Emil Georg von Stauss (often rendered Emil Georg von Stauß, 6 October 1877 in Baiersbronn – 11 December 1942 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German banker and business executive who served as Director-General of the board of the

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

. Originally a member of the conservative

German People's Party The German People's Party (German: , DVP) was a conservative-liberal political party during the Weimar Republic that was the successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire. Along with the left-liberal German Democratic Party (DDP), ...

, he became a supporter of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. He was a close friend of

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

and helped to finance the Nazis rise to power. Stauss held a seat in the '' Reichstag'' and several other posts between 1933 and his death.

Business career

As well as his banking interests von Stauss was also noted for his expertise in the petroleum industry, serving on the board of Deutsche Petroleum from 1920. He became a member of the board at ''

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (abbreviated as DMG, also known as Daimler Motors Corporation) was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and Wil ...

'' in 1925. He would continue his role at

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

, eventually serving as chairman of the board. In 1926 he also became chairman of

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

.Chandler & Hikino, ''Scale and Scope'', p. 529

Politics

A close friend of

Hjalmar Schacht Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht (); 22 January 1877 – 3 June 1970) was a German economist, banker, politician, and co-founder of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank during the ...

, von Stauss had been cultivating close links to the

since 1930. As well as holding several meetings with

he also knew

well and provided him with significant funding during the Nazi rise to power.Henry Ashby Turner (ed.), ''Hitler aus nächster Nähe, Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932'', Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Vienna 1978, p. 456 ff Personally closer to Göring, he introduced the Nazi leader to a number of leading business figures at dinner parties, contacts that helped to ensure the smooth transfer of power to the Nazis and avoid the possibility of any opposition from business leaders fearing any socialist aspect to

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. Despite this von Stauss was a high-profile member of the

(DVP) and was elected as a deputy to the '' Reichstag'' from the party's

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

in three elections between September 1930 and November 1932. He had been encouraged to retain his DVP membership by Göring, who felt he was more useful in that party, and tried to push the DVP more towards a pro-Nazi Party line in the run up to the Nazi takeover. With the dissolution of the DVP in June 1933, he was elected to the '' Reichstag'' again in November 1933 from electoral constituency 35,

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

. He served as Third Vice-President of the body.Ernst Klee, ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Zweite aktualisierte Auflage'', Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, , p. 598 He was, however, one of the few members never to take up formal membership in the Nazi Party, sitting as a "guest" of the Nazi faction. On 15 September 1933, Göring appointed him to the recently reconstituted

Prussian State Council The Prussian State Council ( German: ''Preußischer Staatsrat'') was the second chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Free State of Prussia between 1921 and 1933; the first chamber was the Prussian Landtag (). The members of the State Cou ...

. He also was made an inaugural member of

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, lawyer and convicted war criminal who served as head of the General Government in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member ...

Academy for German Law The Academy for German Law () was an institute for legal research and reform founded on 26 June 1933 in Nazi Germany. After suspending its operations during the Second World War in August 1944, it was abolished after the fall of the Nazi regime on ...

on 2 October 1933, and a senator of the

Kaiser Wilhelm Society The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...

in 1935. He retained all these posts until his death in December 1942.

References

External links

* * 1877 births 1942 deaths Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft Deutsche Bank people Directors of BMW German bankers German industrialists German Lutherans German People's Party politicians German untitled nobility Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Prussian State Council (Nazi Germany) Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932 Members of the Reichstag 1932 Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933 Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 People from Freudenstadt (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg {{Nazi-stub