author
Karl Helfferich
1872–1924
A brilliant and combative German economist, banker, and politician, he moved from university teaching into high finance and then into the center of imperial politics during the First World War. His later years made him one of the sharpest and most controversial conservative voices of the early Weimar era.
3 Audiobooks
Der Weltkrieg, I. Band Die Vorgeschichte des Weltkrieges
by Karl Helfferich
Der Weltkrieg, III. Band Vom Eingreifen Amerikas bis zum Zusammenbruch
by Karl Helfferich
About the author
Born in Neustadt an der Weinstraße on July 22, 1872, Karl Helfferich studied economics and built an early academic career before moving into banking. He became closely associated with Deutsche Bank and worked on major international projects, including the Anatolian Railway, which helped establish his reputation as a skilled financier.
During the First World War, he held several senior posts in the German government, including leadership roles in the Treasury and the Interior Ministry, and he also served as Vice Chancellor. He was known for his expertise in currency and finance, but also for a forceful style that won attention as well as enemies.
After the fall of the German Empire, he remained active in politics as a prominent nationalist critic of the Weimar Republic. His attacks on leading republican politicians made him a major figure in the bitter political climate of the early 1920s. He died in a railway accident near Bellinzona, Switzerland, on April 23, 1924.