As a result of the Second World War, many states, including the victorious countries, suffered serious losses. The only winners were financial and industrial corporations, for which the most destructive war in history turned out to be a real gold mine.
Friedrich Krupp
The German Krupp dynasty has always played a major role in the economy of German militarism. Therefore, the Treaty of Versailles, concluded following the First World War, became a real tragedy for Gustav Krupp. The rise to power of the Nazis not only restored Krupp's lost opportunities, but also revived hopes for the establishment of unlimited power of monopolies.
During the formative years of the German military machine, the revenues of the Friedrich Krupp company grew by leaps and bounds. The boost in the military industry during the Third Reich gave Germany a powerful impetus, thanks to which it currently ranks second in the world after the United States in steel production.
The son of the aging Gustav Krupp, Alfred, having learned in the late 1930s about Himmler's plans to create concentration camps, invested huge funds in this project. For him, the camps were not primarily death factories, but sources of profit that settled in his pockets thanks to the use of prison labor. Alfred Krupp was the owner of 10 concentration camps, it was at the Krupp box office that camp guards and guards received their salaries.
By the time of Germany's surrender, Alfred Krupp came up fully armed: huge amounts of money in foreign currency were safely buried in Swiss banks, documents denouncing him in connection with the Nazis were destroyed, and factories were transferred to the protection of the American military police.
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Siemens
The military-industrial boom did not pass by the Siemens House, which was headed by the third son of the founder of the famous company. Factories that produced electrical equipment, including surveillance scanning radar systems, supplied the German army, navy and merchant navy with their products. In addition to hired workers, prisoners of concentration camps, prisoners of war and Ostarbeiters worked at Siemens factories, which made the family business as profitable as possible.
Standard Oil
One of the largest German concerns IG Farbenindustrie, which was the main sponsor of Hitler's election campaign, was controlled by the American oil company Standard Oil owned by the Rockefellers. Even when the United States entered World War II, Standard Oil continued to cooperate with the Nazis, regularly supplying them with fuel and continuing to receive dividends. Investments in the German economy alone totaled $ 120 million.
General Electric
Another American company that managed to cash in on the war, run by the Morgan clan, was fined by the US government for misconduct in 1946. Together with the Krupp General Electric Corporation, he deliberately overpriced the prices of tungsten carbide, which was a vital material for the machining of metals necessary for the needs of the front. The $ 36,000 fine was negligible compared to the $ 1.5 million received as a result of the fraud.
American banks
In the 1990s, a French government commission investigating the seizures of Jewish valuables and accounts during World War II claimed that five American banks were involved in the theft: Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan, Guaranty Trust Co. of New York, Bank of the City of New York and American Express.
Chase bank was especially active, which significantly improved its affairs after the "Kristallnacht" - the pogrom of Jews in Austria and Germany, which took place in 1938. The bank later froze the accounts of French Jews in occupied France.
One of the main shareholders of Chase Bank, John Rockefeller, directly funded the eugenic experiments of the Nazis. Between 1936 and 1941, Chase worked with other American banks to help the Germans raise over $ 20 million. Banks earned more than $ 1.2 million on the deal, of which Chase put half a million in his pocket.
Swiss banks
Hitler's ambitious plans were generously funded by American and British bankers, and Swiss banks were the intermediaries. It was this circumstance that allowed little Switzerland to stay away from the drama that was playing out on the European fronts.
During the Second World War, the leaders of the Reich invested 15 billion Reichsmarks in Swiss banks of gold - more than $ 40 billion at the current exchange rate. These were, first of all, the gold reserves of the occupied countries, as well as confiscated property. Concentration camps, from which hundreds of kilograms of gold crowns were supplied, served as a separate source of gold.
Also, the Nazis sold to Switzerland paintings not interesting to the Reich from the currents of art. For example, they sold 28 Impressionist paintings to the Swiss dealer Hans Wendland, in return for one by Rembrandt and two tapestries from the 16th century. The paintings received from the German authorities, among which were the works of Van Gogh, Renoir, Corot, were very profitably realized by the Swiss.
Nestle
In 2000, the Swiss company Nestle was conditionally ordered to pay almost 15 million dollars in compensation to Jewish organizations. This is a pittance compared to the capital that the company has amassed during the war. Nestle was profitably selling tons of instant coffee to the American army, due to the overproduction of which Brazil suffered.
This popular firm recently admitted that in 1947 it acquired a company that used forced labor during the war. "There is no doubt, or it can be assumed that some corporations from the Nestlé group operating in countries controlled by the National Socialist regime exploited forced laborers," the company said.
Nestlé is known to have provided financial aid to the Nazi Party in Switzerland in 1939, winning a lucrative contract to supply chocolate for the entire German army during World War II.
Fanta
The world famous Fanta brand owes its birth to Nazi Germany. When problems arose after the outbreak of the war with the import of cola ingredients into Europe, the manager of Coca-Cola in Germany, Max Keith, was able to quickly reorient himself. Its technologists managed to create a delicious chemical drink formula that could be produced for the Germans based on the materials available.
1941 marked the debut of Fanta on the German market. Kaite's efforts to keep the Coca-Cola division running smoothly throughout the war allowed the company to generate substantial profits, and after the war ended, the American company's German subsidiary returned to distributing Coca-Cola to American soldiers stationed in Europe.
USA
In the opinion of many experts, despite the enormous costs incurred during the war, the United States has benefited in many ways from it. Thus, the profits of American corporations grew from $ 6.4 billion in 1940 to $ 10.8 billion in 1944. General Motors President Charles Wilson once put it: "What is good for General Motors is good for the United States, and vice versa."
Thanks to the profits of military-industrial corporations, the American post-war economy experienced a real boom.
But the United States enriched itself in another way. So, after the defeat of Poland by Germany, the government of the country took out the gold and foreign exchange reserves, which eventually ended up in France. From France, Polish gold, in company with Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian and French gold reserves itself, migrated to Dakar, where it was expropriated by the Americans who landed there.
It is known that the gold reserve of the French National Bank was 2 billion 477 million dollars, the Norwegian reserves were estimated at 84 million dollars.
In addition, business owners and individuals in Europe preferred to transfer their savings to American banks as the safest place. If in October 1939 the US Federal Reserve System held $ 17 billion worth of gold, then by February 1940 this amount had increased by a whole billion ($ 1 in 1940 equals about $ 25 today).
With the beginning of the active phase of the war in Europe, the flow of gold increased markedly. Only from May 10 to 14, 1940, gold in the amount of $ 46 million arrived in the United States, and after France was doomed, another $ 500 million arrived in the US banks.
Sweden
During the war years, Sweden was able to increase its gold reserves through iron trade with Germany. For example, in 1939, 70 percent of Swedish iron and 50 percent of iron ore went to Germany. With the outbreak of the war, Sweden's share of German imports only increased.
In addition, Germany could not do without the products of the Swedish concern SKF, which produced bearings for military equipment.
The total value of Sweden's benefits from trade with the Reich can be estimated at 10 billion modern dollars. Later, these capitals became the material basis of the reforms that led to the construction of Swedish socialism.
Portugal
This Pyrenean state occupied a very advantageous geographical position, which allowed it to contact both Great Britain and the countries of continental Europe. Providing trade services to both the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition and the Axis countries, Portugal managed to increase its gold reserves from $ 63 million in 1938 to $ 438 million in 1946.
The republic possessed huge reserves of tungsten, without which the production of high-quality steel is unthinkable. It is not surprising that both the Germans and the British tried to buy it to the maximum, as a result of which the prices for the metal rose constantly.