4x48 min.HD

Where did Hitler get the funds and the backing to achieve power in 1933 Germany?

Did these funds come only from prominent German bankers and industrialists or did they also come from foreign investors?

What was their motivation?

And were they aware of his plans and later atrocities?

MAIN CONCEPT: Where did Hitler get the funds and the backing to achieve power in 1933 Germany? Did these funds come only from prominent German bankers and industrialists or did they also come from foreign investors? What was their motivation? And were they aware of his plans and later atrocities?

SERIES DESCRIPTION: One can’t fully understand the true nature of Nazism, the rise of the Third Reich or the chilling connection between money, power, and terror in the twentieth century, until you follow Hitler’s Money trail. Based in recent investigation of forgotten and hidden documents and the �nding of secret bank funds in Switzerland, this documentary series covers mainly an often overlooked side of The Führer, often portrayed as the political and military leader, but rarely as the economist who managed to persuade or even intimidate investors who bankrolled his rise within the Nazi party at �rst, the successful political campaigns that took them to power, and the subsequent remilitarization and expansion of the Third Reich. Recurring to the testimonials of well renowned specialists, revealing archives and dramatic reenactments, these 4 episodes unveil the complex �nancial network behind Hitler and the Nazi Party that spread well beyond German borders, including shocking and surprising facts that involved well known �nancial, industrial and political �gures from that period, including Jewish investors and what were their motivations to morally and �nancially support one of the most authoritarian and destructive regimes of the last century. How much they were aware of the imperialist ambitions, racial ideologies and the atrocities that were committed using their money? Discover the whole truth behind the story of the anonymous penniless Austrian immigrant that would turn a bankrupt country into a deadly threat to the whole mankind in this unique production.

MAIN TOPICS• The legal and illegal methods used by Hitler to get the funds to achieve power in 1933.• The German managers who helped and followed Hitler in his planning and administration.• The multi billion dollar pro�ts made by German bankers and industrialists with their public and secret deals with Hitler and his associates.• How concentration camps became suppliers of slave labour and the pro�ts made with the Holocaust, for investors not only from Germany but also from Allied countries.• Famous Nazi supporters and sympathizers from the Allied countries like Edward VIII and his partner Wallis Simpson, Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller.• The Allied country industrialists and bankers that kept dealing with Nazi Germany, some of them establishing factories and o�ces in the Third Reich, or even the �nancing of scienti�c Research, some of it conducted in death camps.

METHOD & SOURCES • Unique access to archive footage, dramatic recreation, exclusive interviews and graphics. • Individual stories will bring the historical picture to life.• Interviews with specialists, economists and experts.

Our experts: Prof. Frank McDonough ( Liverpool University ), Prof. Thomas Weber ( Aberdeen University ), Prof. Sonke Neitzel ( Postdam University ), Prof. Michael Lynch ( Leincester University ), Dr. Christopher Dillon ( Kings College London ), Prof. Richard Dvery ( Exeter University ), Dan Silverman ( The Author of "Hitler‘s economy" Harvard university ), James Pool ( The Author of "Who �nanced Hitler" ), Aly Gotz ( The Author of "Hitler‘s Bene�cia-ries" ), Adam Tooze ( The author of "Wages of Destructions" and "Breaking Nazi Economy" Yale University )

EPISODE 1 - THE RISE OF THE NAZISImpoverished, humiliated and frustrated, Adolf Hitler impersonated the general state of mind and moral of the German people after the end of the First World War. Taking matters in his own hands, he became the leader of a small underground movement that would turn into a major political force that would gain power and perform the economic miracle turning a bankrupt country into one of the most powerful nations in the whole Europe. How did an undereducated army corporal did this? How could a penniless Austrian migrant a�ord such a radical change? This episode reveals who supported the early Nazis, either moved by ideological or economic interests or pure money-laundering, not only to �nance their political propaganda, but also the organization of paramilitary gangs that would use less orthodox methods to increase the party’s funds, like extortion, counterfeiting, scamming, plain robbery and even murder. As the Party grew and gained more respectability, it would attract the support and sympathy of bankers, industrialists and members of the high-class society who would sponsor their electoral campaigns over the years until their �nal political victory in 1933.

EPISODE 2 - THE GERMAN REBIRTHAfter achieving power in 1933, Hitler and the Nazis would ful�ll their promises of restoring German national pride and return it to its former glory. What seemed as an impossible task a few years before when the country was bankrupt and with its industry in ruins, became a reality in just a few years, receiving the international appraisal from some of the most important �gures from the time, from Edward VIII to Henry Ford. This miracle was possible due to radical and quite risky measures that would prove revolutionary for its time, but would boost the country’s industry and reduce unemployment drastically and bring a new atmosphere of apparent prosperity, that would attract the interest of many investors both nationally and abroad. Yet, this rebirth was not only economical or industrial, but above all military bearing nearly ¾ of the country’s expenditure in building one of the largest and better equipped armies of its time. This episode reveals, who were these investors? Where they aware of Hitler’s expansionist ambitions? And if yes what made them to continue bankrolling a regime that threatened world peace? The answers in this episode will be no less than surpris-ing.

EPISODE 3 - THE BUSINESS OF WARThe Second World War was as motivated by expansionist ambitions as it was was by pure greed. Not only from Hitler and other high ranked members of the Nazi hierarchy but also from many business people not only in Germany but also abroad, many from allied countries. This episode is dedicated to those who saw in war an opportunity to pro�t from the destruction and atrocities which took place during those years, revealing the names of well established companies, banks and even institutions who kept dealing with the Third Reich even when their imperialist and racist agenda were well known. What kind of business was being made within and with Nazi Germany and what were the pro�ts made at the cost of the lives of over 50 million people?

EPISODE 4 - THE PLUNDERNot all the funding of the Nazi party, the German economic recovery and the Third Reich’s war machine was funded by private investment. Many of it came from the plunder carried out �rst in Germany alone, where the property and goods of political adversaries as well as Jewish citizens was con�scated, to the looting in the territories that were annexed by the regime before and during the war, In this episode, we try to make an estimate of the real amount that was plundered during the Nazi regime: how much do we know, how much was recovered and the new �ndings of Gold reserves and con�scated goods that still occur today.