. NMT06-T0321
Volume VI · Page 321
| A. Yes, Mr. Schacht; Rosterg of
the Potash syndicate; Mr. Reinhard, chairman of the Vorstand of the Commerz
Bank; Mr. Helfferich, formerly an export merchant, later on became chairman of
the Aufsichtsrat of the Hapag in Hamburg; Mr. Krogmann, a very well known
Hamburg merchant; Mr. Meyer, who was the chairman of the Dresdner Bank; Mr.
Steinbrinck, who was a director of the Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke; and Count
Bismarck, who at that time belonged to a government agency, and later on became
governor in Stettin and Potsdam. Q. Therefore, then, Count Bismarck would have been the only man in this circle who was not a businessman? A. Well, Mr. Bismarck was considered an agricultural expert Count Bismarck in this Circle represented the interests of agriculture, because the Bismarck family had considerable property. Q. He is a grandson of the Chancellor Bismarck? A. Yes, he is his grandson and the brother of the present Prince Bismarck. Q. That was in 1932. A. Yes, it was in 1932. Q. Now, in 1932 what did you do in this Circle? A. In 1932 in this Circle we met a few times, and in June of the same year the Circle was invited by Hitler, who on that occasion outlined his ideas and thanked them for the activities which this Circle placed at the disposal of his economic adviser Keppler. and he also, as I said, outlined a few ideas. Q. You mean to say Hitler wanted to outline a few ideas, and he did so? A. Yes, he did on that occasion. Hitler first of all, thanked these gentlemen because they had placed themselves so willingly at the disposal of Keppler, and he said that he saw the moment approaching when, as leader of the largest party, he would have to take over the government of the country and also see that since he was being faced with a number of tasks it would mean that he would have to base the economy on a reliable system. For this reason he had to get help from the businessman, since he himself did not know enough about economics. So he would only issue the political directives with which the economy had to comply, and the businessmen themselves had to take care of carrying out these directives. These political directives were to the effect that the economy had to serve the people, that finance had to serve the economy for the purpose of providing bread, work, and social life for all Germans. |
