Hitler's Banker: Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht - Hardcover

Weitz, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316929166 ISBN 13: 9780316929165

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 1997

Synopsis

Examines the life of the president of the Reichsbank and his relationship with Hitler

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Reviews

This biography of a major figure of the Nazi regime raises tough ethical questions about the nature of collaboration and patriotism. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was born in 1877 into a prominent family from Schleswig-Holstein. By the turn of the century he had already acquired a reputation as an economist. But his real fame came in 1923, when, four days after Hitler's failed putsch, he became currency commissioner for the Weimar Republic; he controlled the disastrous inflationary spiral that had already destroyed Germany's economy and the middle class. By the end of 1923, he was also named president of the Reichsbank. Schacht was such a hero that in the cabarets of Berlin they literally sang his praises. After a period of prosperity in the mid-1920s, Germany again faced economic ruin, brought on by the Depression. Hitler's political success, according to Schacht, was based on ``poverty and unemployment.'' Such a simplistic evaluation suggests that Schacht misunderstood the true nature of the Nazi regime. Seeing himself as first and foremost an economist, and a patriot obliged to work with whatever regime was in power, no matter how odious, he had no qualms about collaborating with Hitler. Although never a fanatical Nazi, Schacht faithfully served the new regime (he was named minister of economics in 1934), yet managed to maintain his contacts with the anti-Nazi movement. Although dismissed by Hitler in 1943, Schacht was among those tried for war crimes at Nuremberg. He was acquitted, as he knew he would be; but that does nothing to resolve the question of his moral culpability in working with the Nazis. Weitz (Hitler's Diplomat, 1992) weaves an interesting and useful story, and although not the work of a professional historian, it sheds light on those Germans who, while not Nazis, elected to work with the regime, convincing themselves that it was the right and patriotic thing to do. (9 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Weitz has written half a dozen successful books, most recently Hitler's Diplomat (1992), a popular biography of Joachim von Ribbentrop. Weitz's family had to flee the Nazis in 1938, and Weitz seems fascinated by the much-asked question of why "ordinary" people cooperated or collaborated with the Nazis. He pursues that issue again with this biography. Schacht was appointed president of the Reichsbank in 1923 and is acknowledged as one of the two most responsible for bringing Germany's hyperinflation under control. He resigned in a dispute over the plan for German reparations that had been crafted at the Hague in 1930. Hitler reappointed Schacht president of the Reichsbank in 1933 and also made him his minister of economics. Schacht is credited with again turning around the German economy, this time relying on armaments buildup. When he realized Hitler planned on using his new weapons to carry out a policy of aggression, Schacht protested, was arrested, and put into a concentration camp until 1944. Until now no popularly accessible material had been written about him. David Rouse

Schacht, as the Weimar Republic's finance minister, saved Germany from hyperinflation. He later gave his support to Hitler, and his financial manipulations hastened Germany's rearmament. Nevertheless, Schacht did not approve of war and spent the last years of the Third Reich in concentration camps. His ambivalence toward National Socialism is interesting, although his anti-Semitism was not remarkable for the time. Weitz (Hitler's Diplomat, LJ 7/92) is not a historian but a fashion designer, and it shows. He relies heavily on secondary sources, including a bizarre summation of Schacht's postwar years with newspaper headlines. Weitz also makes silly mistakes, like attributing a quotation by Stalin to Hitler. He does enlighten the reader with an intimate knowledge of the Third Reich as a refugee and OSS intelligence officer. Though flawed, his work is the only available English-language biography in print about a fascinating man.?Randall L. Schroeder, Wartburg Coll. Lib., Waverly, Iowa
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316929166
• ISBN 13: 9780316929165
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 361