Montagu Norman

Montagu Collet Norman , 1st Baron Norman, DSO , (born September 6, 1871 , † February 4, 1950 ) was a major British banker . He gained worldwide fame as Governor of the Bank of England (1920 to 1944).

Act

Under his leadership, the gold standard was reintroduced in Great Britain in 1925 and abandoned again in 1931. He played a key role in founding the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in 1931.

The board member of the Deutsche Reichsbank Wilhelm Vocke writes in his memoirs that on behalf of Hjalmar Schacht he signed a secret contract with Norman in London at the beginning of 1924, which stated that the Reichsbank is subject to the sovereignty of the Bank of England in all matters. This document was in the archives of the two central banks, but Norman never mentioned it and did not refer to it.

He was a close friend of Schacht, who organized the industrial submission for the Nazis, and a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship , which sought an alliance with National Socialist Germany . He described Hitler and Schacht as "bulwarks of civilization in Germany". Heinrich Brüning told the British politician Robert Vansittart in April 1935:

“I am therefore obliged to admit that I was very upset by the German-English payment agreement. I am even more disturbed by the policies of the Bank of England. If it continues, it will allow the Nazis to rearm to an extent that will inevitably lead to conflict. "

literature

• Liaquat Ahamed: The Lords of Money , Finanzbuch-Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-89879-578-4
  • Original in English: Lords of Finance: The Bankers who broke the World , Penguin Group (USA) Inc., ISBN 9781594201820

Web links

• Newspaper article about Montagu Norman in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wilhelm Vocke : Memoirs . Stuttgart 1973, pp. 113-115.
2. ↑ http://www.economist.com/node/324722
3. ^ Claire Nix (Ed.): Heinrich Brüning Letters and Conversations 1934 - 1945 . Stuttgart 1974, p. 70.