But when there is money in the till, it is difficult to make politicians understand that they really must save for the future." 1 Historians have long argued about whether the Nazi regime represents an example of continuity or discontinuity in German history. 2 Yet there is at least one area in which the matter is beyond dispute: the destruction of the reserves of the German government retirement pension system, the Gesetzliche Rentenversicherung, between 1933 and 1945. In order to finance current expenditures of an aggressive war intended to rid Europe, and ultimately the world, of Jews, the Nazi regime borrowed enormous sums of money that had accumulated in the retirement-benefit savings of millions of people. In choosing this funding device, the dictatorship followed the example set by its imperial predecessor to finance the First World War. Its democratic successor also forced the pension system to acquire government debt, although for expenditures that had peaceful purposes.
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When the Nazi Party came to power in January 1933, the German government's retirement pension system covered about four-fifths of the population. In 1933, Alfred C. Mierzejewski teaches modern German history at the University of North Texas and has published four books and numerous articles on aspects of modern German economic history.