Rudolf Brinkmann (economist)

Rudolf Brinkmann (28 August 1893, Greene, Einbeck – after 1973)[1] was a German economist and State Secretary in Nazi Germany.

After obtaining his Abitur, Brinkmann studied political science and economics at the University of Bonn and the Humboldt University of Berlin. After the outbreak of the First World War he joined Imperial German Army and served with the artillery. In 1916 he was discharged from the army because of an injury. He moved into banking and worked from 1919 in Göttingen for the Reichsbank. In 1923 he took over the guidance of internal revision of the Reichsbank in Berlin and worked later in the directory. Afterwards he was member of the board of the Reichsbank in Hamburg. In 1931 he became director of the Reichsbank in Aschaffenburg.

Period of Nazism

After the Nazi seizure of power Brinkmann, in spring of 1933, became a board member at the Deutsche Golddiskontbank and in 1937 at the Reichsbank.[2] In the Reich and Prussian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Brinkmann in 1934 worked under Reichsminister Hjalmar Schacht initially as a Generalreferent (general consultant). On 4 February 1938, the new Reichsminister, Walther Funk, promoted Brinkmann to principal State Secretary of the Ministry, replacing Hans Ernst Posse. At the same time, he was appointed to membership on the Prussian State Council by Prussian Minister President Hermann Göring.[3] From 1938 to 1939 he was also on the board of the Reichswerke Hermann Göring. On 20 April 1938, he joined the Allgemeine SS ( SS number 308,241) and was promoted to the rank of SS-Oberführer on 9 November 1938.[2][4] In January 1939 Brinkmann became Vice President of the Reichsbank.[2] Whether he became in 1939 a member of the Nazi Party is unclear.[2] Brinkmann was also a board member of the Vereinigte Elektrizitätswerke Westfalen (Electricity Works of Westphalia) and the Bank for International Settlements.[1]

From mid-February 1939, Brinkmann was placed on a leave of absence due to illness, which was apparently acute manic-depression, which was described as a "severe nervous breakdown".[5] In May 1939, due to the duration of his illness, Brinkmann was retired and admitted to a mental hospital in Bonn, where he remained until the end of World War II in a closed hospital.[2][6] Friedrich Landfried succeeded him as State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Economics, and Emil Puhl as Vice President of the Reichsbank.

References
  1. Bärbel Holtz, Die Protokolle des Preußischen Staatsministeriums, S. 536
  2. Götz Aly, Bundesarchiv, Institut für Zeitgeschichte: Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933–1945. Band 2: Deutsches Reich 1938 – August 1939. München 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58523-0, S. 435
  3. Lilla, Joachim (2005). Der Prußische Staatsrat 1921–1933: Ein biographisches Handbuch. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag. pp. 195, 296. ISBN 978-3-770-05271-4.
  4. Rudolf Brinkmann bei www.dws-xip.pl
  5. Willi A. Boelcke: Die deutsche Wirtschaft 1930–1945, Droste, 1983, S. 191f.
  6. Johannes Bähr u. a.: Der Flick-Konzern im Dritten Reich. Herausgegeben durch das Institut für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin im Auftrag der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Oldenbourger Wissenschaftsverlag, München 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58683-1, S. 907
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