tion. He gave his cousin Herbert L. W. Göring the task of re-
viving Germany’s quiescent trade relations with Russia. He se-
lected the pragmatic Herbert Backe to take care of foodstuffs
(Reichsnährstand), saying, “I have the greatest faith in you.”
Erich Neumann would handle foreign exchange, Wilhelm Kep-
pler raw materials, and Colonel Fritz Löb was temporarily
shifted from the air staff to oversee the arms economy.
Göring’s methods were innovative and effective. He
stimulated coal production by tax incentives, then encouraged
research on synthetic-coal products like gasoline and margarine.
He provided cheap artificial fertilizers for farmers. He negoti-
ated ten-year bilateral contracts with Romania and Yugoslavia,
bartering his (already obsolescent) planes and weapons for their
foodstuffs; he would negotiate similar bilateral deals with Spain,
Turkey, and Finland for tungsten, chrome, and nickel.
The Four-Year Plan idea ripened throughout that summer
of . Hitler was summering as usual on the Obersalzberg,
where the “Berghof,” his rebuilt villa, had just been handed back
to him. On July , Göring told one of his economists, Wilhelm
Keppler, that he planned to discuss still-controversial divisions
of responsibility with Hitler. In particular, he wanted Hitler’s
sanction for a “cautious but effective” speech at the Nuremberg
rally in September, warning the public to tighten belts, conserve
foreign exchange, and stockpile raw materials. He put this idea
to Hitler during the Führer’s ten-day visit to the annual Wag-
ner Music Festival at Bayreuth at the end of July.
There was one minor interlude during the music festival
that had important consequences for the Luftwaffe. Two emis-
saries arrived at Bayreuth on July , bringing a letter from
Spanish General Francisco Franco, appealing for planes to ferry
his insurgent Moorish troops from North Africa to Spain to en-
able him to overthrow the far-left Republican government in