Reich Commissioner for Pricing
The Reich Commissioner for Price Determination was an institution under the Nazi regime to secure economically justified prices in industrial production and in trade. The legal basis for this facility was the law on the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for Price Determination of October 29, 1936 ( RGBl. I, 1936, p. 927). Such an institution was created for the first time in the Weimar Republic on December 10, 1931, with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler appointed Reich Commissioner for Price Monitoring .
Institution and competence
This Reich Commissioner acted as an office of the commissioner for the four-year plan Hermann Göring . In order to sanction misconduct, the ordinance on penalties for violations of price regulations was issued on June 3, 1939 (RGBl. I 1939, p. 999). This ordinance provided the Reich Commissioner with punitive means, which were continuously expanded in the following period. The sentences ranged from imposing fines to closing shops to imprisonment. The special power of the Reich Commissioner was expressed in the fact that his orders were binding on courts and administrative authorities. This was a clear expression of the abolition of the separation of powers and an aspect of the arbitrariness in the Nazi regime.
Jurisdiction
The responsibility of the Reich Commissioner extended to the following areas:
- the setting of prices
- monitoring compliance with all pricing regulations
- the ordering of measures in the form of circulars that are necessary in the interest of economically justified prices
The last point could e.g. B. concern a profit skimming or the determination of a reduction in the produced types of a product. He could also order measures for an appropriate distribution of products. However, if such an order affected wide areas of the national economy, it could only be issued in consultation with the Reich Ministry of Economics . When armaments production took on an increasingly important role in industry, at the beginning of 1943 the Reich Minister of Economics Walther Funk also forbade the Reich Commissioner for Pricing to issue any instructions to the companies on individual issues. In the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of April 6, 1943, this new form of restriction of instructions was emphasized as the principle of the empty desk .
Pricing offices
The basis of the work of the Reich Commissioner was the results of the reports from the pricing offices. The actual administrative work for the implementation of the price regulations was entrusted to the internal administration. The pricing offices in Prussia were set by the head president and the city president of Berlin , in the other regions of the empire it was the highest state authorities. Their tasks consisted of processing changes in the price level. However, there were also ongoing exemptions, in the summer of 1941 alone this number was 7,000. However, the Reich Commissioner had the sole right to set prices in all cases and in special cases.
Pricing
The statistical basis of the price setting resulted from two process steps. The first consisted of monthly reporting of the data transmitted by the municipal administrations with the assistance of the German Labor Front and the German Women's Work, as well as representatives of the trade and craft organizations. The second resulted from the two-month management reports of the pricing offices. These situation reports should also be based on cooperation with the statistical offices and the available data from the Reich Statistical Office.
Price monitoring
In order to monitor the observance of the price fixings and the related measures, there was a network of institutions by civil servants in Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and in the occupied Sudetenland, who were provided by the regional presidents. In Berlin this task was carried out by the police chief, in Hamburg by the Reichsstatthalter. In the other regions of the empire it was the highest state authorities. These officials in turn delegated their tasks to lord mayors, district administrators and similar subordinate administrative bodies. However, all these monitoring bodies also had the function of a reporting point to the Reich Commissioner if violations of the price fixing and measures were evident.
Price and profit controls
In order to control the pricing, there was an obligation to display prices for goods on display in stores. With other forms of trade there was a regulation for keeping price lists. The necessary documents should be kept for checking profit margins. When a profit transfer on products was introduced from 1939 to finance the war, the Reich Commissioner also took on this task. From 1941 this task was transferred to the Reich Finance Administration .
From October 1936 to December 1941 the position of Reich Commissioner Josef Wagner took up , then from January 16, 1942 Hans Fischböck . The organ for the publication of the orders and decrees of the Reichskommissar was called the bulletin of the Reichskommissar for pricing .
Reich Commissioners
| Name (life data) | Taking office | Term expires |
|---|---|---|
| Reich Commissioner for Pricing | ||
| Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (1884–1945) | November 5, 1934 | July 1, 1935 |
| Josef Wagner (1899–1945) | October 29, 1936 | November 9, 1941 |
| Hans Fischböck (1895–1967) | January 16, 1942 | April 30, 1945 |
literature
- Cuno Horkenbach : The German Empire from 1918 to today . Publishing house for press, economy and politics, Berlin 1931.
- Adolf Weber : Brief economic policy . 4th revised and supplemented edition. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1943.
- Daniela Kahn: The control of the economy by law in National Socialist Germany. The example of the Reichsgruppe Industrie . Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-465-04012-0 ( Studies on European Legal History , 212; Das Europa der Diktatur , 12; also: Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2006).
- André Steiner : The Reich Commissioner for Pricing - “a kind of economic Reich Chancellor”? . In: Rüdiger Hachtmann , Winfried Suss (ed.): Hitler's commissioners. Special Powers in the National Socialist Dictatorship ( Contributions to the History of National Socialism ; Vol. 22). Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, pp. 93-114.
- André Steiner: From price monitoring to state pricing. Consumer price policy and its consequences for the standard of living under National Socialism in the prewar period . In: André Steiner (ed.): Price policy and standard of living. National Socialism, GDR and Federal Republic in comparison. Böhlau, Cologne 2006, pp. 23–85.
