Arthur Zarden

Arthur Heinrich Ludwig Zarden (27 April 1885 in Hamburg – 18 January 1944 in Berlin) was a leading personality in German tax legislation and for a short time State Secretary in the Reich Finance Ministry.

The building of a centralistic finance administration, the burden of reparations from the war that Germany had lost, and lastly the struggle against inflation made the first years very hard.

Owing to this, he concentrated himself on the consolidation of Reich finances through reconstruction and creation of capital gains, asset, and income taxes, along with compulsory loans.

As leader of the taxation department in the Reich Finance Ministry, Zarden foresaw that he would become the old State Secretary Johannes Popitz's successor after the latter's "provisional retirement" in 1929 due to differences with the government.

The circle, which was part of the resistance, brought together Foreign Ministry officials, intellectuals, writers, and others, along with Johanna Solf and her daughter, Lagi von Ballestrem.