The tension reached its climax in the second half of June, with Schacht’s announcement on 14 June of a complete moratorium on foreign debt repayment and the imposition of a new regime of daily foreign exchange allocation. This not only plunged Germany’s foreign relations into crisis. It also put Schacht in complete control. The hapless Schmitt was no match for Schacht. After his health let him down he gratefully retired from front-line politics, returning to an influential position in the insurance industry. The senior civil servants in the RWM, however, were made of sterner stuff. Under the
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