Carl Melchior

Carl Melchior (October 13, 1871 – December 30, 1933) was born in Hamburg. Melchior studied law and eventually was appointed a judge, and later became a German banker and vice-president of the Bank for International Settlements. Working life In 1900 Melchior was made legal counsel to Hamburg banking concern, M.M.Warburg & CO. During World War I, he served with a Bavarian regiment of the German Army and was seriously injured at Metz when he fell from a horse. After his recovery, Mechior went to work for the German government and beginning in 1919 served as an advisor for the financial and economic negotiations that began at the Paris Peace Conference. Following implementation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was faced with numerous economic problems. By 1921, Melchior deemed it advisable for the country to accept what he saw as an impossible war reparations burden stating: "We can get through the first two or three years with the aid of foreign loans. By the end of that time foreign nations will have realised that these large payments can only be made by huge German exports and these exports will ruin the trade in England and America so that creditors themselves will come to us to request modification.""