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Four-Year Plan
Hermann Göring's 1936 economic programme to make Germany self-sufficient (autarky) and ready for war within four years. It prioritized rearmament and the development of synthetic substitutes for imported raw materials.
Hjalmar Schacht
German economist and banker who served as President of the Reichsbank (1933-1939) and Reich Minister of Economics (1934-1937). Schacht was not a committed Nazi but served the regime because he believed he could use its political authority to restore German economic power. His "New Plan" of 1934 introduced strict controls on imports and foreign exchange to prevent Germany from running out of foreign currency while rearmament accelerated. He also devised the MEFO bills, a system of promissory notes used to finance rearmament without immediately appearing in the government budget. Schacht resigned as Economics Minister in 1937 when he became concerned that the pace of rearmament was causing dangerous inflation.