On
this date, 3 June 1970, Hitler’s Banker, Hjalmar Schacht, passed away in Munich
at the age of 93. I will post the information about him from Wikipedia and other
links.
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Hjalmar Schacht (1877 – 1970), President of
the Reichsbank
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Reich
Minister of Economics
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In
office
3 August 1934 – 26 November 1937 |
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President
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Chancellor
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Adolf Hitler
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Preceded by
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Kurt Schmitt
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Succeeded by
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Hermann Göring
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President
of the Reichsbank
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In
office
12 November 1923 – 7 March 1931 |
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Preceded by
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Rudolf E. A. Havenstein
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Succeeded by
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Hans Luther
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In
office
17 March 1933 – 20 January 1939 |
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Preceded by
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Hans Luther
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Succeeded by
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Walther Funk
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Personal
details
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Born
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Hjalmar Horace Greeley
Schacht
22 January 1877 Tinglev, then Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, now Denmark |
Died
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3 June 1970 (aged 93)
Munich, Federal Republic of Germany |
Resting place
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Munich Ostfriedhof
Plot 55—Row 19—Grave 7 |
Political party
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None (honorary member of
NSDAP)
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Spouse(s)
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Luise Sowa (1903–her death 1940)
Manci (1941–1970) †1999 |
Profession
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Banker, Economist
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Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970)
was a German economist, banker, liberal politician, and co-founder in 1918 of
the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner and
President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic. He was a fierce critic
of his country's post-World War I reparation obligations.
He
became a supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, and served in Hitler's
government as President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics. As such,
Schacht played a key role in implementing the policies attributed to Hitler.
Since
he opposed the policy of German re-armament spearheaded by Hitler and other
prominent Nazis, Schacht was first sidelined and then forced out of the Third
Reich government beginning in December 1937, therefore he had no role during
World War II. He became a fringe member of the German Resistance to Hitler and was
imprisoned by the Nazis after the plot of 20 July 1944. After the war, he was tried at Nuremberg and acquitted.
In
1953, he founded a private banking house in Düsseldorf. He also advised
developing countries on economic development.
Education
and rise to President of the Reichsbank
Schacht
was born in Tingleff, Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia, German Empire (now in
Denmark) to William Leonhard Ludwig Maximillian Schacht and baroness Constanze
Justine Sophie von Eggers, a native of Denmark. His parents, who had spent
years in the United States, originally decided on the name Horace Greeley
Schacht, in honor of the American journalist Horace Greeley. However, they
yielded to the insistence of the Schacht family grandmother, who firmly
believed the child's given name should be Danish. Schacht studied medicine,
philology and political science before earning a doctorate in philosophy in
1899 – his thesis was on mercantilism.
He
joined the Dresdner Bank in 1903. In 1905, while on a business trip to the
United States with board members of the Dresdner Bank, Schacht met the famous
American banker J. P. Morgan, as well as U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. He
became deputy director of the Dresdner Bank from 1908 to 1915. He was then a
member of the committee of direction of the German National Bank (de) for
the next seven years, until 1922, and after its merger with the Darmstädter und
Nationalbank (Danatbank), a member of the Danatbank's committee of direction.
Schacht
was a freemason, having joined the lodge Urania zur Unsterblichkeit in
1908.
During
World War I, Schacht was assigned to the staff of General von Lumm, the Banking
Commissioner for Occupied Belgium, to organize the financing of Germany's
purchases in Belgium. He was summarily dismissed by General von Lumm when it
was discovered that he had used his previous employer, the Dresdner Bank, to
channel the note remittances for nearly 500 million francs of Belgian national
bonds destined to pay for the requisitions.
After
Schacht's dismissal from public service, he had another brief stint at the
Dresdner Bank, and then various positions at other banks. In 1923, Schacht
applied and was rejected for the position of head of the Reichsbank, largely as
a result of his dismissal from von Lumm's service.
Despite
the blemish on his record, in November 1923, Schacht became currency
commissioner for the Weimar Republic and participated in the introduction of the
Rentenmark, a new currency the value of which was based on a mortgage on all of
the properties in Germany. After his economic policies helped battle German
hyperinflation and stabilize the German mark (Helferich Plan), Schacht was
appointed president of the Reichsbank at the requests of president Friedrich
Ebert and Chancellor Gustav Stresemann.
In
1926, Schacht provided funds for the formation of IG Farben. He collaborated
with other prominent economists to form the 1929 Young Plan to modify the way
that war reparations were paid after Germany's economy was destabilizing under
the Dawes Plan. In December 1929, he caused the fall of the Finance Minister
Rudolf Hilferding by imposing upon the government his conditions for obtaining
a loan. After modifications by Hermann Müller's government to the Young Plan
during the Second Conference of The Hague (January 1930), he resigned as
Reichsbank president on 7 March 1930. During 1930, Schacht campaigned against
the war reparations requirement in the United States.
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Schacht at a meeting in the Reichsbank
transfer commission in 1934
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Involvement
with the Nazi party and government
By
1926, Schacht had left the small German Democratic Party, which he had helped
found, and began increasingly lending his support to the Nazi Party (NSDAP), to
which he became closer between 1930 and 1932. Though never a member of the
NSDAP, Schacht helped to raise funds for the party after meeting with Adolf
Hitler. Close for a short time to Heinrich Brüning's government, Schacht
shifted to the right by entering the Harzburg Front in October 1931.
Schacht's
disillusionment with the existing Weimar government did not indicate a
particular shift in his overall philosophy, but rather arose primarily out of
two issues:
- his objection to the inclusion of Socialist Party elements in the government, and the effect of their various construction and job-creation projects on public expenditures and borrowings (and the consequent undermining of the government's anti-inflation efforts);
- his fundamentally unwavering desire to see Germany retake its place on the international stage, and his recognition that "as the powers became more involved in their own economic problems in 1931 and 1932 ... a strong government based on a broad national movement could use the existing conditions to regain Germany's sovereignty and equality as a world power."
Schacht
believed that if the German government were ever to commence a wholesale
reindustrialization and rearmament in spite of the restrictions imposed by
Germany's treaty obligations, it would have to be during a period lacking clear
international consensus among the Great Powers.
After
the July 1932 elections, in which the NSDAP won more than a third of the seats,
Schacht and Wilhelm Keppler organized a petition of industrial leaders
requesting that president Hindenburg appoint Hitler as Chancellor. After Hitler
took power in January 1933, Schacht won re-appointment as Reichsbank president
on 17 March.
In
August 1934 Hitler appointed Schacht as Germany's Minister of Economics.
Schacht supported public-works programs, most notably the construction of autobahnen
(highways) to attempt to alleviate unemployment – policies which had been
instituted in Germany by von Schleicher's government in late 1932, and had in
turn influenced Roosevelt's policies. He also introduced the "New Plan",
Germany's attempt to achieve economic "autarky", in September 1934.
Germany had accrued a massive foreign currency deficit during the Great
Depression, which continued into the early years of the Third Reich. Schacht
negotiated several trade agreements with countries in South America and
southeastern Europe, under which Germany would continue to receive raw
materials, but would pay in Reichsmarks. This ensured that the deficit would
not get any worse, while allowing the German government to deal with the gap
which had already developed. Schacht also found an innovative solution to the
problem of the government deficit by using mefo bills. He was appointed General
Plenipotentiary for the War Economy in May 1934 and was awarded honorary
membership in the NSDAP and the Golden Swastika in January 1937.
Schacht
disagreed with what he called "unlawful activities" against Germany's
Jewish minority and in August 1935 made a speech denouncing Julius Streicher
and Streicher's writing in the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer.
During
the economic crisis of 1935–36, Schacht, together with the Price Commissioner
Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, helped lead the "free-market" faction
in the German government. They urged Hitler to reduce military spending, turn
away from autarkic and protectionist policies, and reduce state control in the
economy. Schacht and Goerdeler were opposed by a faction centering around
Hermann Göring.
Göring
was appointed "Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan" in 1936, with
broad powers that conflicted with Schacht's authority. Schacht objected to
continued high military spending, which he believed would cause inflation, thus
coming into conflict with Hitler and Göring.
In
1937 Schacht met with Chinese Finance Minister Dr. H. H. Kung. Schacht told him
that "German-Chinese friendship stemmed in good part from the hard
struggle of both for independence". Kung said, "China considers
Germany its best friend ... I hope and wish that Germany will participate
in supporting the further development of China, the opening up of its sources
of raw materials, the upbuilding of its industries and means of
transportation."
In
November 1937 he resigned as Minister of Economics and General Plenipotentiary
at Göring's request. He remained President of the Reichsbank until Hitler
dismissed him in January 1939. After this Schacht held the empty title of
Minister without Portfolio, and received the same salary, until he was fully
dismissed in January 1943.
Following
the Kristallnacht
of November 1938, Schacht publicly declared his repugnance at the events, and
suggested to Hitler that he should use other means if he wanted to be rid of
the Jews. He put forward a plan in which Jewish property in Germany would be
held in trust, and used as security for loans raised abroad, which would also
be guaranteed by the German government. Funds would be made available for
emigrating Jews, in order to overcome the objections of countries that were
hesitant to accept penniless Jews. Hitler accepted the suggestion, and
authorised him to negotiate with his London contacts. Schacht, in his book The
Magic of Money (1967), wrote that Montagu Norman, governor of the Bank of
England, and Lord Bearstead, a prominent Jew, had reacted favourably, but the
spiritual leader of the London Jews, Chaim Weizmann, opposed the plan. A
component of the plan was that emigrating Jews would have taken items such as
machinery with them on leaving the country, as a means of boosting German
exports.
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Adolf Hitler and Hjalmar Schacht
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Resistance
activities
Schacht
was in contact with the German Resistance as early as 1934, though at that time
he still believed the Nazi regime would follow his policies. By 1938, he was
disillusioned, and was an active participant in the plans for a coup d'état
against Hitler if he started a war against Czechoslovakia. Goerdeler, his
colleague in 1935–36, was the civilian leader of the Resistance. Schacht talked
frequently with Hans Gisevius, another Resistance figure; when Resistance organizer
Theodor Strünck's house (a frequent meeting place) was bombed out, Schacht
allowed Strünck and his wife to live in a villa he owned. However, after 1941,
Schacht took no active part in the Resistance.
Still,
at Schacht's denazification trial (subsequent to his acquittal at Nuremberg) it
was declared by a judge that "None of the civilians in the resistance did
more or could have done more than Schacht actually did."
After
the attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944, Schacht was arrested on 23 July.
He was sent to Ravensbrück, then to Flossenbürg, and finally to Dachau. In late
April 1945 he and about 140 other prominent inmates of Dachau were transferred
to Tyrol by the SS, which left them there. They were liberated by the Fifth
U.S. Army on 5 May 1945 in Niederdorf, South Tyrol, Dolomites, Italy.
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Hans Fritzsche, Franz von Papen and Hjalmar
Schacht with Colonel Andrus
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After
the war
Schacht
had supported Hitler's gaining power, and had been an important official of the
Nazi regime. Thus he was arrested by the Allies in 1945. He was put on trial at
Nuremberg for "crimes against peace" (planning and waging wars of
aggression), but not war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Schacht
pleaded not guilty to these charges. He cited in his defense that he had lost
all official power before the war even began, that he had been in contact with
Resistance leaders like Hans Gisevius throughout the war, and that he had been
arrested and imprisoned in a concentration camp himself.
His
defenders argued that he was just a patriot, trying to make the German economy
strong. Furthermore, Schacht was not a member of the NSDAP and shared very
little of their ideology. The British judges favored acquittal, while the
Soviet judges wanted to convict. The British got their way and Schacht was
acquitted.
In
1953, Schacht started a bank, Deutsche Außenhandelsbank Schacht & Co.,
which he led until 1963. He also gave advice on economics and finance to heads
of state of developing countries, in particular the Non-Aligned countries.
Indirectly
resulting from his founding of the bank, Schacht was the plaintiff in a
foundational case in German law on the "general right of
personality". A magazine published an article criticizing Schacht,
containing several incorrect statements. Schacht first requested that the
magazine publish a correction, and when the magazine refused, sued the
publisher for violation of his personality rights. The district court found the
publisher both civilly and criminally liable; on appeal, the appellate court
reversed the criminal conviction, but found that the publisher had violated
Schacht's general right of personality.
Schacht
died in Munich, Germany, on 3 June 1970.
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Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, former German
financial wizard who was acquitted last fall by the IMT, appeared as a witness
in the Flick Case July 21, 1947. Testifying for the defendant Flick, Schacht
said the industrialist contributed to the Nazi Party's campaign fund in 1933
because Hitler promised to protect private industry and to eliminate all
strikes. [Original Descriptive Caption] Date: 21 July 1947 Provenance: From
Public Relations Photo Section, Office Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, Nuernberg,
Germany, APO 696-A, US Army. Photo No. OMT-V-W-16. Citation: Telford Taylor
Papers, Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Columbia University Law School, New
York, N.Y. : TTP-CLS: 15-2-2-94.
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Hjalmar Schacht (right) with Stafford
Sands, while visiting the Bahamas in 1962
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Works
Schacht
wrote 26 books during his lifetime, of which at least four have been translated
into English:
- The End of Reparations (1931)
- Account Settled (1949) after his acquittal at the Nuremberg Trials
- Confessions of the Old Wizard, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,1956)
- The Magic Of Money, (London: Oldbourne, 1967)
Miscellany
·
Gustave
Gilbert, an American Army psychologist, examined the Nazi leaders who were tried
at Nuremberg. He administered a German version of the Wechsler-Bellevue IQ
test. Schacht scored 143, the highest among the leaders tested, after
adjustment upwards to take account of his age.
·
When
he stabilized the mark in 1923, Schacht's office was a former charwoman's
cupboard. When his secretary, Fraulein Steffeck, was later asked about his work
there she described it:
What did he do? He sat on his chair and smoked in his little dark
room which still smelled of old floor cloths. Did he read letters? No, he read
no letters. Did he write letters? No, he wrote no letters. He telephoned a
great deal – he telephoned in every direction and to every German or foreign
place that had anything to do with money and foreign exchange as well as with
the Reichsbank and the Finance Minister. And he smoked. We did not eat much
during that time. We usually went home late, often by the last suburban train,
travelling third class. Apart from that he did nothing.
Portrayal
in popular culture
Hjalmar
Schacht has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and
theater productions;
- Felix Basch in the 1943 United States propaganda film Mission to Moscow
- Wladyslaw Hancza in the 1971 Polish film Epilogue at Nurnberg
- James Bradford in the 2000 Canadian/U.S. TV production Nuremberg
- Stoyan Aleksiev in the 2006 British television docudrama Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial
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