First, there were those in the Nazi hierarchy who strongly believed that Goering was not the right man to lead such a huge task. Disputes among senior Nazis was not unusual but in this instance Hitler had expressed his full confidence in one of his oldest followers and he was not prepared to change his mind as any such move could have been viewed as a sign of weakness.
Therefore, Goering remained in charge of the plan. A second problem was that the Four-Year Plan was not fully supported by business leaders. They believed that there should be some rearmament but not at the expense of the standard of living in Germany. They wanted this aspect of the economy improved first before wholesale rearmament took place. Hitler was also sympathetic to this but wanted it at the same time as wholesale rearmament.
Many believed that the two would not successfully mix. However, regardless of the obvious issues surrounding the Four-Year Plan, Hitler unsurprisingly got his way. Business leaders found that they could not successfully convey their arguments to Goering who by simply repeated what Hitler stated.
In January , Schacht was also removed from his position as President of the Reichsbank. This company had a nominal capital of one million Reichsmarks and was merely a dummy organization. The bills were received by all German banks for possible rediscounting with the Reichsbank. The bills were guaranteed by the Reich. Their secrecy was assured by the fact that they appeared neither in the published statements of the Reichsbank nor in the budget figures.
The "mefo" bill system continued to be used until 1 April Up to that date 12 billion Reichsmarks of "mefo" bills for the financing of rearmament had been issued.
Since it was no longer deemed necessary to conceal the vast progress of German rearmament, "mefo" financing was discontinued at that time. Further sources of funds upon which Schacht drew to finance the secret armament program were the funds of political opponents of the Nazi regime, and Marks of foreigners on deposit in the Reichsbank.
As Schacht boasted in a memorandum to Hitler dated 3 May The outstanding "mefo" bills represented at all times a threat to the stability of the currency because they could be tendered to the Reichsbank for discount, in which case the currency circulation would automatically have to be increased. Thus, there was an ever-present threat of inflation. Schacht nevertheless continued on his course, because he stood with unswerving loyalty to the Fuehrer, because he fully recognized the basic idea of National Socialism, and because he felt that at the end, the disturbances, compared to the great task, could be considered irrelevant.
High-ranking military officers paid tribute to Schacht's contrivances on behalf of the Nazi war machine. An article written for the "Military Weekly Gazette" in January stated:. Schacht today as one of the men who have done imperishable things for it and its development in accordance with directions from the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
The defense force owes it to Schacht's still and great ability that, in defiance of all currency difficulties it, according to plan, has been able to grow up to its present strength from an army of , men. After the reoccupation of the Rhineland, the Nazi conspirators redoubled their efforts to prepare Germany for a major war.
It was given a statutory foundation by the decree concerning the execution of the Four Year Plan dated 18 October Reichsgesetzblatt , I, By this decree Goering was put in charge of the plan. He was authorized to enact any legal and administrative measures deemed necessary by him for the accomplishment of his task, and to issue orders and instructions to all government agencies, including the highest reich authorities. The purpose of the plan was to enable Nazi Germany to attain complete self-sufficiency in essential raw materials, notably motor fuel, rubber, textile fiber, and non-ferrous metals, and to intensify preparations for war.
The development of synthetic products was greatly accelerated despite their high costs. Apart from the self-sufficiency program, however, the Nazi conspirators required foreign exchange to finance propaganda and espionage activities abroad. Thus, in a speech on 1 November before the Wehrmachtakademie, General Thomas stated:. This need for foreign exchange was reduced in part by virtue of the espionage and propaganda services rendered free of charge to the Nazi state by leading German industrial concerns.
A memorandum dated at Essen on 12 October , which was found in the files of the Krupp company, contains the subheading: "Concerns:-distribution official propaganda literature abroad with help of our foreign connections. Lachman to arrive at an appointed time.
The memorandum continues:. Landrat Bollman was such and that he himself had come at Mr. Bollman's order. After discussing the confusion in the field of foreign propaganda, the memorandum stated that Ribbentrop's Foreign office is creating a private organization for foreign propaganda, and that for this purpose the support of the Krupp firm and especially an index of addresses are needed.
This request received the following response:. Lachman that our firm has put itself years ago at the disposal of official bureaus for purposes of foreign propaganda, and that we had supported all requests addressed to us to the utmost. These activities are demonstrated by another document found in the files of the Krupp company.
A memorandum prefaced by Herr Sonnenberg, on 14 October , reports a meeting at Essen on 12 October The government's request for assistance in foreign intelligence activities met this response:. Meanwhile the conspirators' program of self-sufficiency was proceeding with great speed. The production of steel, for example, as shown in official German publication, rose as follows:.
The production of gasoline increased at any even greater tempo: from , tons in to, 1,, tons in Statistical Yearbook of the German Reich, The Nazi conspirators pressed the completion of the armament program with a sense of urgency betraying their awareness of the imminence of war.
At a meeting on 4 September Goering pointed out that "all measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the state of imminent danger of war. They are therefore to be taken. Schacht was advised by a top secret letter dated 31 August that Hitler ordered all formations of the air force to be ready by 1 April After their successes in Austria and the Sudetenland, the Nazi conspirators redoubled their efforts to equip themselves for the war of aggression which they planned to launch.
In a conference on 14 October , shortly before the Nazis made their first demands on Poland, Goering stated:. There are difficulties in the way which he will overcome with the utmost energy and ruthlessness.
The supply of foreign currency had sunken because of preparations for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Replenishment was considered necessary. At the same conference, on 14 October , Goering declared:. The armament should not be curtailed by export activities. Goering had received the order from the Fuehrer to increase armaments to an abnormal extent, the air force having first priority, and interpreted it as follows:. Along with this a larger production of armaments must go, especially fuel, rubber, powders and explosives must be moved to the foreground.
This should be coupled with an accelerated expansion of highways, canals, and particularly of the railroads. In the course of these preparations for war, a clash of wills ensued between Goering and Schacht, as a result of which Schacht resigned his position as head of the Ministry of Economics and Plenipotentiary for the War Economy in November He was removed from the presidency of the Reichsbank in January Regardless of the details of this controversy, Schacht's departure in no way implied any disagreement with the major war aims of the Nazis.
Schacht took particular pride in his vast attainments in the financial and economic fields in aid of the Nazi war machine. In a letter to General Thomas Schacht wrote:.
I have always considered a rearmament of the German people as condition sine qua non of the establishment of a new German nation. I am entirely willing, therefore, to participate in this way in the preparation of the forthcoming order giving effect to the Defense Act. In the spring of , Schacht participated with representatives of the three branches of the armed forces in "war games in war economy" at Godesberg.
A report of these exercises, entitled "War economy tasks in Godesberg undertaken by General Staff between the 25th of May and the 2nd of June," records the speech welcoming Dr. Schacht, have gone to the trouble personally to participate in our final discussion today despite all your other activities.
This proves to us your deep interest in war economy tasks shown at all times and your presence is renewed proof that you are willing to facilitate for us soldiers the difficult war-economic preparations and to strengthen the harmonious cooperation with your offices. The annexation of Austria was apparently a goal which Schacht had long sought, for in a speech to the employees of the former Austrian National Bank he declared:.
Such a mission can only be performed within the Great German Reich and based on the power of a nation of 75 millions, which, regardless of the wish of the opponents, forms the heart and the soul of Europe. I know that there are even in this country a few people-I believe they are not too numerous-who find fault with the events of the last few days, but nobody, I believe, doubts the goal, and it should be said to all grumblers that you can't satisfy everybody.
One person says he would have done it maybe one way, but the remarkable thing is that they did not do it, and that it was only done by our Adolf Hitler; and if there is still something left to be improved, then those grumblers should try to bring about these improvements from the German Reich, and within the German community, but not to disturb us from without.
A memorandum of 7 January , written by Schacht and other directors of the Reichsbank to Hitler, urged a balancing of the budget in view of the threatening danger of inflation. The memorandum continued:.
It [the Reichsbank] therefore assumed to a very great extent the responsibility to finance the rearmament in spite of the inherent dangers to the currency. The justification thereof was the necessity, which pushed all other considerations into the background, to carry through the armament at once, out of nothing, and furthermore under camouflage, which made a respect-commanding foreign policy possible. The Reichsbank directors, as experts on money, believed that a point had been reached where greater production of armaments was no longer possible.
That was merely a judgment on the situation and not a moral stand, for there was no opposition to Hitler's policy of aggression. Doubts were merely entertained as to whether that policy could be financed.
After Adolf Hitler passed his Enabling Bill Schacht toured the United States where he made forty speeches, appeared on radio and wrote several articles for American newsletters where he claimed that Hitler would soon return Germany to democracy. He met Franklin D. Roosevelt but made a bad impression on the president who later described him as "extremely arrogant". In August, , Hitler appointed Schacht as his minister of economics. Deeply influenced by the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes and Roosevelt's New Deal , Schacht encouraged Hitler to introduce a programme of public works, including the building of the Autobahnen.
Schacht also introduced the New Plan which rigorously controlled everything that was imported into Germany. This involved negotiating a series of bilateral trade agreements including one with the Soviet Union in Like other Nazis Schacht was extremely hostile to Germany's Jewish population.
In one speech he argued that "the Jews must realize that their influence in Germany has disappeared for all time. It is estimated that over the next four years over , reached Palestine under this agreement.
Schacht disagreed with what he called "unlawful activities" against Jews and in August, made a speech denouncing Julius Streicher and the articles he had been writing in Der Stuermer. He pointed out that Jews had fought bravely in the German Army in the First World War and deserved to be treated fairly. Schacht also had doubts about the large amounts of money being spent on armaments. He warned Hitler that he was building armed forces far beyond the country's economic capacity.
He found it increasingly difficult working under Hermann Goering who fully supported the government's policy on military spending. As Goering told Schacht "If the Fuehrer wishes it then two times two are five. In November, , Schacht resigned as minister of economics. However, he remained as President of the Reichsbank where he continued to oppose excessive expenditures for armaments.
Hitler eventually removed Schacht from power in January, Schacht refused but in he was arrested and charged with being involved in the July Plot.
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