Study: Deutsche, Dresdner Banks Financed Substantial Part of Purchase of Jewish Property Confiscated in Nazi Germany

The study, by a German historian and published by Yad Va’Shem (the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem), focuses on "Aryanization" in Hamburg. 40% of the Germans were "uninhibited purchasers" of Jewish property.

Many ordinary Germans earned considerable amounts of money by exploiting the confiscation of Jewish property before World War II and during the war. Particularly prominent in that sphere were two of today’s largest German banks: Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank.

The two banks financed a substantial part of the purchases of stolen property, and participated in the acquisitions, according to a study by German historian Frank Bauer, published in a new set of studies by Yad Va’Shem.

Bauer focuses on the "Aryanization" in Hamburg, also dealing with a general description of the theft of Jewish property in Germany. According to Bauer, while the theft was an important ideological element in the persecution of the Jews, there was also the exploitation motive which "acted as an incentive for institutions and people who participated in it."

Bauer differentiates between three major types of Germans who acquired Jewish property confiscated in Hamburg. 40% of them were "unscrupulous, aggressive buyers", who excelled at personal initiatives against the Jewish owners, in order to reduce the price of the property by exploiting the owners’ lack of choice.

Among the methods employed by these buyers: reporting to the Gestapo, which inevitably led to the confiscation of the property owners’ passports (of those who wanted to sell and leave Germany, refusal to abide by contracts, and exploitation of ties in the Nazi party in order to pressure the owners. Many of those in this category were employees of Jewish owners.

An additional 40% of the buyers were "silent partners of the Nazi regime", who benefitted from the convenient terms created by "Aryanization", but did not take any steps to improve on them. Bauer says that many in this category believed the deals were fair, and found difficulty understanding, after the war, why the Jewish owners demanded restoration of their property.

The third group, amounting to 20% of the buyers, were "Understanding, good-willed businessmen, who tried to compensate the Jewish owners fairly". Many of them were personal friends of the sellers, and purchased the businesses at the request of the owners. Usually, these sales were in contrast to the policy dictated by the Nazi institutions, though only a few of the purchasers openly deviated from the German law.

Bauer elaborates on what he refers to as "the unofficial Aryanization market" in which many Germans dealing in the confiscated property profited from it. Among them he depicts mediators and lawyers who followed the potential market, searched for businesses about to be confiscated, mediated in the deals, drew up the contracts, and charged high commission rates. It is here that Bauer makes special mention of the Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank.

In February 1941, the entire population of Hamburg benefitted from the Aryanization, in a public auction of Jewish property seized by the Gestapo, and of possessions belonging to Jews who had left Germany and could not be forwarded, due to the war. Enjoying special privileges in purchasing these possessions were young couples, Germans who returned from overseas and owners of apartments destroyed in the bombings. Many State institutions also enjoyed privileges.

Published by Israel's Business Arena April 22, 1998