David de Jong - Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germanys Wealthiest Dynasties

And there they stand, affectless, like twenty-four calculating machines at the gates of Hell.

ric Vuillard, The Order of the Day

The invitations, sent by telegram four days earlier, left no doubt. The capital was calling. On Monday, February 20, 1933, at 6 p.m., about two dozen of Nazi Germanys wealthiest and most influential businessmen arrived, on foot or by chauffeured car, to attend a meeting at the official residence of the Reichstag president, Hermann Gring, in the heart of Berlins government and business district. The attendees included Gnther Quandt, a textile producer turned arms-and-battery tycoon; Friedrich Flick, a steel magnate; Baron August von Finck, a Bavarian finance mogul; Kurt Schmitt, CEO of the insurance behemoth Allianz; executives from the chemicals conglomerate IG Farben and the potash giant Wintershall; and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, chairman-through-marriage of the Krupp steel empire.

Three weeks earlier, Adolf Hitler had seized power in Germany after concluding a backroom deal that led the Reich president, Paul von Hindenburg, to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Now the leader of the Nazi Party wanted to explain his policies to the group of industrialists, financiers, executives, and heirs, or at least thats what hed led them to believe. The businessmen were hoping for reassurance concerning the direction of Germanys economy under this new government. They would not get it. Hitler had his own plans for the meeting, and the country.

The businessmen arrived on time at Grings palatial sand-red residence on the south bank of Berlins Spree River, next door to the Reichstag. But they were kept waiting not something that the impatient tycoons were particularly used to or fond of. Gring, their host, didnt greet them until fifteen minutes after the scheduled start time. In tow was Walther Funk, the dumpy and balding chief press officer for Hitlers government. The new chancellor arrived even later, accompanied by Otto Wagener, his main economic adviser. The master of ceremonies was Hjalmar Schacht, formerly president of the Reichsbank, Germanys central bank. (As it turned out, Funk, Schacht, Gring, and Allianz CEO Schmitt, four of Hitlers future ministers of economic affairs, were all present.) The meeting was the culmination of years of careful groundwork laid by Hitlers officials years of cultivating relationships with the tycoons to build up enthusiasm for the Nazi cause.

After shaking hands with the businessmen, Hitler launched into a rambling ninety-minute speech, delivered without notes or pauses. But instead of the policy talk that had been promised, Hitler gave a sweeping diagnosis of the current political moment. The year 1918 had been a catastrophic turning point in German history, with the defeat of the German Empire in World War I and the revolution in Russia, during which the Communists came to power. In Hitlers eyes, the time had come to settle the struggle between the right and the left once and for all.

Hitler argued that, in supporting his rise as fhrer, the moguls would in effect be supporting themselves, their firms, and their fortunes. Private enterprise cannot be maintained in the age of democracy, the forty-three-year-old chancellor said. It is conceivable only if the people have a sound idea of authority and personality. Everything positive, good and valuable, which has been achieved in the world in the field of economics and culture, is solely attributable to the importance of personality. Hitler didnt speak about abolishing labor unions, rearmament, war, or the removal of Jews from German life. But he did provide a glimpse of what was to come: We must first gain complete power if we want to crush the other side completely.

Near the end of his speech, Hitler laid out how that would happen. In only two weeks, on March 5, 1933, the people of Germany would determine the countrys future by casting their votes in the national election the last election, according to Hitler. One way or another, democracy would fall. Germanys new chancellor intended to dissolve it entirely and replace it with a dictatorship. Regardless of the outcome, he warned, there would be no retreat... There are only two possibilities, either to crowd back the opponent on constitutional grounds... or a struggle will be conducted with other weapons, which may demand greater sacrifices. If the election didnt bring Hitlers party into control, a civil war between the right and the left would certainly erupt, he intimated. Hitler waxed poetic: I hope the German people recognize the greatness of the hour. It shall decide the next ten or probably even hundred years.