Carl Bergmann (politician)
Carl Bergmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Sömmerda, Germany |
| Died | September 26, 1935 (aged 61) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupation(s) | Banker, diplomat |
| Years active | 1900–1935 |
| Known for | Participation in reparations negotiations; board member of Deutsche Bank and Reichsbahn; trustee at Danatbank |
Carl Bergmann (born 20 April 1874 in Sömmerda; died 26 September 1935 in Berlin) was a prominent German banker and diplomat.
Biography
Bergmann earned a doctorate in law before commencing his professional journey in 1900 as a Gerichtsassessor in Berlin. The following year, he joined Deutsche Bank and was appointed to oversee the Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie operations in Konstantinopel from 1901 until 1902. By 1911, he had advanced to the position of deputy director at Deutsche Bank. Between 1914 and 1918, Bergmann acted as a financial envoy at the German Embassy located in The Hague.
In the aftermath of World War I, he took part in reparations discussions on behalf of the German Reich in Paris. In July 1919, Bergmann was named undersecretary within the Finance Ministry and led the war load commission until September 1921, collaborating closely with Finance Ministers Matthias Erzberger and Joseph Wirth.
Subsequently, he returned to Deutsche Bank as a member of its board and from 1924 to 1927 co-owned the Frankfurt-based bank Lazard Speyer-Ellissen. His role as a Reichsbahn board member brought him back to reparations negotiations in 1930. From 1931 until his passing in 1935, Bergmann held the position of trustee at the Danatbank.
Appreciation
In his 1926 publication Réflexions sur le franc et sur quelques autres sujets, economist John Maynard Keynes commended Bergmann’s discreet yet impactful participation in reparations negotiations from 1919 through the implementation of the Dawes Plan in 1924. Keynes characterized Bergmann as a pragmatic diplomat who cultivated genuine rapport with counterparts beyond mere formal interactions.
Historian Alfred C. Mierzejewski acknowledges Bergmann’s steadfast commitment within the Reichsbahn’s management and supervisory board as instrumental in averting its seizure by Nazi forces.
Publications
- Der Weg der Reparation: Von Versailles über den Dawes-Plan zum Ziel. Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei, Frankfurt am Main 1926.
- Der gegenwärtige Stand der Reparationsfrage, Vortrag gehalten am 23. Mai 1928 in der Jahreshauptversammlung des Verbandes Mitteldeutscher Industrieller e. V. Frankfurt am Main 1928.
- "Germany and the Young Plan". In: Foreign Affairs. Bd. 8, Juli 1930, S. 596 f.
Sources
- Schattenblick: "bank crash and Brüning's emergency decrees - Part 2 (UZ)"
- The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich, Alfred C. Mierzejewski, 1999 (Volume I)
- "Réflexions sur le franc et sur quelques autres sujets", John Maynard Keynes, 1926
- The Diplomats, 1919-1939, Gordon A. Craig & Felix Gilbert, Princeton, 1994, p. 150
- "Ex-German Minister Visits Washington; Carlsberg Man Tells Mellon and Hoover of German Economic Situation", The New York Times, November 4, 1921 (p. 19)
- "Business: Oversubscribed". Time. June 23, 1930.
- The Ruhr Crisis, 1923-1924, Conan Fischer, 2003 Oxford University Press USA; p. 182