Nürnberg, August 1, 1946
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. KURT SCHMITT
I, Dr. Kurt Schmitt, at present at farm Tiefenbrunn, near Starnberg, Upper Batavia, make the following statement under oath: I was born at Heidelberg on October 7, 1886. As Minister of Economics, I was a member of the Reich Cabinet from June 30, 1933 until the beginning of January 1935. I resigned from the Cabinet, technically for reasons of ill health (June 28, 1934), but factually because of deep differences of opinion with the policy of the Hitler Cabinet. I informed Hitler, Goering, Guertner, Schacht, von Papen, and Blomberg about these differences of opinion. The differences consisted mainly of the fact that an always increasing rearmament took place instead of a genuine reemployment program. Even at that time, this was in the year 1934, I recognized that this would lead to war and to a terrible disaster. Another fact was that I regarded the June 30, 1934, action of the regime as murderous. In Autumn 1935 I told this to the American Ambassador Dodd. The nationalistic tendencies of Hitler and his collaborators connected with the unlimited rearmament were the road to war. This policy became more and more apparent to the members of the Cabinet. When I pointed this out to Mr. Blomberg, who was at that time Minister of War, he declared: "I am a soldier and this development is a fate." When I saw the increasing and unscrupulous radicalism in all fields, such as rearmament, Jewish question, church matters, legislation, and foreign policy, I felt that I had to resign from the Reich Cabinet. I participated in about 20 or 25 meetings of the Reich Cabinet where Goering, Darre, Goebbels, Lammers and Frick had great influence. In addition to the above-mentioned reasons of my resignation, I have to say that the SA gained a more and more disastrous influence, as a destructive element in economic and Jewish matters; I have also to add the fact of the complete arbitrariness and lawlessness of the Gauleaders (Gauleiter) who executed arrests and confiscations.
Read, Sworn, Signed:
_ Dr. Kurt SCHMITT Reich Minister of Economics from June 30, 1933, until middle of January 1935
Sworn before me
1 August 1946
Dr. R. M. W. Kempner
Office of U.S. Chief of Counsel
818
Affidavit concerning the Reich Cabinet and the regime in 1933-34, including rearmament, nationalism, and political murders
Authors
Kurt Schmitt (economics minister, 1933-34)
Kurt Schmitt
German politician (1886-1950)
- Born: 1886-10-07 (Heidelberg)
- Died: 1950-11-02 (Heidelberg)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: economist; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Corps Franconia München; Schutzstaffel
- Military rank: SS-Brigadeführer; captain
- Position held: finance minister
Date: 01 August 1946
Literal Title: Affidavit
Defendants: Wilhelm Frick, Hermann Wilhelm Goering
Total Pages: 2
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-4058
HLSL Item No.: 451336
Document Summary
PS-4058: Affidavit by Dr. Kurt Schmitt, former Reich Minister of Economics (1933-35), subscribed and sworn before Dr. Robert M.W. Kempner, CCC, stating the reasons for his resignation
PS-4058: Affidavit by Dr. Kurt Schmitt, 1 August 1946: from June 1933 to January 1935 he was Reich Minister for economy and a .member of the Reich cabinet; he resigned on account of the extremist policy pursued by the national socialists which, as he foresaw, was bound to lead to war