
Hartlieb and Coquelin, Sept. 9, 1943, aide-mémoire, May 7, 1943, Archive de la Banque de France 1397199801/12.
33.
DSK, France, to Association professionnelle des banques, Nov. 14, 1941, AN AJ 40/1027 (DSK 2.5, Verfügungen).
iv height="0em">
34.
Memorandum (Hemmen) to Laval, Dec. 15, 1942, PS-1741.
35.
Laskier, Jewry, p. 74.
36.
Discussions, Dec. 11-12, 1942, with Lt. Int. Pichier (MBB/NF) and Maedel (RFM), NG-5369.
37.
Fräulein Stiller (private bank in Vienna) in a discussion with Maedel (RFM), Jan. 28, 1943, ET T 37/218.
 
38.
Discussion, Oct. 16, 1940, BA-MA RW 35/772.
39.
Herbert, Best, pp. 262-63.
40.
Military commander in France, Economic Division [to Decree/Ordinance], MBiF, Wirtschaftsabt. zur VO, Oct. 14, 1940, BA-MA RW 35/772.
41.
Account by Department Wi I/1 (fragment), AN AJ 40/614 (5).
 
42.
Correspondence, MbiF/Sipo, AN AJ 40/616; Steur, Dannecker, p. 81. As of June 1942 the permanent representative of the man Adolf Eichmann had put in charge of Paris, Theodor Dannecker, was the wartime administrative counselor Heinz Röthke. The Wehrmacht appointed him to head up both the Security Police and the Security Service in France. He was also promoted to Dannecker’s post—that is, directly under Eichmann—when Dannecker left Paris in August 1942.
43.
MBiF (Michel), Economic Report, Oct. 1940, BA R 2/265, pp. 73-74. See also Nov. 1940, R 2/14566, pp. 270ff.; MBiF (Michel) to RWM (Klesper, Jo-erges), Sept. 22, 1941, AN AJ 40/615 (Deutsche Beteiligungen. Allgemeines).
44.
Compte-rendu de la réunion de liaison finances-production, Feb. 25, 1942, SAEF B 0060936.
45.
MBiF (Michel) to RWM, Sept. 22, 1941, SAEF 57046.
46.
Abetz to Gelich (WaKo, Italy), July 3-4, 1942; Carpi, Between, p. 220.
47.
Niedermeyer (MBiF) to MBiF (Drueke), July 4, 1942, BA-MA RW 35/1188; MBiF, Niedermeyer, Report no. 1, Nov. 20, 1944, BA-MA RW 35/1191, p. 14.
48.
MBiF (Bargatzky), Aug. 26, 1940; Herbert, Best, p. 263.
49.
AN AJ 40/619, file 1941; ibid., 621, vol. 2. On Gerstner, see Aly, Rasse, pp. 210-15.
50.
VOB1F, no. 49 (Dec. 20, 1941).
51.
“Grundsätze Judenfrage,” Vermerke [“Fundaments of the Jewish Queion,” notations], 1943, AN AJ 40/591; four draft letters (Michel) on the “Collection of the Atonement Payment” to the Central Department, Union des Israélites, general commissioner on Jewish questions (Vallat), French Finance Ministry, Dec. 15, 1941, AN AJ 40/615 (file 12, pp. 116-17); VO über eine Geldbusse der Juden [Ordinance on an Atonement Payment for Jews], Dec. 17, 1941, VOB1F, no. 49 (Dec. 20, 1941), pp. 325-26; MBiF (Stülpnagel) to OKH, Dec. 5, 1941, NG-117.
52.
RFM (Litter), Massnahmen gegen die Juden in Frankreich [Measures against the Jews in France], Feb. 13, 1942, Haushalts- und kassenmässige Behandlung der Judengeldbusse in Frankreich [Budget and Treasury Treatment of the Atonement Payment in France], April 24, 1942, BA R 2/14567, pp. 200ff.; OKW to RFM, Sicherstellung der Mittel aus der vom MBiF auferlegten Judenbusse usw. [Securing Funds from the Atonement Payment Imposed by the Military Commander in France], April 8, 1943, p. 311; MBiF, status report, beginning 1943, BA-MA RH 2/592, pp. 52-53.
53.
NG-4882, NA RG 238/case XI/38, microfilm 734-37.
54.
Rahn to Megerle (Foreign Office, Berlin), April 6, 1943, NG-2737, NA RG 238/case XI/38, microfilm 741.

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