Joachim Nagel: From the Reichsbank to the Bundesbank
Welcome address by Dr Joachim Nagel, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the
press conference presenting the findings of the historical research project "From the
Reichsbank to the Bundesbank", Frankfurt am Main, 15 March 2024.
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1 Welcome
Ladies and gentlemen,
A very warm welcome to our press conference today, where we will be talking about the
study "From the Reichsbank to the Bundesbank: People, generations and concepts
between tradition, continuity and new beginnings".
The two gentlemen who led the research project, Professor Magnus Brechtken and
Professor Albrecht Ritschl, will present their research findings to you in a moment.
2 Study background
The Bundesbank commissioned research into the history of the Reichsbank in its
function as the central bank during the National Socialist era. The researchers were
also asked to explore continuities in terms of personnel after central bank institutions
began anew in the post-war period. Quite a few Federal ministries and authorities have
commissioned similar research projects in recent years.
Neither the Bank deutscher Länder, founded in 1948, nor the Bundesbank, established
in 1957, are legal successors to the Reichsbank. Nevertheless, the Bundesbank is
supporting and facilitating historical research on the Reichsbank.
We were privileged to engage Professor Magnus Brechtken and Professor Albrecht
Ritschl for this project, both of whom are internationally renowned and experienced
experts. Under their leadership, a research team made up of Ingo Loose, Marcel
Boldorf, Christopher Kopper, Olga Christodoulaki, Ralf Banken, Christian Marx, Boris
Gehlen, Rouven Janneck and Stefan Grüner worked on eight sub-projects in total.
The Bundesbank encouraged this work, made it possible and provided organisational
support. The project was launched in November 2017. It took longer than originally
planned, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because the team
of researchers had to postpone their work for a time because archives were closed and
foreign travel was not permitted.
Now, though, the academic work has been completed and the findings are ready for
publication. A full academic volume is scheduled for publication before the end of this
year. And there are plans to publish monographs for each of the eight sub-projects by
next year.
First off, though, a 100-page historical booklet is being published today. This document
provides a summary of the main research findings. Unlike the individual volumes, which
are more specifically aimed at an expert readership, we are hoping that this booklet will
find a wider audience.
3 Study topics
The booklet outlines the role played by the Reichsbank, inter alia, in financing
armament prior to 1939, how, during World War II, it helped to financially exploit the
territories occupied by Germany, and how it participated in the confiscation and
processing of looted gold and other valuables.
Another major research topic was the continuity in terms of personnel and career paths
post-1945. Back then, former employees of the Reichsbank who had undergone
denazification were hired into positions first at the Bank deutscher Länder and then at
the Bundesbank.
Needless to say, not all the findings are entirely new. Time and again, historians have
explored similar topics over the past decades. The Bundesbank itself has looked to
reflect critically on the past. These efforts have yielded numerous publications,
exhibitions and conferences.
What has been lacking so far, though, is a big picture of German central bank policy
before, during and after World War II. That's a picture we now have.
And that's thanks to Magnus Brechtken, Albrecht Ritschl and their team of historians,
who conducted many years of painstaking work in countless archives across Europe to
seek out and review source material and reassess it in the light of current research.
4 What comes next
The completion of the study brings to a close a project that is of particular concern to
the Bundesbank's Executive Board and to me personally.
What the team led by Magnus Brechtken and Albrecht Ritschl are making available to
the general public and the international research community is a treasure trove of
insights and findings. Their work traces how central bankers became willing
accessories to a criminal regime. And it shows how susceptible they were to racism,
antisemitism and anti-democratic thinking.
Let this also be a warning to us:
Never again should there be antisemitism in Germany.
Never again should minorities be excluded and subjected to state tyranny.
Never again should government bodies like the central bank be allowed to trample
on democratic values.
The next step is to help spread the findings of the study.
We are making online and printed versions of the abridged historical booklet available
to the general public, in German and in English.
After that, the full academic volume and the monographs will be published. Based on
the publications, we will set up further projects to disseminate the study findings.
Before I give the floor to you, Professor Brechtken and Professor Ritschl, may I express
- on behalf of everyone involved in this project - our appreciation and gratitude for all
your work.