His role in the Third Reich was to purge all excessive price increases that had occurred since the summer of 1933. Ironically, given Goerdeler’s liberal proclivities, the result by the end of 1935 was the creation of a comprehensive system of state supervised price-setting. Fundamental to this system were the increased powers of oversight exercised by the Reich over Germany’s ramified system of cartels.39 In July 1933 the RWM equipped itself with the authority to impose compulsory cartels. The same decree also gave the RWM the right to oversee the actions of existing cartels, to issue
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