Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft

Keppler, who had been a member of the Nazi party since 1927, formed the Circle after Hitler's request in 1932 for the formation of a "study group on economic questions".

[5] However, even scholars who are skeptical of the influence of the group note them as part of late-Weimar industrial leadership’s “opposition to parliamentary democracy”.

[8] At least some members of the group, such as Friedrich Flick, later benefited from the NSDAP's policy of aryanization of Jewish-owned competitors.

[2] Membership in the group may have also played a role in allocation of concentration camp labor to industrial concerns.

[7] It also sponsored the Jewish skull collection, when 86 victims were selected at Auschwitz, then murdered using Zyklon B gas at Natzweiler concentration camp and the corpses shipped to Reichsuniversität Straßburg for defleshing and ultimately public display by Professor August Hirt.