There had already been two similar attempts to assist theNazi Party in gaining control of thegovernment: a petition by theWirtschaftspolitische Vereinigung Frankfurt (Frankfurt Socio-economic Union) on 27 July 1931, and a declaration by 51 professors published in July 1932 in the Nazi Party newspaperVölkischer Beobachter.
The idea for theIndustrielleneingabe had emerged at the end of October 1932 in theFreundeskreis der Wirtschaft (or "Keppler circle";Keppler-Kreis) and was supported byHeinrich Himmler, who worked as a liaison to theBrown House. The drafting of the letter was aided especially byHjalmar Schacht, who was the only member of theKeppler-Kreis with any significant political experience. TheIndustrielleneingabe was first published in 1956 in theZeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft and has been used as evidence to support the idea thatbig business played a central role in the rise of the Nazi Party.[1]
Kurt Baron von Schröder, private banker from Cologne, member of the Keppler circle and theDeutscher Herrenklub (de). Several weeks later in his house, the decisive negotiations took place before Hitler's appointment as German Chancellor.
Carl Vincent Krogmann, co-owner of the Hamburger Bank, shipping company Wachsmuth, and trading house Krogmann, board member of the Hamburg National Club, mayor of Hamburg from 1933 to 1945, member of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the Keppler circle
WhetherEngelbert Beckmann, the president of the Westphalian Land Association, signed in any form is controversial. Historians Eberhard Czichon[3] and Reinhard Kühnl[4] list him as a signer. According to Gerhard Schulz, his signature was never seen by Hindenburg.[5] Henry A. Turner speaks only of 19 signatures.[6]
^Gerhard Schulz,Von Brüning zu Hitler. Der Wandel des politischen Systems in Deutschland 1930-1933 (=Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur, Bd. 3), de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1992, S. 1019
^Czichon, Eberhard.Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?. Cologne 1967, p. 71
^Kühnl, Reinhard.Der Deutsche Faschismus in Quellen und Dokumenten, Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1977, p. 162
^Schulz, Gerhard.Von Brüning zu Hitler. Der Wandel des politischen Systems in Deutschland 1930–1933 (=Zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur, Bd. 3., de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1992, S. 1019 f.
^Turner, Henry A.Die Großunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Siedler Verlag Berlin 1985, p. 365
