Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

SCHACHT: No, it was not taken “at the point of a gun.”

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, we will pass on to your speech. Did you say also:

“Instead of a weak and vacillating government a single,
purposeful, energetic personality is ruling today. That is the
great miracle which has happened in Germany and which has had
its effect in all fields of life and not last in that of economy
and finance. There is no German financial miracle. There is only
the miracle of the reawakening of German national consciousness
and German discipline, and we owe this miracle to our Führer,
Adolf Hitler.” (Document EC-611)

Did you say that?

SCHACHT: Certainly. That was what I was so greatly astonished at.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: As Minister without Portfolio, what did your Ministry consist of?

SCHACHT: Nothing.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What employees did you have?

SCHACHT: One female secretary.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: What space did you occupy?

SCHACHT: Two or three rooms in my own apartment which I had furnished as office rooms.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: So the government did not even furnish you an office?

SCHACHT: Yes, they paid me a rental for those rooms.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Oh, and whom did you meet with as Minister without Portfolio?

SCHACHT: I do not understand. Whom I met with?

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, did you have any meetings? Did you have any official meetings to attend?

SCHACHT: I have stated here repeatedly that, after my retirement from the Reichsbank, I never had a single meeting or conference, official or otherwise.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did anybody report to you, or did you report to anybody?

SCHACHT: No, no one reported to me, nor did I report to anyone else.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Then I take it that you had no duties whatever in this position?

SCHACHT: Absolutely correct.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you were Minister without Portfolio, however, at the time that Hitler came back from France, and you attended the reception for him at the railway station? And went to the Reichstag to hear his speech?

SCHACHT: Yes.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, notwithstanding your removal as President of the Reichsbank, the government continued to pay you your full salary until the end of 1942, did it not?

SCHACHT: I stated yesterday that that is not correct. I received my salary from the Reichsbank, which was due to me by contract, but a minister’s salary was not paid to me. I believe that as Minister I received certain allowances to cover expenses, I cannot say that at the moment; but I did not receive a salary as a Minister.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, I will return to your interrogation of 9 October 1945 and ask you whether you gave these answers to these questions on that interrogation:

“Question: ‘What salary did you receive as Minister without
Portfolio?’

“Answer: ‘I could not tell you exactly. I think it was some
24,000 marks, or 20,000 marks. I cannot tell you exactly, but it
was accounted on the salary and afterward on the pension which I
got from the Reichsbank, so I was not paid twice. I was not paid
twice.’

“Question: ‘In other words, the salary that you received as
Minister without Portfolio during the period you were also
President of the Reichsbank was deducted from the Reichsbank?’

“Answer: ‘Yes.’

“Question: ‘However, after you severed your connection with the
Reichsbank in January 1939, did you then receive the whole
salary?’

“Answer: ‘I got the whole salary because my contract ran until
the end of June 1942, I think.’

“Question: ‘So you received a full salary until the end of June
1942?’

“Answer: ‘Full salary and no extra salary, but from the 1st of
July 1942 I got my pension from the Reichsbank, and again the
salary of the Ministry was deducted from that, or vice versa.
What was higher, I do not know; I got a pension of about 30,000
marks from the Reichsbank.’”

And on 11 July 1945, at Ruskin, you were questioned and gave answers as follows:

“Question: ‘What was the date of your contract?’

“Answer: ‘From 8 March 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942. Four years. Four
years’ contract.’

“Question: ‘You were really then given a four-year appointment?’

“Answer: ‘That is what I told you. After 1942 I got a pension
from the Reichsbank.’

“Question: ‘What was the amount of your salary and all other
income from the Reichsbank?’

“Answer: ‘All the income from the Reichsbank, including my fees
for representation, amounted to 60,000 marks a year, and the
pension is 24,000. You see, I had a short contract but a high
pension. As Reich Minister without Portfolio, I had another, I
think also 20,000 or 24,000 marks.’”

Now, is that correct?

SCHACHT: The salaries are stated on paper and are correctly cited here and I have indeed claimed that I was paid by one source only. I was asked, “What salary did you receive as Reich Minister?” I stated the amount, but I did not receive it, as it was merely deducted from my Reichsbank salary. And the pension, as I see here, is quoted wrongly in one case. I believe I had only 24,000 marks’ pension, while it says here somewhere that it was 30,000 marks. In my own money affairs I am somewhat less exact than in my official money affairs. However, I was paid only once, and that is mainly by the Reichsbank up to—and that also has not been stated here correctly. It was not the end of 1942, but the end of June 1942, that my contract expired. Then the pension began and it too was paid only once. How those two, that is, the Ministry and Reichsbank, arranged it with each other is unknown to me.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, you were entitled to a salary and a pension both, and one was offset against the other; is that what you mean? And that arrangement continued as long as you were a part of the regime?

SCHACHT: It is still in effect today. It has nothing to do with the regime. I hope that I shall still receive my pension; how else should I pay my expenses?

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, they may not be very heavy, Doctor.

When General Beck resigned, he asked you to resign, did he not?

THE PRESIDENT: Just a minute; it is quite unnecessary for anyone present in Court to show his amusement by laughter.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Were you asked to resign when General Beck resigned?

SCHACHT: No, he did not say that.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Have you in mind the testimony given by Gisevius here?

SCHACHT: Yes. It was a mistake on the part of Gisevius.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Oh, well, in any event, when General Beck resigned, it was called sharply to your attention?

SCHACHT: He paid me a visit and told me about it a few days before his retirement. I assume that was about the end of August or the beginning of September of 1938.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you say that no proposal was made to you at that time that you should resign along with Beck?

SCHACHT: No, nothing was said about that. Beck saw me in my room; he did not mention anything of this sort, and it was not discussed by us.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did it ever occur to you that resignation would be the appropriate way of expressing your protest against these things which you now say you disapprove?

SCHACHT: No, I do not at all believe that a resignation would have been the means to achieve that which had to be done, and I also regretted it very much that Beck retired. That which happened, Mr. Justice, was caused by an entirely false policy—a policy that partly was forced upon us, and partly, I am sorry to say, was not handled properly by us. In February, Neurath was dismissed. In the fall Beck stepped out; in January 1939 I was dismissed. One after the other was gotten rid of. If it had been possible for our group—if I too may now speak of a group—to carry out a common action, as we hoped for and expected, then that would have been an excellent thing. However, these individual retirements served no purpose whatsoever; at least, they had no success.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You felt that Beck should have stayed at his post and been disloyal to the head of the State?

SCHACHT: Absolutely.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And, in all events, you continued in every public way throughout the period, until the fall of France, to hold yourself out as a part of the government and a part of the regime, did you not?

SCHACHT: Well, I never considered myself a part of the regime exactly, because I was against it. But, of course, ever since the fall of 1938 I worked towards my own retirement, as soon as I saw that Hitler did not stop the rearmament but continued it, and when I became aware that I was powerless to act against it.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, when did you start working towards your own retirement?

SCHACHT: Pardon me; I did not understand—to work towards what?

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: When did you start working towards your own retirement from office.

SCHACHT: After Munich and after we realized that we could no longer expect disarmament or a stopping of rearmament by Hitler and that we could not prevent a continuation of the rearmament; so, within the circles of the Reichsbank Directorate, we began to discuss this question and to realize that we could not follow the further course of rearmament. That was the last quarter of 1938.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And all of these events of which you disapproved never were of sufficient consequence to cause you to resign and withhold a further use of your name from this regime?

SCHACHT: Until then I had still hoped that I could bring about a change for the better; consequently I accepted all the disadvantages entailed with my remaining in office, even facing the danger that some day I might be judged, as I am today.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You continued to allow your name to be used at home and abroad despite your disapproval, as you say, of the invasion of Poland?

SCHACHT: I never was asked for my permission, and I never gave that permission.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You knew perfectly well, did you not, that your name meant a great deal to this group at any time and that you were one of the only men in this group who had any standing abroad?

SCHACHT: The first part of your statement I already accepted yesterday from you as a compliment. The second part, I believe, is not correct. I believe that several other members of the regime also had a “standing” in foreign countries, some of whom are sitting with me here in the prisoners’ dock.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Any foreign observer, who read affairs in Germany, would have obtained the understanding that you were supporting the regime continuously until you were deprived of the office of Minister without Portfolio, would they not?

SCHACHT: That is absolutely incorrect. As I have stated repeatedly yesterday and also during my direct examination, I was always referred to in foreign broadcasts as a man who was an opponent of this system, and all my numerous friends and acquaintances in foreign countries knew that I was against this system and worked against it. And if any journalist can be mentioned to me today who did not know this, then he does not know his business.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Oh, do you refer to the letter which you wrote to the New York banker Leon...?

SCHACHT: Leon Fraser.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, at the time you sent that letter to Switzerland, there was a diplomatic representative of the United States in Berlin, was there not?

SCHACHT: Yes.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you knew he had a pouch communication at least once a week and usually once a day with Washington?

SCHACHT: Yes, I did not know it, but I assumed it.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And, if you wanted to communicate with the Government of the United States or with an official of the United States, you might have communicated through the regular channels?

SCHACHT: I did not desire to communicate with the American Government or with an American official. I merely desired to re-establish my connection with a friend who had invited me in January to come to the United States, and I made reference to this previous correspondence between him and me in January.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: That disposes of the Fraser matter then.

Now, Dr. Schacht, while you were Minister without Portfolio, aggressive wars were instituted, according to your testimony, against Poland, against Denmark and Norway in April of 1940, against Holland and Belgium in May of 1940; in June there was the French armistice and surrender; in September of 1940 there was the German-Japanese-Italian-Tripartite Pact; in April of 1941 there was an attack on Yugoslavia and Greece, which you say was aggressive; in June of 1941 there was the invasion of Soviet Russia, which you say was aggressive; on 7 December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and after the attack declared war on the United States; on 8 December 1941 the United States declared war on Japan, but not on Germany; on 11 December 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States; and all of these things happened in the foreign field and you kept your position as Minister without Portfolio under the Hitler Government, did you not?

SCHACHT: Mr. Justice...

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did you not and is that not a fact?

SCHACHT: Yes, and I wish to add something to this. From dozens of witnesses who have testified here, and from myself, you have heard again and again that it was impossible unilaterally to retire from this office because, if I was put in as a minister by the head of a government, I could also be retired only with his signature. You have also been told that at various times I attempted to rid myself of this ministerial office. Besides the witnesses’ testimony from countless others, including Americans, to the effect that it was well known that Hitler did not permit anyone to retire from office without his permission. And now you charge me with having remained. I did not remain for my pleasure, but I remained because I could not have retired from the Ministry without making a big row. And almost constantly, I should say, I tried to have this row until finally in January 1943 I succeeded; and I was able to disappear from office, not without danger to my life.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, I will deal with your explanation later. I am now getting the facts.

You did not have an open break with Hitler, so that you were not entirely out of office until after the German offensive broke down in Russia and the German armies were in retreat and until after the Allies had landed in Africa, did you?

SCHACHT: The letter by which I brought about the last successful row is dated 30 November 1942. The row and its success dates from 21 January 1943, because Hitler and Göring and whoever else participated in discussing it, needed 7 weeks to make up their minds about the consequence of my letter.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Then by your letter it plainly shows that you thought the ship was sinking, was it not; that means that the war was lost?

SCHACHT: My oral and written declarations from former times have already shown this. I have spoken here also about this. I have testified on the letter to Ribbentrop and Funk; I have presented a number of facts here which prove that I never believed in the possibility of a German victory. And my disappearance from office has nothing whatsoever to do with all these questions.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Now, meanwhile, while you were remaining as Minister without Portfolio because you thought it might be dangerous to resign, you were encouraging the generals in the army to commit treason against the head of the State, were you not?

SCHACHT: Yes, and I should like now to make an additional statement to this. It was not because of threatening danger to my life that I could not resign earlier. For I was not afraid of endangering my life because I was used to that ever since 1937, having constantly been exposed to the arbitrariness of the Party and its heads.

Your question as to whether I tried to turn a number of generals to high treason, I answer in the affirmative.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And you also tried to get assassins to assassinate Hitler, did you not?

SCHACHT: In 1938 when I made my first attempt, I was not thinking as yet of an assassination of Hitler. However, I must admit that later I said if it could not be done any other way, we would have to kill the man, if possible.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Did you say, “We will have to kill him,” or did you say, “Somebody else will have to kill him,” Dr. Schacht?

SCHACHT: If I had had the opportunity I would have killed him, I myself. I beg you therefore not to summon me before a German court for attempted murder because in that sense I am, of course, guilty.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Well, now, whatever your activities, they were never sufficiently open so that the foreign files in France, which you say were searched by the Gestapo, had an inkling of it, were they?

SCHACHT: Yes, I could not announce this matter in advance in the newspapers.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And the Gestapo, with all its searching of you, never was in a position to put you under arrest until after the 20 July attack on Hitler’s life?

SCHACHT: They could have put me under arrest much earlier than that if they had been a little smarter; but that seems to be a strange attribute of any police force.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And it was not until 1943 that the Hitler regime dismissed you? Until that time apparently they believed that you were doing them more good than harm?

SCHACHT: I do not know what they believed at that time, hence I ask you not to question me about that. You will have to ask somebody from the regime; you still have enough people here.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You have now contended that you knew about the plot of 20 July on Hitler’s life?

SCHACHT: I knew about it.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You knew that Gisevius says you did not know about it?

SCHACHT: I already stated yesterday that I was informed not only of Goerdeler’s efforts but that I was thoroughly informed by General Lindemann, and the evidence of Colonel Gronau has been read here. I also stated that I did not inform my friends about this, because there was a mutual agreement between us that we should not tell anyone anything which might bring him into an embarrassing situation in case he were tortured by the Gestapo.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Do you recall that Gisevius said that there were only three civilians that knew about that plot which was carefully kept within military personnel?

SCHACHT: You see that even Gisevius was not informed on every detail. Naturally, he cannot testify to more than what he knew.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: And so, Dr. Schacht, we are to weigh your testimony in the light of the fact that you preferred, over a long period of time, a course of sabotage of your government’s policy by treason against the head of the State, rather than open resignation from his cabinet?

SCHACHT: You constantly refer to my resignation. I have told you and proven that no resignation was possible. Consequently your conclusion is wrong.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: All right! Now let us see. In your interrogation on 16 October 1945, Exhibit USA-636, some questions were asked you about the generals of the Army, and I ask you if you were not asked these questions and if you did not give these answers:

“Question: ‘I say, suppose you were Chief of the General Staff
and Hitler decided to attack Austria, would you say you had the
right to withdraw?’

“Answer: ‘I would have said, “Withdraw me, Sir.”’

“Question: ‘You would have said that?’

“Answer: ‘Yes.’

“Question: ‘So you take the position that any official could at
any time withdraw if he thought that the moral obligation was
such that he felt he could not go on?’

“Answer: ‘Quite.’

“Question: ‘In other words, you feel that the members of the
General Staff of the Wehrmacht who were responsible for carrying
into execution Hitler’s plan are equally guilty with him?’

“Answer: ‘That is a very hard question you put to me, Sir, and I
answer, “yes”.’”

You gave those answers, did you not? Did you give those answers?

SCHACHT: Yes, and I should like to give an explanation of this, if the Tribunal permits it. If Hitler ever had given me an immoral order, I should have refused to execute it. That is what I said about the generals also, and I uphold this statement which you have just read.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I am through with him, Your Honor, except that I would like to note the exhibit numbers. The petition to Hindenburg referred to yesterday is 3901-PS, and will become Exhibit USA-837. The Von Blomberg interrogation of October 1945 is Exhibit USA-838.

DR. HANS LATERNSER: (Counsel for General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces): Mr. President, I request that the statement of the Defendant Schacht insofar as it was cited and becomes part of the minutes be stricken from the record. The question, as I understood it, was whether he considered the General Staff to be just as guilty as Hitler. This question was answered in the affirmative by the Defendant Schacht in this examination. The question and the answer—the question to begin with is inadmissible and likewise the answer because a witness cannot pass judgment on this. That is the task of the Court. And for this reason I request that this testimony be stricken from the record.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: May it please the Tribunal, I do not, of course, offer this opinion of Schacht’s as evidence against the General Staff or against any individual soldier on trial. The evidence, I think, was as to the credibility of Schacht and as to his position. I do not think that his opinion regarding the guilt of anybody else would be evidence against that other person; I think that his opinion on this matter is evidence against himself in the matter of credibility.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dr. Dix.

DR. RUDOLF DIX (Counsel for Defendant Schacht): The question by Justice Jackson was not whether Schacht considered the generals guilty, but the question was whether it was correct that Schacht, in an interrogation previous to the Trial, had given certain answers to certain questions. In other words, it was a question about an actual occurrence which took place in the past and not a question about an opinion or a judgment which he was to give here. As Schacht’s counsel, I am not interested in this passage being stricken from the record, except to the extent that these words remain: “I, Schacht, would never have executed an immoral order and an immoral demand by Hitler.” So far as the rest of this answer of Schacht is concerned I, as his defense counsel, declare that it is a matter of indifference to me.

DR. LATERNSER: Mr. President, after the declaration of Justice Jackson, I withdraw my objection.

MAJOR GENERAL G. A. ALEXANDROV (Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): Mr. President, may I begin my cross-examination?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Defendant Schacht, when answering the questions put to you by your counsel, you informed us of the circumstances under which you first became acquainted with Hitler and Göring. You even remembered a detail such as the pea soup with lard which was served for supper at Göring’s house.

What I am interested in now are some other particulars, rather more relevant to the case, of your relations with Hitler and Göring. Tell me, on whose initiative did your first meeting with Hitler and Göring take place?

SCHACHT: I have already stated that my friend, Bank Director Von Stauss, invited me to an evening in his home so that I might meet Göring there. The meeting with Hitler then took place when Göring asked me to come to his home—that is, Göring’s home—to meet Hitler.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: For what reasons did you, at that time, accept the invitation to meet Hitler and Göring?

SCHACHT: The National Socialist Party at that time was one of the strongest parties in the Reichstag with 108 seats, and the National Socialist movement throughout the country was extremely lively. Consequently, I was more or less interested in making the acquaintance of the leading men of this movement whom up to then I did not know at all.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: But you declared that you were invited by Göring himself. Why did Göring especially invite you?

SCHACHT: Please ask Herr Göring that.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Did you not ask him yourself?

SCHACHT: Herr Göring wished me to meet Hitler, or Hitler to meet me.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: What for? With what aim in mind?

SCHACHT: That you must ask Herr Göring.

GEN, ALEXANDROV: Do you not think that Hitler and Göring intended—and not unsuccessfully at that—to inveigle you into participating in the fascist movement, knowing that in Germany you were an economist and financier of repute who shared their views?

SCHACHT: I was uninformed about the intentions of these two gentlemen at that time. However, I can imagine that it was just as much a matter of interest for these gentlemen to meet Herr Schacht as it was for me to meet Herr Hitler and Herr Göring.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Then it was a matter of purely personal interest; or were other considerations involved, of a political nature? You yourself understood that your participation in the fascist movement would be of advantage to Hitler, inasmuch as you were a well-known man in your own country?

SCHACHT: As far as I was concerned, I was only interested in seeing what kind of people they were. What motives these two gentlemen had are unknown to me, as I have already stated. My collaboration in the fascist movement was entirely out of the question, and it was not given...

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Tell me, please...

SCHACHT: Please let me finish. My collaboration was not given before the July elections of 1932. As I have stated here, the acquaintance was made in January 1931, which was 1½ years before these elections. Throughout these 1½ years no collaboration took place.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Tell me, was your acquaintance with Hitler and Göring exclusively limited to these meetings, or had you already met them before Hitler came into power?

SCHACHT: Until July 1932 I saw Hitler and Göring, each of them, perhaps once, twice, or three times—I cannot recall that in these 1½ years. But in any case there is no question of any frequent meetings.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Then, how do you explain your letter to Hitler of 29 August 1932 in which you offered your services to Hitler? You remember this letter?

SCHACHT: Yes.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: How do you explain it?

SCHACHT: I have spoken about this repeatedly. Will you be so kind as to read it in the record?

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Please repeat it once more, briefly.

THE PRESIDENT: If he has been over it once, that is sufficient.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: When, and by whom were you first invited to participate in the future Hitlerite Government and promised the post of President of the Reichsbank?

SCHACHT: The President of the Reichsbank did not hold a position in the government, but was a high official outside the government. The first time that there was any talk in my presence about this post was on 30 January 1933, when I accidentally ran into Göring in the lobby of the Kaiserhof Hotel, and he said to me, “Ah, there comes our future President of the Reichsbank.”

GEN. ALEXANDROV: When answering the questions of your counsel, you declared that the fascist theory of race supremacy was sheer nonsense, that the fascist ideology was no ideology at all, that you were opposed to the solution of the Lebensraum problem by the seizure of new territories, that you were opposed to the Leadership Principle within the Fascist Party and even made a speech on this subject in the Academy of German Law, and that you were opposed to the fascist policy of exterminating the Jews.

Is this right? Did you say this when answering the questions put by your counsel?

SCHACHT: Yes, we both heard it here.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Well, then tell me, what led you to fascism and to co-operation with Hitler?

SCHACHT: Nothing at all led me to fascism; I have never been a fascist.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Then what induced you to co-operate with Hitler since you had adopted a negative attitude toward his theories and the theories of German fascism?

THE PRESIDENT: General Alexandrov, he has told us what he says led him to co-operate with Hitler. I think you must have heard him.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: But it did, in fact, take place?

[_Turning to the defendant._] In reply to a question by your counsel as to why you did not emigrate, you stated that you did not wish to be a simple martyr. Tell me, did you not know the fate which befell Germany’s outstanding personalities, who held democratic and progressive ideas when Hitler came to power? Do you know that they were all exiled or sent to concentration camps?

SCHACHT: You are confusing things here. I did not answer that I did not want to be a martyr to the question of whether I wanted to emigrate; but I said, “Emigrants—that is, voluntary emigrants—never served their country,” and I did not want to save my own life, but I wanted to continue to work for the welfare of my country.

The martyr point was in connection with a question following, as to whether I expected any good to have resulted for my country if I had died as a martyr. To that I replied, “Martyrs serve their country only if their sacrifice becomes known.”

GEN. ALEXANDROV: You related it somewhat differently. I shall, nevertheless, repeat my question.

THE PRESIDENT: I would be very grateful if you would repeat this question.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Do you know the fate which befell the foremost men of Germany, men who held progressive and democratic ideas when Hitler came to power? You know that all these people were either exiled or sent to concentration camps?

SCHACHT: I expressly stated here that when I spoke of emigrants I meant those who were in exile, who did not leave the country under compulsion but left voluntarily—those are the ones I was speaking about. The individual fates of the others are not known to me. If you ask me about individual persons, I will tell you regarding each one of these people, whether I know his fate or not.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: The fate of these great men is universally known. You, one of the few outstanding statesmen in democratic Germany, co-operated with Hitler. Do you admit this?

SCHACHT: No.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: You testified—and I am obliged to refer once again to the same question—that the entry in the Goebbels diary of 21 November 1932 was false. Once again I remind you of this entry which Goebbels wrote, and I quote:

“In a conversation with Dr. Schacht I found that he fully
reflects our viewpoint. He is one of the few who fully agrees
with the Führer’s position.”

Do you continue to say that this entry does not conform to reality?

This is the question which I am asking you.

SCHACHT: I have never claimed that this entry was false. I only claimed that Goebbels got this impression and he was in error about it.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: But according to your statement this entry does not conform to reality, to your attitude toward Hitler’s regime. Is that the case or not?

SCHACHT: In the general way in which Goebbels represents it there, it is wrong; it is not correct.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Why did you not lodge a protest? After all, Goebbels’ diary, including this entry, was published.

SCHACHT: If I would have protested against all the inaccuracies which were printed about me, I would never have come to my senses.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: But do you not see, this is not exactly an ordinary excerpt from Goebbels’ diary—and he was rather an outstanding statesman in fascist Germany—for he describes your political views; and if you were not in agreement with him it would have been appropriate for you, in some way or other, to take a stand against it.

SCHACHT: Permit me to say something to this. Either you ask me—at any rate I should not like to have here a two-sided argument if it is only one-sided. I say that the diary of Goebbels is an unusually common piece of writing.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: The witness, Dr. Franz Reuter, your biographer and close friend, in his written affidavits of 6 February 1946, presented to the Tribunal by your counsel as Document Schacht-35, testified to the following: “Schacht joined Hitler in the early thirties and helped him to power...”

Do you consider these affidavits of the witness Dr. Franz Reuter as untrue, or do you confirm them?

SCHACHT: I consider them wrong.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: How far did you personally participate to help bring Hitler to power? I continue this question: Under what circumstances and for what purpose did you, in February 1933, organize a meeting between Hitler and the industrialists? This subject has already been mentioned before.

SCHACHT: I did not help Hitler to come to power in any way. All this has been discussed here at great length. In February 1933 Hitler had already been in power quite some time. As to finances and the industrial meetings of February 1933, that has profusely been gone into.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: What particular role did you play in this conference?

SCHACHT: This, too, has been discussed in detail. Please read about it in the record.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: I have already familiarized myself with the reports but you have not explained events sufficiently clearly. In order to shed some more light on the question I shall refer to Defendant Funk’s testimony of 4 June 1945. This is Document Number 2828-PS. I quote Defendant Funk’s testimony:

“I was at the meeting. Money was not demanded by Göring but by
Schacht. Hitler left the room, then Schacht made a speech asking
for money for the election. I was only there as an impartial
observer, since I enjoyed a close friendship with the
industrialists.”

Does this testimony of the Defendant Funk represent the truth?

SCHACHT: Herr Funk is in error. Document D-203 has been presented here to the Court by the Prosecution...

GEN. ALEXANDROV: But...

SCHACHT: Please do not interrupt me. The Prosecution has submitted this document, and this document shows that Göring directed the request for financial aid and not I.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: In this connection Defendant Funk declared that this speech was made by you and not by Göring. I ask you now, which statement represents the truth?

SCHACHT: I have just told you that Herr Funk is in error and that the evidence of the Prosecution is correct.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Then what part did you play in connection with this conference?

SCHACHT: This, too, I have already stated in detail, I am...

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has already heard a long cross-examination and it does not desire to hear the same facts or matters gone over again. Will you tell the Tribunal whether you have any points which the Soviet Union are particularly interested in, which have not been dealt with in cross-examination?

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Mr. President, in his statements the Defendant Schacht did not reply in sufficient detail, nor were his answers sufficiently clear. I am therefore obliged, in certain instances, to refer to these questions again. It is, in particular, not clear to us what part the Defendant Schacht played in this meeting of the industrialists. It appears to me that Defendant Schacht did not give a sufficiently clear or well-defined reply to the question which I had asked him. As for the other questions, they are few in number and I imagine that after the recess I can try and finish with them in about 30 or 40 minutes. All these questions are of interest to us since they enable us to determine the guilt of the Defendant Schacht.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well. The Tribunal is not prepared to listen to questions which have already been put.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Perhaps now you will find it desirable to declare a recess, in order to continue the cross-examination after the recess.

THE PRESIDENT: No, General Alexandrov, the cross-examination will continue up to the recess.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Do you admit that, while acting as President of the Reichsbank and as Minister of Economics and Plenipotentiary for War Economy, you played a decisive part in preparing the rearmament of Germany and consequently, in preparing for a war of aggression?

SCHACHT: No, I categorically deny that.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: You were Plenipotentiary for War Economy?

SCHACHT: Well, we have spoken about that here ten times already.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: I did not hear it from your own lips, not once.

THE PRESIDENT: He has admitted throughout—and, of course, it is obvious—that he was Plenipotentiary for War Economy; but what you put to him was, whether he as Plenipotentiary for War Economy took part in rearmament for aggressive war, and he has said over and over again that that was not his object, that his object was to gain equality for Germany. He said so, and we have got to consider whether that is true. But that he said it is perfectly clear.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: In my subsequent questions it will be quite clear why I touch precisely on this question.

How long did you occupy the post of Plenipotentiary for War Economy?

SCHACHT: I have just stated that I do not understand the question—for what duration? All this has certainly been stated here already.

THE PRESIDENT: We have got the date when he became Plenipotentiary for War Economy and the date when he ceased to be.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: I should like to remind you of the duties imposed on you as Plenipotentiary by the Reich Defense Act of 21 May 1935. I shall quote a brief excerpt from Section 2 of this law, entitled “Mobilization”:

“Point 1: For the purpose of directing the entire war economy
the Führer and Reich Chancellor will appoint a Plenipotentiary
for War Economy.

“Point 2: It will be the duty of the Plenipotentiary for War
Economy to utilize all economic possibilities in the interest of
the war and to safeguard the economic well-being of the German
people.

“Point 3: Subordinate to him will be: the Reich Minister of
Economics, the Reich Minister for Food and Agriculture, the
Reich Labor Minister, the Chief Reich Forester, and all other
Reich officials directly subordinate to the Führer and Reich
Chancellor.

“Further, he shall be responsible for the financing of the war
within the sphere of the Reich Finance Ministry and the
Reichsbank.

“Point 4: The Plenipotentiary for War Economy shall have the
right to enact public laws within his official jurisdiction
which may differ from existing laws.”

You admit that this law gave you extraordinary powers in the sphere of war economy?

SCHACHT: This document is before the Court and I assume that you have read it correctly.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: I am not asking you whether I have read this document correctly; I am asking you whether you admit that by this law you were given extraordinary powers in the sphere of the war economy? Do you admit that?

SCHACHT: I had exactly the full powers which are described in the law.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Do you admit that these were not ordinary powers, but quite extraordinary powers?

SCHACHT: No, I will not admit this at all.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: In other words, you considered that the Reich Defense Law of 21 May 1935 was just an ordinary law?

SCHACHT: It was simply an ordinary law.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: And you also considered the functions imposed on you by this law as Plenipotentiary for War Economy ordinary functions?

SCHACHT: As very common regulations which are customary with every general staff.

THE PRESIDENT: The Court will adjourn now.

[_A recess was taken._]

_Afternoon Session_

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, General Alexandrov.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: Mr. President, taking into consideration the Tribunal’s desire, as well as the fact that Mr. Jackson has already questioned Schacht in detail, and having read the minutes of this morning’s session, it has been possible for me to shorten considerably the number of questions in my examination. I have only two to put to Defendant Schacht.

Defendant Schacht, on 21 May 1935 the Reich Government made a decision with regard to the Reich Defense Council. The decision was as follows, citing Point 1:

“It is the will of the Führer and Reich Chancellor that the
Plenipotentiary General for War Economy shall take over this
responsible directorate (Leitung), and is, as with the Reich War
Minister, holder of the executive power, independent and
responsible for his own sphere of activity to the Führer and
Reich Chancellor.”

Do you admit that you carried through actively this decision of the Reich Government; and that you took an active part in Germany’s economic preparations for aggressive wars?

SCHACHT: No, Mr. Prosecutor, I definitely do not admit that.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: On the 4th of March 1935, in your speech at the Spring Fair in Leipzig, you said the following, citing Exhibit Number USA-627 (Document Number EC-415):

“My so-called foreign friends are doing neither me nor the cause
a service, nor a service to themselves, when they try to bring
me into conflict with the impossible, so they say, National
Socialist economic theories, and present me, so to speak, as the
guardian of economic reason. I can assure you that everything I
say and do is with the full consent of the Führer, and I shall
neither do nor say anything which he has not approved.
Therefore, the guardian of economic reason is not I but the
Führer.”

Do you confirm this speech you made at the Spring Fair in Leipzig?

SCHACHT: I admit it and would like to make a statement.

I have said repeatedly, first, that my foreign friends, as far as I had foreign friends, did not do me a service when they said publicly that I was an adversary of Hitler, because that made my position extremely dangerous. Secondly, I said in that speech I would not do anything which would not be according to my conviction, and that Hitler did everything I suggested to him, that is, that it was his opinion also. If I had said anything to the contrary, that would have been expressed. I was in complete accord with him as long as his policies agreed with mine; afterwards I was not, and left.

GEN. ALEXANDROV: I have no more questions, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to re-examine, Dr. Dix?

DR. DIX: I will put only a few questions which arose from the cross-examination.

During the cross-examination, the New Plan was again dealt with without Dr. Schacht’s having had an opportunity of explaining it and of stating what role, if any, that plan had in the economy of rearmament and who was the originator, the responsible originator of the New Plan. Therefore, may I put this question to Dr. Schacht now?

SCHACHT: The New Plan was a logical consequence of the economic development which followed the Treaty of Versailles. I mention again only briefly that by the removal of German property abroad, the entire organization for German foreign trade was taken away and therefore great difficulties arose for German exports.

Without those exports, however, payment of reparations, or such, was out of the question. Nevertheless, all the great powers, particularly those who were competing with Germany on the world market, resorted to raising their tariffs in order to exclude German merchandise from their markets or to make it more difficult for Germany to sell her goods, so that it became more and more of a problem to develop German exports.

When Germany, in spite of this, tried by lower prices, at the cost of lower wages to maintain or to increase her export trade, the other powers resorted to other means to meet German competition. I recall the various devaluations of foreign currencies which were made, again impeding the competition of German products. When even that did not suffice, the system of quotas was invented; that is, the amount of German goods which were imported into a country could not go beyond a certain quota; that was prohibited. Such quotas for German imports were established by Holland, France, and other nations; so here also German export was made increasingly difficult.

All these measures to hinder German export led to the situation that German nationals also could no longer pay even private debts abroad. As you have heard here, for many years I had warned against incurring these debts. I was not listened to. It will be of interest to you to state here briefly that Germany, against my advice, had within five years contracted as large a foreign debt as the United States had throughout the 40 years before the first World War.

Germany was a highly-developed industrial nation and did not need foreign money, and the United States at that time was going in more for colonial development and could make good use of foreign capital.

We now hit the bottom. When we were no longer able to pay our interest abroad, some countries resorted to the method of no longer paying German exporters the proceeds from the German exports, but confiscated these funds, and out of this paid themselves the interest on our debts abroad; that is, effecting a settlement, so to speak. That was the so-called “clearing system.” The private claims were confiscated in order to meet the demands of foreign creditors.

To meet this development, I looked for a way out to continue German exports. I set out a very simple principle: “I will buy only from those who buy from me.” Therefore, I looked around for countries which were prepared to cover their needs in Germany, and I prepared to buy my merchandise there.

That was the New Plan.

THE PRESIDENT: I do not know what we have to do with this, Dr. Dix.

DR. DIX: Well, to make a long story short, the New Plan had nothing to do with the intention to rearm, let alone with any aggressive intentions.

SCHACHT: Absolutely nothing.

DR. DIX: In this connection, can you give an estimate as to what percentage of German economic production was armament production?

SCHACHT: That question has been put to me in previous interrogations and at that time I was not able to answer it, because I could not recall what amount Germany expended on her armament. Now, from the testimony of Field Marshal Keitel, we have heard here that armament expenditure during these years when the Reichsbank was still co-operating, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1936-37 and so on, amounted respectively to 5,000 million Reichsmark, 7,000 million Reichsmark and 9,000 million Reichsmark; that is the estimate of experts. The production of the entire German economy during these years could be estimated approximately at 50-60,000 million Reichsmark. If I compare that with the armament expenditure, which has been stated here by a witness, then we find that armament expenditure amounted to about 10 to 15 percent of the entire German economy during the years when I had anything to do with it.

DR. DIX: Then, in the course of the cross-examination, there came up the question of your willingness or unwillingness to give up the office of Plenipotentiary for War Economy, and in order to prove your statement that General Von Blomberg did not wish you to give up that office, you referred to a document which has been submitted by the Prosecution. I am referring to Document EC-244, and it is a letter from the Reichswehr Minister, Von Blomberg, to Hitler, of 22 February 1937. It has already been read, so there is no need to do so now. May I only point out that in the last paragraph Blomberg expressed the desire that the Führer would direct or get the Reichsbank president to remain in office, so that covers the statement made by Schacht. Furthermore, in the course of cross-examination by Mr. Justice Jackson, mention was made of your credibility concerning the statement on your colonial aspirations; and from the point of view of colonial policy without mastery of the sea—Germany had not the mastery of the sea—can Germany have any colonial problems? That was the question and answer; and in that connection I would like to ask you: Did Germany have colonies before 1914?

SCHACHT: Yes.

DR. DIX: Before 1914, or let us say between 1884 and 1914, that is, the time when Germany had colonial possessions, did Germany have mastery of the sea, especially as compared with Great Britain?

SCHACHT: No, in no way.

DR. DIX: That covers it. Then there is another problem from the point of view of the credibility of your statements: Mention has been made of the ethical conflicts concerning your oath to Hitler, as head of the State, as you say, and the intentions which you have revealed to overthrow Hitler, even to kill him. Do you not know of many cases in history where persons holding high office in a state attempted to overthrow the head of the state to whom they had sworn allegiance?

SCHACHT: I believe you find these examples in the history of all nations.

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Dix, we are not concerned with past history, are we? You do not think the question of whether there are historical instances is a legitimate question to put to this witness?

DR. DIX: Then I will not pursue that point any further; it is argumentation and maybe I can use it later in my final pleadings.

Now, returning to the question of colonies, is it not correct that, apart from your personal colonial aspirations, Germany, the Reich Government, had prepared officially for the acquisition of her colonies and later their administration; and was not there a colonial policy department until 1942 or 1943 or thereabouts?

SCHACHT: Well, it is set out explicitly in the Party program that the colonial demands are part of the Party program. Of course, the Foreign Office also concerned itself with it and I believe also in the Party there was a colonial policy department.

DR. DIX: Under Ritter Von Epp?

SCHACHT: Yes, under Ritter Von Epp.

DR. DIX: Then concerning the question of the mefo bills, I only want to summarize: Did you mean to imply that the mefo bills were to serve as a brake on rearmament, because the signature of the Reich to these bills, that is of the Reich Government, was binding for their repayment?

SCHACHT: You see, I said very clearly that the limitation of the mefo bills to 5 years, and making them mature in 5 years, would automatically put a brake on armament.

DR. DIX: Furthermore, Mr. Justice Jackson dealt with the point that the name of Schacht, when he retained office as Minister without Portfolio, had a propaganda value in favor of the Nazi regime abroad and therefore served the aggressive intentions and their execution. In this connection and in order to shorten the presentation of my documents, may I read from my document book, Exhibit 37(a), Document Schacht-37(a); that is, the English text is on Page 157 and the German on Page 149. On Page 5 of that long affidavit Huelse states:

“The foreign press drew from the dismissal”—that is, the
dismissal as Reichsbank President in 1939—“the correct
conclusions and interpreted it as a warning signal. In this
connection in repeated conversations, even at the end of 1938,
and in agreement with Dr. Schacht, I spoke with representatives
of foreign issuing banks, whom I had met at board meetings of
the Bank for International Settlement, and I informed them that
the resignation of Schacht and individual members of the
Reichsbank Directorate meant that things in Germany were
following a dangerous path.”

Furthermore, the Prosecutor for the Soviet Union has accused Dr. Schacht, because in the biography of Reuter it is stated expressly that Schacht assisted the regime during the stage of the struggle for power. At any rate, that is the substance. That is correct as a quotation from Reuter’s book, but there is something else. I believe we still have to submit Exhibit 35 (Document Schacht-35), Page 133 of the English text and 125 of the German, and there we find on the second page of that long affidavit the following sentences, which limit the authenticity of that biography and prove it to be a biased piece of writing. Reuter says in this affidavit, and I quote: