Wilhelm Radecke

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Wilhelm Radecke (born November 28, 1898 - † July 26, 1978 ) was a German banker and economic activist .

Life

In the 1920s Radecke worked as an authorized signatory at Bankhaus S. Bleichröder and at times as director of the United Pulp Industry. In addition, he dealt in detail with topics of economic history and in particular with the relevant economic theories of his time.

At the beginning of the 1930s, Radecke came into contact with the NSDAP , which he finally joined on May 1, 1931 (membership number 521,000). In the following years he met with numerous party leaders such as Kurt Daluege , Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler (an old school friend of Radecke), to whom he discussed his ideas about the economic policy to be adopted by the party after taking over government. In particular with representatives of the “left” wing of the party, which occasionally leaned towards socialist ideas, he came across with his ideas of an index currency and the compulsory circulation of money, which were strongly linked to Silvio Gesell . H. believes that this should not be hoarded in large amounts as "lazy" capital in bank accounts or the like, as this is unproductive and thus damaging the economy, but rather it must be kept in constant circulation to ensure the economy continues ( "Labor duty of money") - to a positive response, which, among others, Goebbels expressly noted several times in his diary in 1931.

Radecke was decidedly hostile to the views of the official economic expert of the NSDAP Gottfried Feder and the former Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht , who was approaching the NSDAP at the time .

In December 1932 Radecke published a brochure with the title Der Weg aus der Not in which he published his ideas about economic policy and what he believed to be the course to be taken to cope with the economic hardship prevailing in Germany at the time. The brochure was divided into two chapters, the first of which presented a sharp examination of Gottfried Feder's economic conception (“Gottfried Feder's mistakes”), while the second offered positive possible solutions.

In addition to the enthusiastic approval of parts of the NSDAP, the brochure also brought Radecke the interest of Kurt von Schleicher , who invited him to an interview at the Reichswehr Ministry. At the same time, however, the publication also resulted in a party exclusion procedure initiated by Wilhelm Kube against Radecke before the investigative and arbitration committee (Uschla) of the Gaues Berlin, which was justified by the fact that public attacks by one party member (Radecke) on another (Feder), Party-damaging as it sends out the signal of disagreement. On January 23, 1933, the Gau-Uschla granted the request for Radecke's exclusion. After the Reichs-Uschla confirmed this decision, Radecke left the party for the time being.

After the advocacy of numerous prominent party members - including Himmler, Daluege and Werner Schwarz - Radecke was accepted back into the NSDAP or his exclusion reversed in spring 1936 on the basis of Adolf Hitler's pardon . In the later 1930s, Radecke once again occupied a prominent position as a member of the board of directors of the Reichskreditanstalt.

After the Second World War , Radecke was a consultant to Friedrich Flick KG. At that time he was politically active in the free-social-oriented Free Social Union (FSU), of which he was chairman from 1952 to 1954.

Publications

literature

  • Free University of Berlin: Party Handbook. The parties of the Federal Republic of Germany , Vol. 2, 1984, pp. 1399 and 1417.
  • Elke Fröhlich (Ed.): The diaries of Joseph Goebbels. Records 1923–1941. Vol. II / 2 ("June 1931-September 1932"), 2004.
  • Werner Onken , Günter Bartsch : Natural economic order under the swastika. Adaptation and resistance , Gauke Verlag: Lütjenburg 1997. ISBN 3879984417
  • Société d'économie et de Science Sociales: Les Études sociales , issues 107–110, 1978, pp. 3–7.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Free University of Berlin: Party Handbook , 1984, p. 1417; Werner Onken: Natural economic order under the swastika. Adaptation and Resistance , p. 19.
  2. ↑ Werner Onken: Natural economic order under the swastika. Adaptation and Resistance , p. 19; Goebbels Tagebücher, Vol. 2 / II, p. 87 (entry from August 29, 1931) and passim.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Radecke: Der Weg aus der Not 1932 , 2nd edition 1933, introduction and passim.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Radecke: Der Weg aus der Not 1932 , 2nd edition 1933, Chapters 1 and 2.
  5. ↑ Werner Onken: Natural economic order under the swastika. Adaptation and Resistance , p. 19; Free University of Berlin: Party Handbook , 1984, p. 1417.
  6. ↑ Freie Universität Berlin: Party Handbook , 1984, p. 1417.
personal data
SURNAME Radecke, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German banker and economic activist
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1898
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1978