19 February 1935), which in the long run helped
realize the broad program of the financing of armaments, developed by
him, and with the aid of which, as he testified, he "had found
the way to finance the rearmament program."
In his speech in Leipzig on 4 March 1935, Schacht, while summing
up his preceding economic and financial activities, announced "
. . . . everything that I say and do has the Führer's full
agreement and I shall not do or say anything which is not approved by
the Führer" (Transcript, Afternoon Session, 3 May 1946).
Having become the Plenipotentiary General for War Economy,
Schacht unified under himself the leadership of the entire German
economy and through his efforts the establishment of the Hitlerite
war machine was accomplished.
a) The secret law of 21 May 1935, which appointed Schacht the
Plenipotentiary General for War Economy, states as follows:
"The task of the Plenipotentiary
General for War Economy is to place all the economic resources in the
service of warfare The Plenipotentiary General for War Economy within
the framework of his functions is given the right to issue legal
orders, deviating from the existing laws. He is the responsible head
for financing wars through the Reich Ministry and the
Reichsbank" (PS-2261, USA-24).
b) Schacht financed German armaments through the Mefo
system of promissory notes, which was a swindling venture on a
national scale that has no precedent, and the success of which was
dependent upon the realization of the aggressive plans of the
Hitlerites. It was because of this that Schacht set 1942 as the date
when the Mefo notes were to mature, and he pointed out in his speech
of 29 November 1938 the relation between "the daring credit
policy" of the Reichsbank and the aims of the Hitlerite foreign
policy (EC-611, USA-622).
c) Having made full use of his plenary powers, Schacht carefully
developed and carried out a broad program of economic mobilization
which allowed the Hitlerite leaders to wage war at any time
considered most favorable. In particular, from the report of
Schacht's deputy, Wohltat, "the preparation for mobilization
carried out by the Plenipotentiary for War Economy" shows that
Schacht provided to the last detail for the system of exploitation of
the German economy in war time, all the way from the utilization of
industrial enterprises, of raw material resources and manpower down
to the distribution of 80,000,000 ration cards (EC-258, USA-625). It
is significant that this report was drawn up a month after Hitler's
statement at the conference of 5 November 1937, at which Hitler set
forth this concrete plan of aggression (PS-386, USA-25).