Hitler’s Minister of Economics on the Nazi Regime
SCHACHT, Hjalmar; Edward FITZGERALD (translator). Account Settled. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson. [1949].
8vo. Publisher’s green cloth, spine lettered in black, in the original cream dust-jacket printed in red and black, unclipped and priced 15s. net to front flap; pp. 327, [1 (blank)], photographic portrait frontispiece; old adhesive repairs to interior of wrappers, a few chips to foot of spine and folds, small area of loss to head of spine, light spotting to top-edge; internally very clean and fresh.
First edition in English of Abrechnung mit Hitler (1948), ‘the only full-length statement published since the war by a major figure in Hitler’s government’ (front flap).
Account Settled ‘provides the detailed story of prewar German economic policy in the words of the man primarily responsible for it’ (ibid.). Schacht had been an early Nazi party member and supporter of Hitler. He was president of the Reichsbank from 1933 to 1939, and Minister of Economics from 1934 to 1937. In the aftermath of Kristallnacht he distanced himself from the Nazi regime and was arrested by the Gestapo following the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler (also known as Operation Valkyrie) due to suspected contact with relevant members of the German Resistance. During the Second World War, he was detained at the Ravensbrück, Flossenbürg, and Dachau concentration camps.
At the Nuremberg trials he was acquitted and later played a major role in international finance and banking.
SKU: 2122125