Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power, 1919-1933 [Paperback]

James Pool (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

Called "one of the most useful and illuminating studies of Nazism" by The New Yorker, this highly acclaimed work of history unravels the secret financial web which Hitler spun across Europe and around the globe to bankroll his dream of world domination--revised and updated. photo insert.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Original edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671760831
• ISBN-13: 978-0671760830
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing work., August 29, 2002

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power, 1919-1933 (Paperback)

Pool is able to give us a compelling report about who really financed the Nazi-party and why Hitler had friends in high places, and that despite the fact that many first hand historical documents disappeared.
First, there was the fear for communism (Fritz Thyssen, Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch, Norman Montagu of the Bank of England ...). These people supported Hitler's party to win the working class and the ruined lower middle class away from communism.
Secondly, his anti-semitism (Henry Ford). Third, his racist/nationalist stance (the secret Thule society: a group of lawyers, judges, professors, policemen, aristocrats, scientists and businessmen). Fourth, friendly régimes (Mussolini).
And last but not least, the donations of his party members and his daily newspaper (a milk cow).
Pool gives us a penetrating picture of the political/economical situation in Germany after the First World War: the unbearable Versailles Treaty, the poverty, the unemployment, the hopeless division of the political parties and the plotting of von Papen and his backers, who supported Hitler when his party was losing support, for fear that his followers would jump over to the communists. Von Papen thought that after the elections, he would easily get rid of Hitler, a terrible mistake.
Pool convinced me of the ease with which money can subvert the democratic process.
One of the more controversial statements in this book is the reason of the abdication of King Edward VIII of England: not because of Mrs. Simpson, but because of his pro-Nazi attitude. This statement needed more underpinning.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opening: The Friends of Nazi Party!, November 20, 2000

By 

American_History_Rocks (Southeastern Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power, 1919-1933 (Paperback)

I've read both of Pool books, and I've found them both very insightful on the American, England and German "money" interest in the Nazi's rise to power. Without their backing, Germany would have fallen into a communist state in the early 1930s. Certainly, the high-powered money interest of Europe preferred the Nazi Party to the communist. This is why the "money" interest supported the Nazi party. Understanding this truth is key in understanding the Nazis rise to power.

We all know what Hitler's views were, but we haven't until Pool research, addressed what powerful forces were instrumental in his rise to power. As a history major, Pool represents what the craft of history is all about. A high recommended reading for anyone.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent synopsis of Hitler's ascendence., June 22, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Financed Hitler: The Secret Funding of Hitler's Rise to Power, 1919-1933 (Paperback)

As a novice reader in this area I found the book tremendously helpful in setting the context for Hitler's inexorable rise to power and illuminating the financial machinations that made it possible. His political adversaries badly underestimated him and the Allies sowed the seeds of WW2 as far back as the punitive Versailles treaty. He was an opportunist par excellence and obviously capable of great evil but Mr. Pool does an admirable job of presenting the everyday, human side of Hitler and the Nazi movement. After all, despite the carnage he wrought he was a man born like the rest of us. Many others, including representatives of countries who eventually ended up sacrificing the flower of their youth to contain his destructive actions, aided and abetted the formation of a totalitarian state. Mr.Pool's greatest achievement is making the book read like a rather exciting novel. It is not at all dry as the title might suggest. You feel a certain sense of tension and anticipation as they struggle towards their utterly contemptuous goals. The great tragedy is that the average Nazi Party member, and the other politicians who tried to use the Hitler bandwagon for their own more moderate aims, thought they were doing a good thing for Germany. Sadly they could not control the beast they unleashed. I look forward to reading the sequel "Hitler's Secret Partners 1933-45".