Kurt Grimm (lawyer)

Kurt Grimm (born May 5, 1903 in Vienna ; † September 20, 1984 ibid) was an Austrian lawyer and business advisor and was considered the “ gray eminence ” of the Austrian Creditanstalt for decades .

Life

According to Heinrich Treichl's testimony, Kurt Grimm was introduced to the world of high finance by his uncle Rudolf von Gutmann , a part owner of the Rothschild Witkowitz ironworks in Mährisch-Ostrau and a member of the CA's administrative board. At the beginning of the global economic crisis, Gutmann sought personal advice from the young lawyer who was still working in his father's office at the time. Kurt Grimm exercised a similar personal advisory function for the director of the CA Josef Joham who was appointed during the crisis of 1931 . This intensified when Joham was appointed General Director of Creditanstalt for the first time in 1936–38, and it did not break off during the Second World War . Grimm, who emigrated to Switzerland in 1938, had excellent contacts to the American secret service OSS and Allen Dulles , and from 1943 it was through him that Joham, who was still active on the CA board level, reported to the OSS about the economic situation in warring Nazi Germany to have run.

After the war, Joham headed Creditanstalt again, first as a public administrator, then as general director - and Kurt Grimm, who returned to Vienna in 1945, worked for decades as a consultant (with an office like a board member) in the bank - not only during the era Joham (until 1959), but also under his successors Erich Miksch and Heinrich Treichl . In addition, Kurt Grimm was considered a close friend and economic advisor to Bruno Kreisky , that is, according to a word by Guido Schmidt-Chiari quoted by Treichl in his memoirs , as “Eminence rose”. With his close contacts to the investment banker Siegmund G. Warburg (London), Grimm is said to have strengthened the priority position of the House of Warburg in the issue of Austrian foreign bonds.

Kurt Grimm is one of the least known but most influential actors in Austrian economic policy after 1945. He was temporarily the owner of the so-called presidential villa in Döbling . Eleanor Dulles noted in 1948 about his relationship with Josef Joham:

"Joham and Grimm work together closely and there is discussion as to the integrity of some of their transactions and also an element of doubt as to who runs whom."
(Quoted from: Oliver Rathkolb, "Unwritten history ..." in Feldman- Rathkolb-Venus-Zimmerl: Austrian banks and savings banks during National Socialism and in the post-war period , Volume 1: Creditanstalt-Bankverein, Vienna 2006, S 690)

He was buried at the Döblinger Friedhof .

literature

• Georg Nowotny: Hundred Hours of Kreisky - Critical Analysis of a Government Style . Molden Verlag Vienna 1976, p. 121 f.
• Heinrich Treichl: Almost a century. Memories . Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2003
• Hermann Wichers : Grimm, Kurt. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Web links

• Grimm, Kurt in the Dodis databaseof diplomatic documents in Switzerland

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kurt Grimm grave site , Vienna, Döblinger Friedhof, Group 17, Row 7, No. 1.