SBS is set to premiere a thought-provoking two-part documentary series, ‘Blood Money: Inside The Nazi Economy’, on Saturday, 8 July at 5.35pm.
The series focuses on an often-overlooked aspect of World War II: the Nazi economy.
June 1940 marked a turning point in history as Adolf Hitler sent German troops rampaging across France, Belgium, and Holland. Despite being impoverished, with scant raw materials, no oil, or currency, the Nazis managed to ignite the conflagration that was World War II. How they achieved this, despite their weak economy, forms the crux of the documentary.
Drawing from the research of contemporary French, British, and German historians, ‘Blood Money’ adopts an economic, industrial, and financial lens to scrutinise the Third Reich. It highlights key figures often overshadowed by history, including Hjalmar Schacht, Dr Georg Von Schnitzler, Fritz Sauckel, and Erich Müller.
The series explores how the Nazis managed to integrate their aggressive, racist ideologies into every aspect of the German economy. From large-scale industries to small businesses, agriculture, and research, they established a system predicated on theft, mass murder, and a sole aim of war and European destruction.
In the first episode, ‘A World War On Credit’, the documentary delves into Hitler’s war ambitions since his rise to power in 1933. Despite Germany’s lack of resources, the Nazis undertook an extraordinary financial manipulation operation to rejuvenate the economy, producing vast quantities of weapons and leading to the so-called Nazi economic miracle of 1935-1936. Ultimately, Hitler initiated a war funded on enormous credit, using plunder and forthcoming seizure as collateral.
Thanks to 3D animation and rare archival footage, ‘Blood Money: Inside The Nazi Economy’ offers viewers an unprecedented insight into the economic strategies and mechanisms that fueled the Nazi regime’s war machine.
