Blood Money: Inside the Nazi Economy on SBS – June 1940. Hitler launches tanks and troops across France, Belgium and Holland.
Yet Germany is impoverished, has few raw materials, and no oil or currency.
How did the Nazis manage to set off the cataclysm of WWII with little money and a weak economy?
Based on the work of a new generation of French, British and German historians, this two-part documentary series takes an economic, industrial and financial approach to the Third Reich, exploring the inner workings of the Nazi system through key characters who have been overshadowed by history, including Hjalmar Schacht, Dr Georg Von Schnitzler, Fritz Sauckel, and Erich Müller.
Thanks to 3D animation and rare archive footage, Blood Money: Inside The Nazi Economy will reveal how the Nazis were able to weave their violent, racist views into every thread of the German economy, from large-scale industry to small businesses to agriculture and research, creating a model whose main management tools were theft and mass murder, and whose ultimate goal was war and the destruction of Europe.
Series One, Episode Two: An Economy Of Death
The resounding German victories of 1940 hid a beleaguered economy. Everything was in short supply: petrol, weapons, raw materials, food, and foreign currencies. They organised wide-scale looting in the countries they invaded. The Nazi war economy was dependent on theft and spoliation.
Blood Money: Inside The Nazi Economy – Final Episode – Saturday, 9 July at 5.35pm on SBS and SBS on Demand (2 Parts)
TV Central SBS content HERE
