Steel and machine company
The Stahl- und Maschinengesellschaft mbH (STAMAG) was an intermediate trading company of the Heereswaffenamt .
In order to hide the continued breach of the Versailles Treaty , such as the existence of the Black Reichswehr , by the governments of the German Reich , STAMAG was founded in 1926 as an intermediate trading company between suppliers and the regular or Black Reichswehr. The business relationships of the arms office were channeled through a special section called Sieben & Co. Wolf G. Schleber, the main shareholder of Spinnerei Fürstenberg AG, who also acted as owner of Engelhardt-Bank in Berlin, was the owner of STAMAG . Engelhardt-Bank was STAMAG's house bank.
The equipment and apparatus trading company (Gerap) was the legal successor to Stahl- und Maschinenbau GmbH (STAMAG).
Arms export
With Reichsausfall guarantees, the German Reich partially secured a clearing trade with which the shortage of internationally convertible foreign exchange was counteracted. After the handover of power to the National Socialists, the arms export ban was broken covertly as before. From 1934 to 1938, the Reichswehr carried out armaments deliveries to China via Handelsgesellschaft für industrial Produkte mbH (HARPO) and STAMAG . During the Italian-Ethiopian War , STAMAG delivered 10,000 Mauser 98 rifles with 10 million rounds of ammunition, machine guns and hand grenades, 36 Oerlikon 20 mm cannons and 30 Rheinmetall Borsig 37 mm anti-aircraft cannons in the second half of 1935 in Abyssinia . On June 24, 1935, Werner von Blomberg called for the arms export ban to be lifted. He described arms trade in a civil and military economic context as the only alternative and arms exports as highly desirable for economic and defense reasons. Manufacturing arms for export is the only way in the long term to keep arms manufacturers productive and independent. In response to Blomberg, the Foreign Office pointed out the political consequences of the arms export on June 27, 1935 . Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath explained that the combination of legal arms exports from the German Reich and extensive sales to China and Abyssinia could have negative consequences for relations with Italy and Japan . On July 9, 1935, Hitler declared that he considered the arms export ban no longer in force, but added that the time was not yet ripe to make this official. On August 16, 1935, the Reichsgruppe Industrie and the Reichswirtschaftsministerium decided to found the Export Association for War Equipment (AKG).
The arms dealer Hans Klein was involved in the arms trade with China .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Barbara Hopmann Von der Montan zur Industrieverwaltungsgesellschaft (ivg) , 1916–1951
- ^ Mogens Pelt Tobacco, Arms, and Politics