German Bank of Soviet Russia (Activity of the German-Volga Bank of Agricultural Credit in the 1920s)

Abstract

The transition of Soviet Russia from “war communism” to a new economic policy required the restoration of commodity-money exchange, the financial and tax system, credit and other market institutions. The need for rapid recovery and development of all branches of the national economy predetermined a certain departure from the “communist” views on banking and in the early 1920s. in the country, along with the State Bank, special banks appeared. These banks, being under the control of the relevant economic commissariats, ensured the implementation of the necessary financial and credit policy in this branch of the national economy. The article examines the activity of the German-Volga Agricultural Credit Bank in the ASSR of the Volga Germans during the period of the new economic policy. Special attention is paid to the bank’s issuance of a bond loan intended for placement, primarily on the foreign market. The bank bonds were supposed to be placed in Germany and among the German diasporas of the United States and Latin America. The article analyzes the activities of Nemvolbank in attracting foreign currency funds. The source base was the documents stored in the Russian State Archive of Economics in the funds of the Ministry of Finance of the USSR and the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR: correspondence between the leadership of the ASSR of the Volga Germans about the issue of the loan and the terms of its placement, Regulations on the issue of bonds, etc. The role of the bank in the development of Soviet- German financial and economic relations within the framework of the diplomatic rapprochement of the two countries is traced. Shown activity Newalliance for the return of German colonists, immigrants back in the Volga region. It is concluded that the German-Volga Bank conducted quite active foreign trade activities.