‘economic liberalism.’ Schacht just sat there, baffled and impo-
tent.”
The Four-Year Plan that Hitler formally announced at
Nuremberg a few days later put Hermann Göring firmly in the
economic saddle. Henceforth, industrialists and bankers alike
would have to come to him with cap in hand and not infre-
quently with open wallet too since he would issue all the most
lucrative government contracts from now on.
As the British diplomat Sir Robert Vansittart put it at the
time, Göring waded into the new job “with the gusto of Smith
Minor, suddenly possessed of unlimited tick [credit] at the
school stores.” Multinational corporations like C & A Bren-
ninkmeyer, insurance firms like Allianz, industrial giants like
Osram Electrics, Rheinmetall Armaments, and Junkers Airplanes
hastened to sweeten him with bribes.
Philip Reemtsma, Germany’s biggest tobacco manufac-
turer, was one such benefactor (and beneficiary). An ex-aviator
lamed in a World War flying accident, Reemtsma controlled
percent of the cigarette industry, with an annual turnover of
two billion marks. He had first met Göring at a meeting of
industrialists. These industrialists had begun deliberately with-
holding taxes on a significant scale, obviously with Göring’s
blessing. After Hitler came to power in , Göring had agreed
on a secret tax deal whereby all except Reemtsma should con-
tribute to Göring’s Art Fund; not wanting the Hitler Fund to
profit from tobacco monies, the puritan Führer had readily
agreed.
In return, Göring had helped Reemtsma in various ways.
The SA had set up a rival cigarette concern in ; Göring set-
tled the problem in . Reemtsma himself was arraigned for
perjury in ; Göring got him off the hook. In July tran-
scripts show Göring urging Hitler to purchase “several billion