| Abstract |
In this statement, Schacht attempts to justify his having financed Germany's rearmament and to exonerate himself of the manifold crimes committed by the Nazis. Schacht represents himself, first, as an economist without interest or involvement in political affairs and, second, as a conscientious albeit unsuccessful (and therefore unrecognized) hero who struggled against Hitler and Nazi ideology during the 1930s and throughout the war. After having created the economic conditions needed for German rearmament, Schacht, according to the present account, began to withdraw his cooperation from the project. Intended by Schacht as a means to create equilibrium in Europe (the Western Powers having failed to disarm), rearmament seemed to be proceeding too rapidly and on too great a scale—that, at least, is what Schacht records as his sense of the situation, the details of which he claims never to have known. He makes a point, however, of mentioning his dismissal as Reichsbank president due to his refusal to issue new credits or to print more bank notes, which Hitler wanted so that rearmament could continue. Schacht also cites his opposition to Nazi policies regarding the Church and the treatment of the Jews, his revulsion at the methods of the Gestapo, as well as "the degradation of German officialdom [and] the shameless enrichment of party officials" as indicative of his general resistance to Hitler (p.5). In practical terms this resistance occurred mostly behind the scenes; apart from his Koenigsberg speech and a number of written remonstrances made to Hitler, Goering, and other party members, Schacht was not able to consummate decisive action (the coup d'etat planned with General von Witzleben having fizzled before it began). Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, nothing that went wrong, no crime or malfeasance or even error in judgment, was Schacht's fault. Indeed, this statement is particularly thorough in its evasion of responsibility; even the vague admission, "In the beginning I have erred" quickly excuses itself by pointing to the deceit of others: "since just like many other men within and without Germany I have been cheated and lied to" (p.1). In a situation fraught with sufficient guilt for everyone to have a share, Schacht never incriminates himself; guilt, in his judgment, adheres primarily to Hitler and the Nazis, as well as to the Allies, the Treaty of Versailles, the social and economic crisis in Germany, and the credulity of the German people. "It is a tragedy that there were not one or two dozen men in responsible positions who openly resisted Hitler the way I did," Schacht writes in conclusion (p.8), reiterating his earlier remark, "If there had been more men who would have put up the same kind of resistance, and who would have taken the same risks [as I did], the end would have been different" (p.5). This document is a typewritten original on good paper. |