The Nazi economy

This chapter explores how four issues - imperialism; crises and foreign trade; state guidance of private industry; and 'Aryanization' - shaped economic development under the Third Reich, and how understanding their mutual interaction can clarify the sources of Germany's recovery from the Great Depression, the readiness of its business elite to collaborate with the Nazis, and Hitler's decision to embark on a war of conquest. It argues that the Nazis created a heavily dirigiste - at times coercively so - capitalist economy, which was riddled with cronyism and geared towards imperial expansion, military production, and the despoliation of Jews.