Wilhelm Vocke

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Vocke (center), 1960
Wilhelm Vocke receiving an award from the Pakistani embassy in 1960

Wilhelm Vocke (born February 9, 1886 in Aufhausen , district of Forheim , † September 19, 1973 in Frankfurt am Main ; full name: Wilhelm August Theodor Vocke ) was a German financial expert.

Childhood, school days and studies

Vocke was born on February 9, 1886 as one of three sons of the Protestant pastor in Aufhausen and spent his childhood in Mosbach , where his father was transferred three years later. From 1895 he attended the Ansbach high school.

After completing school he went to the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in order there, the jurisprudence to study, instead of medicine or theology. During his studies in 1904 he became a member of the C. St. V. Uttenruthia Erlangen in the Schwarzburgbund . Friendships were formed in the Uttenruthia. a. with Wilhelm Stählin or Friedrich Rittelmeyer . After the intermediate legal examination in Erlangen, he moved to Rostock in the summer semester of 1906 and then to Berlin to continue his studies .

Professional activities

Career entry until 1945

After his work in the Berlin Patent Office, he was appointed to the highest Reich internal authority under the direction of State Secretary Clemens von Delbrück , followed by Karl Helfferich .

From 1919 to 1939 he was a member of the board of directors of the Deutsche Reichsbank . In a letter of January 7, 1939 to Adolf Hitler , Vocke and other Reichsbank directors pointed out the depletion of gold reserves and the risk of inflation ; At his own request, Vocke was dismissed from office by Hitler on February 1, 1939. The cause of the tense financial situation in the German Reich was the armament of the Wehrmacht .

During the Nuremberg Trials , Vocke was interrogated as a defense witness for Hjalmar Schacht , who was President of the Reichsbank from December 1923 and then again from March 1933 to 1939 and thus Vocke's superior.

President of the Bank of German States and the Deutsche Bundesbank

From May 20, 1948 to December 31, 1957, Vocke was President of the Board of Directors of the Bank deutscher Länder . When the Deutsche Bundesbank began its activities on August 1, 1957 , he became the institution's first president until December 31, 1957. He was succeeded by Karl Blessing . He was regarded as a firm advocate of a stable currency and also initiated measures that were unpopular in terms of economic policy, such as multiple increases in the discount and lombard rates . His commitment to a stable currency was in contrast to the politics of the time, which is why the conflict between him and Adenauer became increasingly acute. Vocke received the Federal Cross of Merit from Federal President Theodor Heuss when he left .

Among other things, Der Spiegel wrote about his departure:

“BdL President Vocke in particular incurred the anger of the Chancellor because he conducted monetary policy without considering Konrad Adenauer's lay ideas and daily political wishes. Vocke feared more than once with good reason that the German economic miracle threatened to go to the heads of the Bonn rulers, and on such occasions demonstrated that the power of the Chancellor ends at the gates of the central bank. The condescending coolness of the banker Vocke had always annoyed the Chancellor. "

- Der Spiegel, 29/1957

Works (selection)

  • The saver's currency. Frankfurt am Main 1950
  • Healthy money. Collected speeches and essays on monetary policy. With an introduction by Volkmar Muthesius . Series of publications on monetary and financial policy, Volume 1. Frankfurt am Main 1956
  • To the stability of the currency. Cologne 1957
  • The price of a stable currency. Cologne 1958
  • The way to national and international stability of the monetary value [lecture]. Essen 1962
  • Memoirs - The memories of the former Bundesbank President. Stuttgart 1973

literature

  • Bernhard Forssman (ed.): You were Uttenreuther. Life pictures of former Erlangen students. Philistine Association of Uttenruthia, Erlangen 1993.
  • Kurt von Wistinghausen (Ed.): Friedrich Rittelmeyer to the memory. Extended special print from the monthly “Die Christengemeinschaft” from May 1938. Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1938.

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Vocke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Goebel (ed.): Directory of members of the Schwarzburgbund. 8th edition, Frankfurt am Main 1930, p. 143 No. 3333.
  2. ^ Enrollment of Wilhelm Vocke in the Rostock matriculation portal
  3. ↑ (process protocols: nizkor.org ff.)
  4. ^ Bundesbank: The Gürzenich Bill . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 1957, pp. 18-20 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Vocke, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vocke, Wilhelm August Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German financial expert and President of the Bundesbank
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Aufhausen
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1973
Place of death Frankfurt am Main