Summarizing his past activity, Schacht wrote in
January 1937: "I worked out the preparation for war in
accordance with the principle that the plan of our war economy must
be built in peace time in such a way that there will be no necessity
for any reorganization in case of war". Schacht confirmed his
statement in court (Transcript, Afternoon Session, 2 May 1946).
Schacht consciously and deliberately prepared Germany for war.
d) The former Minister of War Von Blomberg testified that:
"Schacht was fully cognizant of the plans for development and
increase of the German Armed Forces, since he was constantly informed
. . . . of all the financing necessary for the development of the
German armed forces" (USA-838).
On 31 August 1936, Von Blomberg informed Schacht that: "The
establishment of all the Air Force units must be completed by 1 April
1937, and therefore large expenditures must be entailed in 1936 . . .
" (PS-1301, USA-123).
In the spring of 1937, Schacht participated in the military
exercises in Godesberg (EC-174).
e) In his memorandum to Hitler on 3 May 1935, entitled the
"Financing of Rearmament", Schacht wrote: "A speedy
fulfillment of the program for rearmament on a mass scale is the
basis of German policy, and, therefore, everything else must be
subordinate to this task; the completion of this task, the
achievement of this purpose must meet no obstacles . . . "
(PS-1168, USA-37).
In his speech on 29 November 1938, Schacht announced that
Reichsbank's credit policy made it possible for Germany to create an
"unsurpassed machine, and, in turn, this war machine made
possible the realization of the aims of our policy" (EC-611,
USA-622).
One must exclude the supposition that Schacht was not informed as
to what purposes these weapons were to serve since he could not but
take into consideration their unprecedented scale and an obvious
preference for offensive types of weapons (heavy tanks. bombers, and
so on). Besides, Schacht knew perfectly well that not a single
country intended to wage war on Germany nor had it any reasons to do
so.
a) Schacht utilized the military might growing under his
direction to back Germany's territorial demands which grew in
proportion to the increase in armaments.
Schacht testified in Court that "at first he confined
himself (in his demands) to the colonies which had once belonged to
Germany" (Transcript, Morning Session, 3 May 1946).
In September 1934, during his talk with the American Ambassador
Dodd, Schacht pointed out that he desired annexation if pos-