The Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft, or Circle of Friends of the Economy (which became known as "Freundeskreis Reichführer SS" or "Freundeskreis Himmler") was a group of German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 industrialists whose aim was to raise funds for racial research within the Third Reich. The group was formed and co-ordinated by Wilhelm Keppler

Wilhelm Keppler

Wilhelm Karl Keppler was a German businessman and one of Adolf Hitler's early financial backers. Introduced to Hitler by Heinrich Himmler, Keppler helped to finance the Nazi Party....

, one of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

's close economic advisors.

Development

The founder members of the Circle were Keppler's nephew and member of the board at Brabag Fritz Kranefuss

Fritz Kranefuss

Friedrich Carl Arthur Kranefuß , known as Fritz Kranefuß, was a German industrialist and a Wehrwirtschaftsführer in the Third Reich....

, ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation

ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...

 executives Kurt Baron von Schröder

Kurt Baron von Schröder

Baron Kurt von Schroeder was a banker in Cologne, Germany who was a member of the Nazi Party and who hosted a notorious meeting between Franz von Papen and Hitler that facilitated Hitler's assumption of the Chancellorship.He was born in Hamburg, Germany, on 24 November 1889...

 and Emil Heinrich Meyer

Emil Heinrich Meyer

Emil Heinrich Meyer was a German business executive. Meyer was a board member at the ITT Corporation's Germany-based subsidiaries Standard Elektrik Lorenz and Mix & Genest as well as AEG....

, the General Director of Wintershall

Wintershall

Wintershall AG is the largest crude oil and natural gas producer in Germany. The company is based in Kassel, Germany. Wintershall is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, based in Ludwigshafen. The name Wintershall is derived from the surname of the enterprise co-founder Carl Julius Winter and the...

 August Rosterg, Otto Steinbrinck

Otto Steinbrinck

Brigadier General Otto Steinbrinck was a German industrialist and an accused in the Nuremberg Flick Trial....

 the Vice-President of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG

Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG

The Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG was a German industrial conglomerate producing coal, iron, and steel in the interbellum and during World War II....

, Reichsbank

Reichsbank

The Reichsbank was the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945. It was founded on 1 January 1876 . The Reichsbank was a privately owned central bank of Prussia, under close control by the Reich government. Its first president was Hermann von Dechend...

 President Hjalmar Schacht

Hjalmar Schacht

Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was a German economist, banker, liberal politician, and co-founder of the German Democratic Party. He served as the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic...

, Emil Helffrich of the German-American Petroleum Company, chairman of the board at Commerzbank

Commerzbank

Commerzbank AG is the second-largest bank in Germany, after Deutsche Bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main.-Activities:Commerzbank is mainly active in commercial bank, retail banking and mortgaging. It suffered reversals in investment banking in early 2000s and scaled back its Securities unit...

 Friedrich Reinhardt, Ilseder Hütte chairman Ewald Hecker

Ewald Hecker

Ewald Hecker was a German psychiatrist who was an important figure in the early days of modern psychiatry. He is known for research done with his mentor, psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum ....

, and political figures Carl Vincent Krogmann

Carl Vincent Krogmann

Carl Vincent Krogmann was a German banker, industrialist and Nazi Party politician. He served as Mayor of Hamburg for the majority of the Nazi period of government.-Early years:...

 and Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen

Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen

Count Gottfried von Bismarck-Schönhausen was a German politician and German Resistance figure.Born in Berlin, he was a grandson of the Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. He was a member of the Nazi Party and in 1933 he was elected to the Reichstag as a Nazi member...

 as well as Keppler.

The Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS was also controlled by Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

, a friend of Keppler, who was a member of the NSDAP since 1927. The group was formed by Keppler when in 1932 Hitler asked for a “study group on economic questions”. Also important in the group was Fritz Kranefuß (1900-1945), a former coworker of Keppler's. A similar group was known as the F-circle and implemented design initiatives. The members of the circle/group donated annually approximately 1 million Marks from 1935 to 1944 to the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

. Kurt Baron von Schröder

Kurt Baron von Schröder

Baron Kurt von Schroeder was a banker in Cologne, Germany who was a member of the Nazi Party and who hosted a notorious meeting between Franz von Papen and Hitler that facilitated Hitler's assumption of the Chancellorship.He was born in Hamburg, Germany, on 24 November 1889...

 was manager of the financial accounts. William Keppler was cross-examined later in the Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....

.

Fiction

In Jonathan Littell

Jonathan Littell

Jonathan Littell is a bilingual writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and United States and is a dual citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine years, leaving his job in 2001 in order to concentrate on writing...

's novel Les Bienveillantes

Les Bienveillantes

The Kindly Ones is a historical novel written in French by American-born author Jonathan Littell. The 900-page book became a bestseller in France and was widely discussed in newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books and seminars...

, the mysterious industrialist Dr. Mandelbrod is a member of the Freundeskreis Himmler.