re: #6 Unlike Some People

Although the economies of the world were doing well in the twenties, was that the case with Germany, which had to pay reparations for WWI? There had to be an unexpressed resentment by the German people of both their government and the rest of Europe—since the Nazis exploited this resentment. The distance between 1924 and 1932 is not a long time.

Did Turner prove that the Nazis were self-financed or did he simply disprove Abraham’s book? There is a difference. The claim is that Turner used unpublished records of German corporations and the Nazi Party as evidence. But how much can we trust such evidence, since the Nazis were the criminal class? Would Turner argue that Al Capone was only in the milk business?

Capone’s conviction came about because his observable assets far outweighed his reported income. The Nazi demonstrations, their youth camps, show a level of financing that required major donations. If corporations were not officially giving money—private benefactors certainly were, and their identities are still unknown, I believe.

After further examination, I don’t believe I would consider Turner’s work on the Nazis to be definitive. For instance, his emphasis on a created mythology over what was a steamroller of industry prior to WWI is suspect. The merger of science and university research powered the German economy prior to WWI. And such engines are what move history.