Dan Michman 
from the plunder of others, especially of the economies of occupied 
countries and of their populations,* or from plunder and confiscation 
occurring in other ethnic conflicts at all. 
Awareness and Historiography 
What is the place allotted to the economic element in both current pub- 
lic awareness and in the historiography of the Shoah (which, in my inter- 
pretation, encompasses the entire period of the Nazi regime, from 1933 
through 1945)? 
Public Awareness 
Contemporaries were very much aware of and involved in the economic 
spoliation of the Jews which included various types of expropriation: 
Aryanization, special taxes, so-called contributions, as well as confisca- 
tion, plain robbery, plunder and more, but also removal from positions 
and professions.” Not only Germans from all parts of society were 
involved in these practices by serving the regime and taking advantage of 
the situation, but bystanders in the occupied countries too.® In the 
4 For instance, German historian Gotz Aly treats them together as forming the basis 
enabling the Nazi regime to conduct advanced social policies (for Germans only); 
see: Aly, Hitlers Volksstaat. 
5 In the discussion here I will not deal with the exploitation of Jewish labor, although 
this has also economic meaning and is of much importance in the overall picture of 
the Shoah; see for instance: Gruner, Jewish Forced Labor Under the Nazis; Medy- 
kowski, Between Slavery, Extermination and Survival. For glimpses into the varie- 
ties of non-Jewish and Jewish forced labor see: Forced and Slave Labor. 
6 This has been pointed out in many recent studies carried out either by individuals 
or by multiple committees of historians. Regarding German policies and behavior 
of German society in general see for instance Bajoht, Arisierung in Hamburg; 
Bajohr, Parveniis und Profiteure; Aly, Hitlers Volksstaat; Kreutzmiiller, Ausverkauf; 
and more. There are quite a number of studies on German companies and their deep 
involvementin persecution and spoliation; see for instance Feldman, Allianz and the 
German Insurance Business; Hayes, Die Degussa im Dritten Reich; James, The 
Deutsche Bank and the Nazi Economic War; Lindner, Hoechst; Spoerer, C&A. 
Regarding Europe in general see: Dean, Robbing the Jews; Beker (ed.), The Plunder 
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