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.”