ECB’s Nagel: New Research Findings Allow for Critical Reflection on the Past

15 March 2024

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Friday said that the research commissioned by the German Bundesbank on the functioning of financial institutions during the National Socialist era would allow for a better understanding of the past.  

In a press conference presenting the findings of the historical research project ‘From the Reichsbank to the Bundesbank’ in Frankfurt, Nagel, who heads the German central bank, said, ‘The Bundesbank itself has looked to reflect critically on the past. These efforts have yielded numerous publications, exhibitions and conferences.’

With the findings of the new research it would be possible to have a ‘a big picture of German central bank policy before, during and after World War II’, which had been missing so far, he said.

‘Their [the researchers'] work traces how central bankers became willing accessories to a criminal regime. And it shows how susceptible they were to racism, antisemitism and anti-democratic thinking’, he said.

The publication should serve as a warning that ‘[n]ever again should government bodies like the central bank be allowed to trample on democratic values’, he said.