H. Schacht (1877-1970) |
Dr. Horace Greely Hjalmar Schacht (22. January 1877 - 3. June 1970) was a German financial
expert and Minister of Economics from 1935 until 1937.
Education and rise to President of the Reichsbank
Schacht was born in Tinglev, Germany to William Leonhard Ludwig Maximillian Schacht
and Danish baroness Constanze Justine Sophie von Eggers. His parents 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 economics in 1899. In 1905, while on a business trip
to America with board members of Dresdner Bank, Schacht met the famous American banker
J.P. Morgan, as well as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
He became one of the directors of the Reichsbank in
1916 and in 1923 became currency commissioner
for the Reich. After his economic policies helped reduce
German inflation and stabilize the German
mark, Schacht was appointed president of the Reichsbank. He collaborated with other prominent
figures in economics to form the Young Plan to modify the way that war reparations were paid
after Germany's economy was destabilizing under the Dawes Plan.
Involvement in the Nazi Party
Schacht with Hitler |
Though never a member of the Nazi Party, Schacht became influenced by
Adolf Hitler after reading "Mein Kampf"
and helped to raise funds for his Nazi Party after meeting with him. He successfully
organized German industrialists to sign a petition calling for President Paul von
Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as
Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
In August of 1934, Hitler appointed Schacht as his Minister of Economics. Schacht supported
public works programs similar to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, most notably the
construction of the Autobahn to attempt to alleviate unemployment - policies which had been
instituted in Germany under legislation drawn-up by Kurt von Schleicher's government in late
1932, and had in turn influenced Roosevelt's policies. He was appointed General Plenipotentiary
for the War Economy in May, 1935 and was awarded honorary membership of the Nazi Party and the
Golden Swastika in January, 1937.
Schacht resigned as Minister of Economics and General Plenipotentiary in November, 1937 due
to his disapproval of Hitler's war aims and excessive military spending because he believed
it would cause inflation, as well as conflicts with Hermann Göring, but was re-appointed
President of the Reichsbank until he was dismissed from the position by Hitler in January, 1939.
Schacht instead held the title of Minister Without Portfolio and received the same salary as
he did as President of the Reichsbank until he was fully dismissed in January, 1943.
Imprisonment and subsequent life
Schacht was falsely accused of being involved in the 1944 July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler
and was arrested and sent to Dachau concentration camp as a "special prisoner" until it was
liberated in April, 1945.
He was arrested by the Allies and accused of war crimes at the
Nuremberg Trials, but was acquitted and released in 1946.
He was again arrested by Germans,
tried in a denazification court and sentenced to eight years in a work camp, but was released
early in September, 1948. He formed the Dusseldorf Bank after his release and became an economic
and financial advisor for developing countries. Schacht died in Munich, Germany on 3. June 1970.
Works
Schacht wrote three books during his lifetime:
- The End of Reparations, published in 1931
- Account Settled, published in 1949 after his acquittal at the Nuremberg Trials
- Confessions of the Old Wizard, an autobiography published in 1953
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