The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1)

by Herman Wouk

In the queer Germany of 1939, which Victor Henry was just beginning to understand, there was much stress on legality in looting the Jews. Outright confiscation or violence were rare. New codes of law dating from 1936 simply made it hard for them to do business; and month by month rulings came out making it ever harder. Jewish firms couldn’t get import or export licenses or raw materials. Their use of railroads and shipping was restricted. Conditions kept tightening until they had no course but to sell out. A market flourished in such Objekte, with many alert upper-class Germans bidding eagerly against each other. Wolf Stöller’s technique was to find and unite all the buyers interested in an Objekt, and to make a single very low offer. The owners had the choice of taking it or going bankrupt. Stöller’s group then divided up the firm in shares. Through Göring, Stöller had access to the Gestapo’s records, and was usually first on the scent of a major Jewish firm buckling to its knees. The big prizes Göring bought up himself—metal, banking, textiles—or took a large participation. Stöller’s bank got its broker’s fees and also its own participations in the Objekte.