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THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH
In May 1943, in the wake of the defeat at Stalingrad, Reiss said German industrialists met in Chateau Huegel near Essen, home of the Krupps, and reviewed the situation of their nation. The decision was to distance German commerce from the Nazi regime, Reiss wrote, adding: βAll future changes discussed at the meeting centered around the idea of divorcing German industry as far as possible from Nazism as such. Krupp [von Bohlen und Halbach] and [I. G. Farben Director Georg von] Schnitzler declared that it would be much easier for them to work after the war if the world were certain that German industry was not owned and run by the Nazis. He said that Goering as well as other influential party men saw eye to eye with him on this, and would consent to any arrangement that did not involve the prestige of the party.β Reiss explained why these captains of industry faked a divorce from Nazism rather than mounting genuine oppositionβbecause they had prospered under Hitler. He had βliberatedβ them from the threat of worker unions and strikes, kept taxes much lower than other industrialized nations, and brought them unprecedented profits through his rearmament program. βBut all these are only symptoms,β wrote Reiss. βMore important than these symptoms is the fact that the Nazis as a dynamic movement had assured German big businessmen of basic conditions far more favorable than those they enjoyed under the republic or even under the Kaiser. Could they wish for anything better than a world constantly on the brink of new wars?β As noted previously, it was not only German businessmen who profited from the war. Their counterparts in England and America were all capitalizing on the worldwide conflict. Reiss pointed out that only days after the meeting of industrialists, Farbenβs von Schnitzler flew to Madrid and declared he had escaped Germany just ahead of the Gestapo. βSpain scarcely seemed a logical asylum. Switzerland or Sweden would have been much healthier places to repair to,β noted Reiss. βAnd anyway, why should Herr von Schnitzler have had to fear the Gestapo, since his son-in-law, Herbert Scholz, was one of its leading officials? No, there is no reason to believe a word of what Baron Schnitzler said in those first interviews.β Reiss said Schnitzlerβs βflightβ was nothing but an elaborate ruse, similar to that of Germanyβs steel magnate Fritz Thyssen, who moved to