Karl Theodor Helfferich

Karl Theodor Helfferich (22 July 1872 – 23 April 1924) was a German politician, economist, and financier from Neustadt an der Weinstraße in the Palatinate.

At the close of the Balkan War, Helfferich was the German financial delegate to the international conference at London in 1913. He was the secretary for the Treasury from 1916 to 1917, and was said to be responsible for financing expenses for World War I through loans instead of taxes. He counted upon a final German victory and upon imposing heavy indemnities upon the Allies. This was the nucleus of the 500-million-mark Anti-Bolshevik Fund established by German industry on January 10, 1919, in Berlin. Money from this fund flowed into propagandistic anti-Bolshevik, later National Socialist projects, but also to violent groups such as the Freikorps, which were intended to crush the socialist movement after the November Revolution. Stadtler, the founder and leader of the Anti-Bolshevist League, according to his own account, arranged for the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht on January 12, 1919, and broke "Gustav Noske's hesitance" about using the military in Berlin days before. After weeks of deliberation and statements, the presiding judge ruled in favor of Erzberger, forcing Helfferich to pay a fine of 300 marks. Despite losing the legal battle, in the eye of the German public, Helfferich and his right-wing political views were seen as the winner. After pressure from his own party, Erzberger was forced to resign his position as Finance Minister. In the eyes of the public, support had fully rallied behind Helfferich, mirroring the sway of the political climate during this tumultuous period. Unfortunately, tensions continued to rise against Erzberger until he was assassinated by two individuals who were directly tied to the Organization Consul.

Helfferich was a prominent politician of the German National People's Party (DNVP) and gave radical anti-republican speeches against politicians who supported the fulfilment of reparations. In June 1920, he was selected as spokesman in the Reichstag for the parliamentary committee of inquiry into policies during the war, which he defended.

During the 1923 hyperinflation, Helfferich developed a plan for a new rye currency, indexed to the price (in paper marks) of rye and other agricultural products. His plan was rejected because of the extreme variability in the price of rye compared to other commodities, but many of his plan elements were incorporated in the successful Rentenmark, which began circulation on 15 November 1923. At the end of 1923, when Helfferich applied for the post of Reichbank president, he was rejected in favor of Hjalmar Schacht.

Helfferich was killed in a railway wreck near Bellinzona, Switzerland, on 23 April 1924.

Legacy His publications comprise chiefly economic and political studies.

Works The Reform of German Finance, 1897 Studies on Money and Banking, 1900 Money, 1903 Germany's National Wealth 1888-1913, (Deutschlands Wohlstand, 1888-1913) 1915 Speeches and Essays from the War, 1917 Do Away with Erzberger!, Verlag Scherl, Berlin, 1919, letters to the editor, the Berlin newspaper "Tag" The World War, (Der Weltkrieg) (3 vols.) published 1919 by Ullstein Berlin