a) He testified in Court that he “agreed to the policy of the persecution of the Jews as a matter of principle” (Transcript, Afternoon Session, 2 May 1946) although, he stated, “to a certain extent” it was a matter of conscience which, however, “was not serious enough to bring about a break” between him and the Nazis (Transcript, Afternoon Session, 2 May 1946; USA-616).
b) In his capacity of Minister of Economy, Schacht signed a series of decrees, in accordance with which the property of the Jews in Germany was subject to plunder with impunity (USA-832; USA-616). Schacht confirmed in Court the fact that he had signed a series of anti-Semitic decrees (Transcript, Afternoon Session, 2 May 1946).
As to the reasons for Schacht’s resignation from the post of the Minister of Economy and the Plenipotentiary General for War Economy in November 1937, and also from the post of the President of the Reichsbank on 20 November 1939, and finally from the post of the Minister without Portfolio in January 1943, the evidence submitted establishes the following:
a) The reason is not Schacht’s disagreement with the economic preparation for aggressive wars.
Three weeks before leaving the Ministry of Economy and the post of Plenipotentiary General for War Economy, Schacht wrote to Göring: “. . . I also don’t consider that my opinion can differ from yours on economic policy . . . .” (EC-497, USA-775).
In his reply Göring states:
“. . . You promised me your support and collaboration . . . . You have repeated this promise many times, even after differences of opinion began to creep up between us.” (EC-493, USA-642).
Schacht testified in Court that Göring and he only “differed in matters of procedure” (Transcript, Morning Session, 3 May 1946).
In the preliminary examination Göring testified that Schacht’s leaving the Reichsbank “had no relation to the program of rearmament” (USA-648).
The vice-president of the Reichsbank, Puhl, confirmed that Schacht’s resignation from the Reichsbank can be explained by “his desire to extricate himself from a dangerous situation” which developed as the result of Schacht’s own crooked financial operations (EC-438, USA-646).