Basic Ideas of National Socialist Economic Policy by Gottfried Feder

Description

Gottfried Feder, born on January 27, 1883, in Würzburg, Germany, was a pivotal figure in the formative era of German National Socialism. As a civil engineer turned political activist, Feder was the intellectual cornerstone of the movement’s economic theories. His emergence onto the political stage was marked by his provocative 1919 publication ‘Manifesto for Breaking the Thralldom of Interest.’ His compelling address at a German Workers’ Party assembly in Munich that same year acted as a catalyst for Adolf Hitler’s plunge into politics.

Feder’s anti-capitalist leanings and socialist ideologies found their voice in Hitler’s 25-point program for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (N.S.D.A.P.) in March 1920, and in Feder’s seminal book, ‘German State on the National Socialist Foundation.’ Hitler revered this text as the ‘catechism of the National Socialist movement.’

From 1924 to 1936, Feder’s political influence was significant as he occupied a seat in the German Reichstag, chaired the N.S.D.A.P.’s economic council in 1931, served as the state secretary of the German Ministry of Economics in 1933, and was appointed the state housing commissioner in 1934. However, as the National Socialist policy began to align more closely with the existing economic framework, Feder’s role began to wane. By 1936, his once-prominent standing had faded into relative obscurity, marking the end of his influential era. Feder passed away on September 24, 1941, in Murnau, but his mark on Germany’s political landscape remains indelible.