18.

On June 30, 1933, two weeks after Günther Quandt’s release, Hitler appointed Allianz CEO Kurt Schmitt as his Reich minister of economic affairs. Schmitt beat out Hitler’s economic adviser Otto Wagener, who jockeyed too hard for the position and fell entirely out of favor with the Nazi leader. Baron August von Finck had fervently advocated for Schmitt as the best candidate for the job. Von Finck “was anxious for business to have a strong voice in the new regime and felt [that the appointment of Schmitt] would be helpful to Allianz and to his bank,” according to a fellow Allianz executive. Hitler and Göring, who was looking to become the de facto leader of the Nazi economy, agreed with von Finck, but for a different reason. In the eyes of the two Nazi leaders, the business community had to be placated as the Nazis consolidated power and jump-started rearmament.

The consummate corporate insider, Schmitt seemed to be the perfect point man for this task, but he quickly resigned his post after collapsing from stress during a speech. Another establishment figure, Hjalmar Schacht, succeeded him. Meanwhile, von Finck’s devotion to Hitler deepened. Schmitt, far more an opportunist than a believer, found von Finck’s “outlook on the world . . . rather provincial. He had little first-hand knowledge of the countries outside of Germany and had never . . . traveled in foreign countries. Hence . . . his inner faith in Nazism and particularly in Hitler never faltered,” Schmitt told an American interrogator after the war.

Von Finck’s devotion to the führer stood out to all his colleagues and friends. Hitler “exercised on him a great fascination” and “a hypnotic influence,” according to Hans Schmidt-Polex, a longtime friend of the aristocrat. Hans Hess, who succeeded Schmitt as CEO of Allianz but refused to ever join the Nazi Party, revealed after the war that von Finck had told him on several occasions “that he believed that Hitler was sent by God, to become Führer of the German people.”

Nonetheless, von Finck’s zealotry stopped at his wallet. The banker’s stinginess didn’t endear him to NSDAP officials. They “felt that his contributions to the Party were not in keeping with his wealth,” Allianz’s press chief, Baron Edgar von Uexküll, declared after the war. The Nazis had to find a way to capitalize on the devotion, clout, and connections of Bavaria’s wealthiest man, but without making him spend a penny of his own fortune. Around the time of Schmitt’s appointment, Hitler came up with an idea: he would give von Finck the opportunity to spend other people’s money. After the ceremony at the Reich Chancellery, Hitler took von Finck aside, looked him in the eye, and said: “You are my man. You must build me a house of German art.”

In July 1933, Hitler, once a dilettante painter himself, appointed von Finck as chairman of the board of trustees for the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, an art museum to be built in Munich. It was Hitler’s pet project. The führer envisioned it as a prime example of Nazi architecture, where artworks that he considered quintessentially German would be placed on display. The museum was to be built on Prinzregentenstrasse, on the southern edge of Englischer Garten and near Hitler’s luxurious apartment.

On October 15, 1933, Hitler was to lay the cornerstone of the building in an elaborate ceremony. At its conclusion, Hitler struck the cornerstone three times with a specially designed silver hammer. But the tool broke, and its parts scattered across the ground. Von Finck looked on somberly from behind. Enraged, Hitler forbade any mention of the mishap in the German press. Despite the bumpy start, a von Finck–führer synergy soon developed. To begin a museum-related event, the two men would stand side by side before the audience, their posture stiff, the right arm of each man suspended in the air, with the hand held straight. Von Finck would give a three-minute speech to introduce Hitler, and the führer would then ramble on for an hour. Going forward, von Finck would be Hitler’s museum guide, enjoying the distinct honor of sitting at the chancellor’s right side during ceremonies and dinners. He had secured proximity to his beloved führer.

Hitler striking the museum’s foundation stone with August von Finck, in suit, standing directly behind him. Moments later, the silver hammer broke.

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