Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht

The German economist and banker Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht (1877-1970), widely admired and hated as Germany's "financial wizard," played a vital role in his country's economic recoveries after the inflation of 1923 and in the Hitler years.

Hjalmar Schacht was born in the small border town of Trigleff in German Schleswig on Jan. 22, 1877, shortly after his parents had returned from their emigration to America. After earning his doctorate in economics at the University of Kiel in 1900, he entered one of Germany's great Industrial "D"-banks, the Dresdener Bank, in 1903, where he remained for 13 years. During World War I he set up a new central bank in occupied Belgium to print and regulate the Occupation currency. At the end of the war—now director of the smaller National bank— Schacht participated in the founding of the new progressive liberal party, the Democratic party, to which he belonged until 1926.

Schacht first gained a national reputation when he became currency commissioner in 1923 and in that position played a vital role in the stabilization of the currency after the runaway inflation of 1922-1923 by the creation of the new Rentenmark. In December 1923 his fame as the "savior of mark" brought him an appointment to the presidency of the Central Bank, which he held until 1930. During this time he actively fought foreign credits, and in 1929 he took part in the negotiations for a new plan of reparations, the Young Plan. On his return from the conference, however, he immediately disowned the plan in the face of opposition by fellow nationalists. After the Hague Conference of March 1930 he resigned his position and openly blamed the German Republican government for the continuation of reparations in a pamphlet entitled End of Reparations (1931) and other writings. In October 1931 he was instrumental in the formation of the Harzburg Front, a loose coalition of industrialists, national conservatives, and Hitler, and in November 1932 he recommended to the old president of the republic, Paul von Hindenburg, that Hitler be appointed chancellor.

After the Nazi take-over, the grateful Hitler immediately reappointed Schacht to the Central Bank. From that position and from the office of minister of economics from 1934 to 1937, Schacht presided over Germany's second interwar recovery until, by 1938, mounting armament costs began to threaten his concept of a sound, balanced economy and brought on serious disagreement with Hitler. A blunt memorandum of warning in January 1939 brought his downfall and subsequent contacts with the Resistance. After the unsuccessful coup of July 1944 he was arrested but survived the end of the war and was found not guilty at the Nuremberg Trials. After the war he lived in retirement and was called upon for economic advice by several developing nations, most prominently by Indonesia and the Philippines. He died on June 4, 1970, in Munich.

Further Reading

Schacht's autobiography was published in the United States as Confessions of "The Old Wizard" (trans. 1956). His self-defense against implication with Nazi crimes is set down in his Account Settled (trans. 1949). He wrote once more about his life experiences and his general views on finance in The Magic of Money (trans. 1967). The best general biography in English is Edward N. Peterson, Hjalmar Schacht: For and against Hitler (1954), a fair-minded, well-documented account. Norbert Mühlen, Schact: Hitler's Magician (trans. 1938), is a bitterly critical portrayal of Schacht as a ruthless economic dictator by a prominent journalist. The most recent biographical study in English is Earl R. Beck, Verdict on Schacht (1956), which deals with the question of Schacht's guilt as Hitler's chief economist.

Additional Sources

Schacht, Hjalmar Horace Greeley, Confessions of "the Old Wizard": the autobiography of Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1974, 1955. □

Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht , 1877–1970, German financier. He held executive positions in several major German banks before becoming (1923) commissioner of currency. Inflation had reached its height and the paper mark had become worthless. Schacht substituted the rentenmark, in theory secured by a mortgage on all land and industry. By various stringent deflationary measures the rentenmark was stabilized and the budget balanced. In 1924, Germany obtained a foreign loan under the Dawes Plan, and in 1925 the rentenmark was replaced by the reichsmark, based on a gold standard. Appointed president of the Reichsbank in Dec., 1923, Schacht resigned in 1930 because of his opposition to continued German reparations payments. A nationalist and representative of conservative capitalism, Schacht after 1931 supported the National Socialist (Nazi) party. He was appointed president of the Reichsbank (1933) and minister of economy (1934) and was given wide powers. Through bartering agreements with Balkan and Middle Eastern countries, he enabled Germany to secure raw materials for its rearmament and developed German trade. Conflict with Hermann Goering , who had been made virtual economic dictator, led to Schacht's resignation from the ministry in 1937. Schacht continued as president of the Reichsbank until 1939, when he was dismissed for opposing the huge armament program, which he felt would cause inflation. He remained minister without portfolio until 1943. In 1944 he was placed in a concentration camp for his alleged part in the plot against Hitler's life. Acquitted (1946) by the war-crimes tribunal at Nuremberg, he twice won (1948, 1950) appeal from a German "denazification" court's sentence. In 1953 he established a private bank in Düsseldorf.

Bibliography: See his autobiography, Confessions of the Old Wizard (1953, tr. 1956); A. E. Simpson, Hjalmar Schacht in Perspective (1969).

Schacht, Hjalmar (1877–1970),apolitical financial architect of the Third Reich who served as president of the Reichsbank 1923–30 and 1933–9, plenipotentiary for war economy 1935–7, minister of economic affairs from August 1934 to November 1937, and finally minister without portfolio until January 1943. He came to oppose Hitler's policy of increased rearmament, which he considered inflationary. Initially his international reputation gave him immunity domestically but he eventually resigned his ministerial positions in 1937 after making ‘it clear to the Four-year Plan commissioner and Hitler himself that he regarded their foreign-currency, manufacturing, and financial policy “as incorrect” ’ ( W. Deist, et al., Germany and the Second World War, Vol. 1, Oxford, 1990, p. 314). Gö;ring, with whom he had frequently clashed over economic matters, took his place. He joined the resistance against Hitler and was arrested after the failure of the July 1944 bomb plot (see Schwarze Kapelle). After spending the rest of the war in concentration camps, he was acquitted at the Nuremberg trials. See also world trade and world economy.

Schacht, Hjalmar (b. 22 Jan. 1877, d. 3 June 1970). President of the German Central Bank 1924–30, 1933–9 In 1918 he co-founded the left-liberal DDP (Deutsche Demokratische Partei), but in the following years moved increasingly to the right until he supported Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933. His skilful handling of the German economy after 1933 was an important contributor to Hitler's popularity and his ability to rearm Germany. He was Economics Minister 1934–7, but lost this post and the presidency of the national bank for opposing Hitler's and Göring' more extreme autarky/rearmament schemes. Because of loose contacts with conservative resistance circles he was imprisoned after the July Plot. He was acquitted of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials.

Schacht, Hjalmar (1877–1970) German financier. As Commissioner of Currency (1923) he applied a rigorous monetary policy to stabilize the mark after its collapse in that year. He took part in REPARATIONS negotiations but rejected the YOUNG PLAN (1929). Under HITLER he became Minister of Economics (1934–37), responsible for Nazi programmes on unemployment and rearmament. Rivalry with GOERING caused his resignation. In 1944 he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for his alleged involvement in the JULY PLOT to assassinate Hitler. At the NUREMBERG TRIALS (1946) he was acquitted.