Oscar Schlitter

Oscar Schlitter
Born	Template:Birth date Lennep, Germany
Died	November 30, 1939(1939-11-30) (aged 71)
Occupation	Banker
Years active	1894–1939
Known for	Role in German banking and industrial consolidations, including Deutsche Bank mergers and rayon manufacturer merger

Oscar Schlitter (10 January 1868 – 30 November 1939) was a prominent German banker recognized for his active involvement in significant commercial and industrial consolidations. He played a crucial role in the 1929 merger between the financially troubled German firm VGF and the Dutch company , which resulted in the creation of a leading European rayon manufacturer.

Early Life

Schlitter was born in Lennep in 1868 and spent his childhood in Düsseldorf, where his father worked as a railway conductor. After completing his commercial education, he embarked on a career in banking.

Banking Career

Following a banking apprenticeship at the institution in Elberfeld, Schlitter joined the bank in Essen in 1894. He was instrumental in steering the bank's growth into industrial financing and secured a position on its Executive Board by 1901.

In 1906, prompted by Carl Klönne, Schlitter moved to Deutsche Bank, and two years later became General Director of Bergisch-Märkische Bank. This transition reflected the close relationship between these banks before Deutsche Bank's acquisition of Bergisch-Märkische Bank in 1914. By 1912, he had returned to Deutsche Bank’s executive board, where he contributed significantly to one of the era’s largest banking mergers.

Schlitter earned recognition for his proficiency in financing sectors such as heavy industry, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering centered around the Ruhr area. During the politically turbulent 1930s, he was actively engaged in streamlining the insurance industry.

He held supervisory board positions at several major companies, including Algemene Kunstzijde Unie (AKU), created through the VGF-ENKA merger; IG Farben (1931–1935); industrial conglomerates like Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG, , Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG; energy provider RWE; and Mannesmann. Additionally, he contributed to establishing Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG.

As part of the broader industrial consolidation movement, Schlitter was deeply involved in Deutsche Bank’s 1929 merger with its competitor Disconto-Gesellschaft. He served three years on the executive board of the merged institution and joined its supervisory board in 1932. Between 1933 and 1939, he alternated as chairman of this board with Franz Urbig.

Family

Schlitter’s paternal lineage traced back to Schlitters in western Tyrol, from where his ancestors moved northward as Protestant refugees. In 1904, he married Anna Bandhauer, daughter of Otto Bandhauer, who was Director of the Essen-based West German Insurance and Investment Bank (Westdeutsche Versicherungs-Aktienbank). Their son, Oskar Hermann Artur Schlitter, wed film actress and former Miss Germany Daisy D'ora in 1932. Oskar Jr. joined the Nazi Party in 1934 and occupied significant diplomatic and governmental positions during the Nazi regime; after 1952, he resumed work as a diplomat.

Residence

Oscar Schlitter lived in Berlin’s prestigious Schwanenwerder area, which paralleled London's Mayfair in status. Many of his neighbors were bankers, some identified by the Nazi Party as Jewish. By the late 1930s, however, party members largely replaced Jewish residents there. In the summer of 1935, Schlitter sold his property at 8–10 Island Street (Inselstraße 8–10) to Joseph Goebbels for 270,000 Reichsmarks—a figure historians regard as relatively low.

Beyond banking

From 1932 until 1939, Schlitter actively participated in the Mittwochsgesellschaft (Wednesday Society), demonstrating his involvement outside the financial sector.