Hans Klein (arms dealer)

Hans Klein (born February 15, 1879 in Berlin ; † after 1957 ) was a German-Chinese arms dealer and temporarily a Chinese consul.

Because of his German-Chinese background he was called China-Klein . Klein carried out illegal and semi-legal business for the black and regular Reichswehr .

Life

Before the First World War , Klein worked as a colonial businessman in German East Africa . In 1924 Klein was a member of the Engelhardt Bank in Berlin . The Engelhardt Bank in Berlin became the house bank of the Stahl und Maschinengesellschaft mbH founded in 1926 . Klein developed extensive activities in foreign companies of the Reichswehr . Klein was appointed by the Reichswehr (or the Reichswehr Ministry ?) As director of the facade company Stahl- und Maschinengesellschaft mbH (STAMAG) to handle these armaments deals . In the German-Soviet military cooperation, he figured as head of STAMAG . He was in a key position between the semi-legal Reichswehr and the regaining influence of the German arms industry.

Shops from 1920 to 1936

During these deals in the early 1920s, Klein had close contact with Hans von Seeckt . Seeckt traveled to China as a military advisor at almost the same time as Klein. Seeckt headed Jiang Jieshi's advisory staff and appointed Klein as economic advisor. Formally, Klein's role was private, like all activities of the black Reichswehr. On May 15, 1936, the private citizen Klein concluded an exchange contract with the Chinese Minister of Economic Affairs, Kong Xiangxi . On May 15, 1936, Hjalmar Schacht informed Jiang Jieshi and Kong Xiangxi that the treaty concluded by Mr. Klein with the Chinese government had been taken over by the government of the German Reich. At the Sino-German cooperation , Klein initiated the establishment of the trade organization for industrial production (HARPRO) on January 21, 1934. On October 29, 1935, Klein wrote to a Chinese government representative that the German Reich's demand for raw materials and agricultural products was now enormous. it retains almost everything that China can achieve with its current capabilities.

1937 to 1945

In addition to his German citizenship, Hans Klein also had Chinese citizenship, and supplied both Chiang Kai-shek and his rivals with weapons.

The Reich Economics Ministry and the Reich Defense Ministry handled the exchange of goods through HAPRO. When, on April 8, 1936, the exchange of goods agreement was supplemented by an additional loan agreement between the German Reich and China for 100 million Reichsmarks from the Reichswehr fund, it was unmistakable that HAPRO was an imperial company.

After the Japanese attack on July 7, 1937, China urgently ordered weapons by ship from Berlin in November 1937. The German Reich was this order soon after and sent weapons for 50 million Reichsmarks in November, 1937. In December 1937 after the fall of Shanghai to the Japanese army , the German Empire sent two shipments for another 44 million marks, including more than a dozen dive bomber . It is estimated that the arms shipments of the German Reich totaled 144 million Reichsmarks in the initial phase of the war, which was equivalent to 58 million US dollars at the exchange rate at the time. In January 1938, Klein made detailed proposals to the chairman of the raw materials authority Weng Wenhao for the reprivatisation of HAPRO . Klein was HAPRO's negotiator in China until 1938 . With the recognition of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo on February 20, 1938 by the German Reich, the German-Chinese military cooperation was ended. From 1939 onwards, Hans Klein organized the arms trade from Switzerland .

On July 1, 1941, the Chinese pro-Japanese puppet government in Nanjing , led by Wang Jingwei , was officially recognized by the German Reich as the "Government of the Republic of China ".

compensation

After the Second World War , Klein sued for compensation because HARPRO and STAMAG had caused him financial loss. His lawsuit was dismissed on March 13, 1957 on the following grounds: According to his statements, Klein had come into conflict with Hitler not because of political opposition to National Socialism, but because of personal ties to Marshal Jiang Jieshi and his government. Had Hitler approved of his economic line of thought, the plaintiff would have been ready to cooperate with National Socialism. Therefore, he was at most indirectly damaged.

From January 24, 1952, Klein was a participant in the Octogon Trust in Liechtenstein.

literature

• Stefanie Waske: More liaison than control. Control of the BND by Parliament 1953-1978 . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-16347-5

Web links

• Georg Hodel: The »Octagon« conspiracy .
• Documents by and about Hans Klein in the Dodis database of Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ^ Application by the Federal Department of Justice and Police to the Federal Council regarding the judicial police investigation in the matter of OCTOGON. In: Dodis online database. October 18, 1955, accessed August 18, 2009 . 
2. ↑ The barbarians - insignificant and obnoxious . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1989 ( online - China's Humiliations, Its Revolutions, Reforms, and Wars Against Itself (II)).
3. ↑ Wolfram Adolphi Fascist Germany as a "friend". Archives in the PR China on the experiences of the Guomindang government 1935–1941 (PDF)
4. ↑ Hans Klein to Weng Wenhao, General Secretary of the Executive of Yuan, ROC, National Government Resources Committee files, Chinese National Archives II, cited in Dai Houjie: The German Who wrote China's War Plans , quoted from: Maochun Yu: The Dragon's War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China, 1937-1947 2006, 242 pages
5. ↑ The Unfinished (see cover picture) . In: Der Spiegel . No. 47 , 1967 ( online ).
6. ↑ Martin, Kuss: German-Chinese Relations , pp. 60 ff. PDF ( Memento from June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Maochun Yu: The Dragon's War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China, 1937-1947 . 2006, 242 pages