The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

by Adam Tooze

The proceeds nominally still held in the name of the Jewish community were invested in government bonds, thus easing the financial situation of the Reich.130 By the end of the year, with regulations concerning the sale of real estate firmly in place, virtually all Jewish wealth remaining within the Reich was accounted for and the Reich’s exchequer was several billion Reichsmarks to the good. To avoid confusion, it is worth stressing that this was a purely financial transfer. These acts of persecution in no way improved the overall position of the German economy. Of course, some gains in efficiency were to be expected from closing down the many small and inefficient craft businesses belonging to Jews.131 But too much should not be made of this rationalization effect. Given the small scale of such businesses, the amount of labour and other resources released by these means cannot have been more than trivial. Nor should we exaggerate the fiscal benefits reaped by the Reich. According to the records of the Finance Ministry, revenue from the two main taxes levied on the Jews, the wealth tax and the flight tax, in the 1938–9 fiscal year came to 498.5