Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties - David De Jong

[Xerxes]

Anyone read this. Seems interesting. I read its review on The Economist book section.

 

Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties: de Jong, David: 9781328497888: Books - Amazon.ca

[gfp]

I'm sure it is an interesting book and the reviews have been positive, but this stuff wasn't exactly a secret.  (former vintage Porsche owner here, full disclosure)

[Xerxes]

Two years later i started and finished reading the book. 

 

The Porsche–Piëch family dynasty is only one of the four or five dynasties it covers. The book covers the Quandt, the Flick, the von Finck, the Porsche–Piëch and the Oetker. In the later chapters is also touches on JAB Holdings (owner of Dr Pepper). Of these families the Flick and the von Finck are no more. Admittingly, it was hard to keep track of Flick and the von Finck through the book as they both starts with a "F". To confuse the matter, there is also a Funk, who was a minister of something, but not a industralist.

 

The books starts off in the 1930s, when the different industrialists start to build their empire and expand through the war. It covers the aryanisation of some companies taken over by the Germany Inc.

 

The most informative part of the book though is in the post-war era, as some of the dynasties disintegrates (family quarrel) while some others endures. Of note, The Quandt were interesting. One branch of Quandt family put most of their post-war wealth into BMW (and in fact engineer a turnaround at the automaker). Today they own about less than half of BMW and are worth tens of billions of dollars.

 

This led me to buy this book on BMW => Driven: Inside BMW, the Most Admired Car Company in the World: Kiley, David: 9780471269205: Books - Amazon.ca

 

Another branch of the Quandt and Flick at one point become the largest shareholders in Daimler Mercedes post-war era, but as both families scramble for liquidity they offload their shares to Kuwaiti Investment Authority and Deutsche Bank, respectively. I have known that KIA was a very large shareholder of Daimler Mercedes, but did not know how they came to own it until this book.

 

Also interestingly, the wife of the Quandt patriarch in 1930s separates from him and becomes engaged to Dr. Goebbels and was the First Lady of Reich until her death in 1945. Decades later, her granddaughter marries (or start dating) a Jewish man, not knowing that she was the grand daughter of the First Lady of Reich. Long story short, she later converts to Judaism. Or something along those lines.

 

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Interestingly, while the book talks about the Krupp dynasty, there is not much dedication to it. I did however read this book about the Krupp few years ago. It is big one.

The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty That Armed Germany at War: Manchester, William: 9780316529402: Books - Amazon.ca

Edited July 2 by Xerxes