Hermann Schmitz (1 January 1881 – 8 October 1960) was a German industrialist and

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

IG Farben I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, commonly known as IG Farben, was a German Chemical industry, chemical and Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was formed on December 2, 1925 from a merger of six chemical co ...

from 1935 to 1945, he was sentenced to four years in prison in the IG Farben Trial.

Early life and war service

Schmitz was born in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

on 1 January 1881, son of factory worker Diedrich Schmitz and Luise Wöhrmann. In 1898, he began studying at ''Ahrenbergische Aktiengesellschaft für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb'' in Hessen, and in 1905 he entered the Commerce College in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

. After completing his studies, he was hired by ''Metallurgische Gesellschaft'' (metallurgy company), where after some time he became consultant of Wilhelm Merton, member of the supervisors' council of the company, who helped Schmitz promote his career. In 1914, Schmitz served in the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the leadership of Kingdom o ...

with Infantry Regiment 81 during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was a ''

Leutnant () is the lowest junior officer rank in the armed forces of Germany ( Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the military of Switzerland. History The German noun (with the meaning "" (in English "deputy") from Middle High German «locum ...

'' of reserves and was severely wounded in action in October 1914, earning the

Wound Badge The Wound Badge () was a German military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was first awarded to soldiers of the Imperial German Army, German Army who were wounded during World War I. Between the worl ...

and the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

, 1st and 2nd class. After recovering from his injuries, he was made a commissioner in the Prussian War Ministry (War Raw Materials Department) from 1915 to 1916. From 1917 to 1918, he was an economic advisor to the Reich Treasury.Hermann Schmitz biography
in th
''Reichstag'' Members Database
/ref>

Interwar years

In 1919, as an expert in fertilizers and nitric salts, Schmitz took part in the assembly that negotiated the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. There he met

Carl Bosch Carl Bosch (; 27 August 1874 – 26 April 1940) was a German chemist and engineer and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. He was a pioneer in the field of high-pressure industrial chemistry and founder of IG Farben, at one point the world's largest ...

, a chemist of worldwide fame. In July 1919 Schmitz was hired at

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

by Bosch as his financial advisor. He was promoted to administrator of BASF's exterior department, a position he maintained after the company became part of

. As per his job requirements he maintained contacts with large businesses, such as

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

, with which he took part in negotiations, always having the support of that era's governments in the interests of IG Farben. He was elected to the central committee of the ''

Reichsbank The ''Reichsbank'' (; ) was the central bank of the German Empire from 1876 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945. Background The monetary institutions in Germany had been unsuited for its economic development for several decades before unifica ...

'' in 1927, and to the administrative board of the ''

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

'' in 1929.

Career in Nazi Germany

At the November parliamentary election, Schmitz was elected as a deputy to the '' Reichstag'' as a "guest" of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. He was reelected at the March 1936 and the April 1938 elections, and held this seat until the fall of the Nazi regime. He was also made a member of

Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician, lawyer and convicted war criminal who served as head of the General Government in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Frank was an early member ...

Academy for German Law The Academy for German Law () was an institute for legal research and reform founded on 26 June 1933 in Nazi Germany. After suspending its operations during the Second World War in August 1944, it was abolished after the fall of the Nazi regime on ...

. In April 1935, he succeeded

as IG Farben's chief executive officer (CEO). In 1935, he was appointed a war economy leader ('' Wehrwirtschaftsführer''). His company used

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in its factories and was involved in the financing and construction of the Auschwitz III concentration camp. In 1941,

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

gave an autographed portrait of himself to Schmitz as a gift for his dedication to the aims of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Also in 1941, he received the

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

, first class, for his contribution to the war effort. Schmitz led IG Farben until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Post-war prosecution for war crimes

At the end of the war, Schmitz was arrested and charged at the IG Farben Trial in 1947–1948, in which he was sentenced to four years imprisonment (including

time served In typical criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served ...

) for war crimes and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

through the plundering and spoliation of occupied territories. He was released in 1950 and went on to become a member of the administrators' council of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, as well as the honorary president of "Rheinische Stahlwerke AG". Schmitz died in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

on 8 October 1960.

Sources

Wollheim Memorial

* *Higham, Charles (1983) Trading with the Enemy; An exposé of the Nazi – American Money Plot 1933–1949. Robert Hale, London. Chapter 8 'The Film Conspiracy'

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Hermann 1881 births 1960 deaths 20th-century German businesspeople Businesspeople from Essen German Army personnel of World War I German chemical industry businesspeople German industrialists German people convicted of crimes against humanity IG Farben people Nazis convicted of war crimes Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Prisoners and detainees of Germany Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Recipients of the War Merit Cross