Reichsbank President who financed Nazi rearmament through Mefo bills
Born in Tingleff in Schleswig, Schacht was a banker who co-founded the German Democratic Party (DDP) in 1918. As currency commissioner from November 1923 he helped introduce the Rentenmark and end hyperinflation, and in December became President of the Reichsbank. He resigned in March 1930, joined the Harzburg Front in 1931 and helped organise the industrialists and landowners who pressed Hindenburg to appoint Hitler. Back at the Reichsbank from March 1933, he was also Economics Minister from 1934 to 1937. He financed rearmament off the books through Mefo bills and in September 1934 built bilateral clearing trade and import controls into the New Plan. Clashing with Hitler and Göring over the pace of rearmament, he left the Reichsbank in January 1939. Arrested after the July 1944 plot, he was held in concentration camps; Nuremberg acquitted him.
Also known as: Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht
Activities and affiliations
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1918–
Political and party leadership
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1923–1939
Germany state institutionsPresident of the ReichsbankMain
Economy, finance and planning -
1934–1937
Germany state institutionsMinister of Economics
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1923.11.12–12Currency commissioner; introduction of the Rentenmark
- 1923.12.22–1930.03.07President of the Reichsbank
- 1931.10Joined the Harzburg Front
- 1933.03–1939.01President of the Reichsbank (second term)
- 1934.08–1937.11Minister of Economics
- 1944–1945.04.30Arrested and held in concentration camps
- 1946Acquitted at Nuremberg