Reimann, Günter (Hans) 1904-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born November 13, 1904, in Angermünde, Germany; died February 5, 2005, in Valley Stream, NY. Publisher and author. Reimann was the founder and publisher of International Reports on Finance and Currency, a finance journal read by bankers, company executives, and political leaders around the globe. A member of the Communist Party from the age of fourteen, he was business editor for the party's Red Banner at age seventeen. He held strong leftist beliefs throughout his life, though he resigned from the party in 1933 because it was becoming dominated by the Soviet Union. He attended the University of Berlin, where he earned his B.A. in economics in 1928. Working underground against the growing strength of the Nazis in Germany, he changed his name from Hans Steinecke to Günter Hans Reimann to conceal his identity. At risk of being imprisoned, in 1934 he fled his country for France, and then made his way to London. Here he led a reclusive life and conducted research for what would become his best-known book, The Vampire Economy: Doing Business under Fascism (1939). With the assistance of the American Friends Service Committee, Reimann emigrated to New York City in 1937. Once in New York he continued to write, and when World War II ended, he offered testimony before Congress that helped lead to the repeal of the Trading with the Enemy Act; in addition, he opposed the Morgenthau Plan, which aimed to deny Germany the right to reindustrialize its destroyed economy. Serving as president of International Reports from its inception in 1946, he headed the publication until 1983, when he sold it to the Financial Times. In addition to his publishing work, Reimann wrote several more books, including The Myth of the Total State: Europe's Last Bid for World Rule (1941) and The Future of the Dollar (1951; new edition, 1973).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), March 1, 2005, p. 27.

New York Times, April 4, 2005, p. A25.