The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Individual Responsibility Of Defendants

Hjalmar Schacht

(Part 2 of 13)


[Page 740]

B. PRIOR TO 1933, SCHACHT ACCEPTED THE NAZI PROGRAM AND HELPED HITLER TO POWER.

Schacht met Goering for the first time in December 1930, and Hitler early in January 1931, at Goering's house. He thought that Hitler was "full of will and spirit" and a man "with whom one could cooperate". Thereafter, he actively supported Hitler's accession to power (725-PS; 3729-PS).

Schacht's belief in the Nazi program and his undivided loyalty to Hitler are revealed in his letter to Hitler dated 29 August 1932 wherein he pledged continued support to Hitler after the latter's poor showing in the July 1932 elections and proferred advice concerning electioneering tactics. The letter includes the following statements, inter

"But what you could perhaps do with in these days is a word of most sincere sympathy. Your movement is carried internally by so strong a truth and necessity that victory in one form or another cannot elude you for long. ***"

*******

"Wherever my work may take me in the near future even if you should see me one day within the fortress -- you can always count on me as your reliable assistant." (EC- 457).

Subsequently, on 12 November 1932, he again wrote to Hitler, congratulating him upon his firm attitude and stating:

"I have no doubt that the present development of things

[Page 741]

can only lead to your becoming chancellor. *** I am quite confident that the present system is certainly doomed to disintegration." (EC-456)

The fact that Schacht was in complete accord with Hitler's program is further shown by the following entry of 21 November 1932, in Goebbels'

"In a conversation with Dr. Schacht, I assured myself that he absolutely represents our point of view. He is one of the few who accepts the Fuehrer's position entirely." (2409-PS).

Schacht has himself confirmed the correctness of Goebbels' statement (3729-PS).

But Schacht's contribution to Hitler before his accession to power did not consist merely of comforting him, giving advice, and expressing agreement with the Nazi program. He was an active participant in Hitler's vigorous campaign to take over the German state. Thus, he openly lent the prestige of his name, which was widely known in banking, financial, and business circles, to Hitler's cause (3729- PS). He actively undertook to induce business leaders to support Hitler. In his letter to Hitler 12 November 1932, he wrote that:

"It seems as if our attempt to collect a number of signatures from business circles for this purpose (your becoming Chancellor) was not altogether in vain ***." (EC-456)

He organized the financial means for the decisive March 1933 election, at a meeting of Hitler with a group of German industrialists in Berlin. At this meeting, Hitler bluntly announced his plans to destroy the parliamentary system in Germany, to crush all internal opposition by force, to restore the power of the Wehrmacht, and to gain his objectives outside of Germany by the use of force. On this occasion, Schacht collected a campaign fund of several million Marks for Hitler's use (D-203; EC49).

In an eulogy of Schacht on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, the Voelkischer Beobachter, Hitler's official organ, aptly described Schacht's activity in the period before the 1933 election as follows:

"In this critical period, Schacht never failed to point at Adolf Hitler as the only possible leader of the Reich."

"The name of Dr. Schacht will remain linked with the transition of the German economy to the new National Socialist methods" (EC-499)


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