On the afternoon of February 20, 1933, Adolf Hitler met with Germany’s business leaders. Among the two dozen executives present was Gustav Krupp von Bohlen, head of the legendary eponymous maker of steel and armaments. There was car manufacturer Fritz von Opel, and Georg von Schnitzler from the chemical concern I.G. Farben, which in a few years would become notorious for supplying Auschwitz with the poison gas Zyklon B. Presiding over the event was Hjalmar Schacht, who would soon return to his