Hitler´s presents and his elite

Unfortunately the book is probably only in German but interesting review:

Gerd R. Ueberschaer and Winfried Vogel. Dienen und Verdienen - Hitlers Geschenke und seine Eliten.

The donations which Hitler distributed amongst his military and civilian henchmen, Ueberschaer and Vogel contend in their study, were also a form of corruption. They provide ample evidence that Hitler used donations in the broadest sense to buy loyalty.

When he took office as Reichspraesident, he inherited a small annual budget of 150,000 Reichmarks (RM) to be spent on the alleviation of individual hardships. By 1944, however, this budget had grown to 40 million RM, a sum placed completely and exclusively at Hitler's personal disposal.

In monarchical Germany, such rewards were bestowed with great publicity and imperial ceremony, while Hitler kept his donations as confidential as possible.

The most intriguing analyses occur in the chapters examining the gifts bestowed on field marshals and generals during World War II. Many field marshals and generals, however, readily accepted Hitler's donations, thus sacrificing their personal independence and integrity to the Fuehrer. Moreover, some of them often pulled all available strings to lay hands on as much farmland, forest or money as they could. Vogel and Ueberschaer target especially the double standards of this military elite, emphasizing how they permitted themselves to be corrupted by Hitler.

In fact, Hitler routinely attached special increments to the regular monthly pay of officers promoted to field marshal or colonel general. To these officers Hitler provided 4,000 and 2,000 RM respectively as a special "expense allowance" to accompany their promotions.While certainly generous, these awards were funded directly from Hitler's personal budget and, as the recipients were pointedly reminded, could be just as easily withdrawn should the Fuhrer choose.

Ministers and ranking officers like Keitel or Raeder could expect around 250,000 RM on the occasion of their sixtieth or sixty-fifth birthday, and General Hube received 50,000 RM as a wedding gift. Available evidence indicates that none of these officers refused the Fuehrer's presents.Field Marshal Kluge, who committed suicide because of his involvement in the 20 July 1944 attempt on the Fuehrer's life, sensed the intentions behind Hitler's generosity, but nevertheless accepted 250,000 RM on his sixtieth birthday in 1942.

Colonel General Guderian extensively toured the eastern parts of the Reich and finally settled on an estate with an overall value of 1.24 million RM. The original owners, a noble family from Prussian-Polish stock, had to be turned out so that the Guderians could take their place.

The family of Field Marshal von Leeb, for example, still owns Bavarian forests with an estimated value of 2.2 million DM

The message of the authors, however, is clear: Hitler tried to buy the loyalty of his civilian and military elite, and most of these people, contrary to their publicly- paraded ethics, were only too ready to make themselves available for such a deal.

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Anybody read this? Comments?

 

Sounds like an interesting work in social education. I think that it would be interesting to read. I cannot read German, though.

People in a society lead like Hitler's Germany was would have to be succeptable to this kind of activity. There surely was no way to obtain promotion or distinction without garnering Hitler's favor.

You have listed many recognizable names that accepted his gifts, can you tell us some that refused?

 

Those are only the names mentioned in the review. I believe they all got their share whoever was promoted.

The most interesting thing here is the fact that it was not just " Hitler´s eyes and his presence " that made the impression like often mentioned. 1 million RM in an envelope would probably make any man more of a believer really as well or would help alot in agreeing in things...

Nothing new really but a fact seldom mentioned in WW2 history.