Hans Steinicke (November 13, 1904 – February 5, 2005), better known by his pen-name Günter Reimann, was a German-born economist and writer. He was noted as founder and editor of ''International Reports'', a New York-based weekly publication he created in 1947 and sold to the London

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

in 1983, and author of ''The Vampire Economy: Doing Business under Fascism'' (1939) about what he described as the onerous business policy of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and its disastrous effects on the Nazi economy. Prior to World War II, Reimann was a member of the Communist Party of Germany and at the forefront of the

underground resistance Underground Resistance (commonly abbreviated to UR) are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant p ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

within

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Biography

Reimann was born in

Angermünde Angermünde () is a town in the district of Uckermark in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is about northeast of Berlin, the capital of Germany. The population is about 14,000, but has been declining since its traditional industrial base, ...

(near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

), German Empire: the Steinickes were a bourgeois German-Jewish family. Drawn to the left-wing intelligentsia at an early age in Berlin, Reimann associated and worked with

Ernst Thälmann Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933. A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major r ...

Anna Seghers Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...

and

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

at the

Romanisches Café The ''Romanisches Café'' ("Romanesque Café") was a café- bar in Berlin well known as a meeting place for artists. It was located in what is now Breitscheidplatz at the end of the Kurfürstendamm in the Charlottenburg district (although that ...

. Still a teenager, Reimann assumed the position of economics editor for the communist newspaper, ''

Die Rote Fahne ''Die Rote Fahne'' (, ''The Red Flag'') was a German newspaper originally founded in 1876 by Socialist Worker's party leader Wilhelm Hasselmann, and which has been since published on and off, at times underground, by German Socialists and Communi ...

'', taking on the pen-name of Günter Reimann. After the Reichstag fire in February 1933, Reimann went underground to oppose the new National Socialist regime under the resistance movement of the German social democrats and communists. In 1934, the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

continued zeroing in on his location, finally raiding his house and arresting Hu Lanqi, who later became the first female general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army. Reimann fled to France and then London. After arriving in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he wrote ''The Vampire Economy: Doing Business Under Fascism'', published in 1939. In that treatise, Reimann documented how the oppressive rule of the Nazi regime crushed the autonomy of the private sector through severe regulations and the threat of confiscatory fines for petty offenses. As an economist, he later founded the "International Reports on Finance and Currencies" financial newsletter in 1947. He also authored ''Patents for Hitler'' in 1942. After his migration to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where he met Miriam Weber, a socialist activist, who he later married and fathered two children, before the two divorced. He then married Jutta Ruesch, a German citizen, and they subsequently had two children. Reimann later moved to

Manhasset Manhasset is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 at the 2020 United States ce ...

, Long Island, New York. In 2004, Reimann was awarded Germany's Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit, the nation's highest civilian award. He died at the age of 100 on February 5, 2005. Reimann is survived by his wife Jutta, his four children, 2 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren is Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

chapter of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

Writings

*
The Vampire Economy: Doing Business Under Fascism
',

Vanguard Press The Vanguard Press (1926–1988) was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array of ...

, New York City, (1939), republished by the

Ludwig von Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). It ...

, Auburn, Alabama (2007) *''Patents for Hitler'', 1942

References

1904 births 2005 deaths People from Angermünde Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom German economists German centenarians German communists, German socialists German resistance members Jews in the German resistance Men centenarians People from the Province of Brandenburg Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from Manhasset, New York German emigrants to the United States {{Germany-economist-stub