David de Jong is a journalist who previously covered European banking and finance from Amsterdam and hidden wealth and billionaire fortunes from New York for Bloomberg News. His work has also appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the Dutch Financial Daily. A native of the Netherlands, de Jong currently lives in Tel Aviv. He spent four years researching and writing this book from Berlin.
‘It is impossible to fault de Jong’s fierce indignation in his book. He must be right to urge that the descendants of Hitler’s tycoons should admit their ancestors’ criminality’ Max Hastings, Sunday Times ‘Fascinating … de Jong tells the story with the brisk clarity of the good financial journalist he is and lets the fact speak for themselves. It leaves you awestruck at the power of greed’ Daily Telegraph ‘The author cleverly weaves his astonishing facts and figures into human stories … Its fascinating detail and engaging style make Nazi Billionaires a forceful book, revealing to a wide audience a vital aspect of Germany’s ongoing discussion with itself’ Spectator ‘Lucid, and damning, Nazi Billionaires unearths decades of family secrets and exposes the tainted origins of several of the world's most significant dynastic fortunes. As adept in the archive as he is on the page, de Jong draws on a vast wealth of historical evidence to tell an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup, and denial, and to unearth the sordid war crimes behind some of today's most vaunted consumer brands’ Patrick Radden Keefe, bestselling author of Empire of Pain ‘Eloquent, thorough, and profound, David de Jong’s brilliant debut illuminates a dark chapter of the past while also shining a stark and uncanny light onto our present, and, perhaps, our near future – showing how an insidious mix of capitalism and fascism can destroy democracy and countless lives. An absolute must-read’ Norman Ohler, bestselling author of Blitzed ‘As riveting as it is disturbing. At times, it felt like reading the anti-Schindler's List: instead of secretly helping the Jews, Germany's most powerful tycoons brutally exploited their suffering for personal profit’ Bradley Hope, bestselling co-author of Billion Dollar Whale