Ernst Schmidt (politician, 1889)
Ernst Schmidt (born December 16, 1889 in Wurzbach , Thuringia; † May 3, 1985 in Garching an der Alz ) was a German painter, local politician and personal friend of Adolf Hitler . He was mayor of Garching from 1941 to 1945 .
Life and activity
Previous career and First World War
Schmidt was the son of a large family of millers. After attending primary school (1896–1904) he learned the painting trade. He passed the journeyman's examination in 1907. He spent the following years as a painter's assistant in various areas of Germany, Switzerland (1913), France and from spring to summer 1914 in Bolzano .
From 1914 to 1918 Schmidt took part in the First World War as a member of the Bavarian Army : on August 6, 1914, he joined the Bavarian Army , in which he was assigned to the List Regiment on September 7 . It was here at the latest, if not before, that Schmidt met the future German dictator Adolf Hitler , who had volunteered for the Bavarian army at the same time as he had volunteered . Both were transferred to the Western Front with the List Regiment in October 1914 , where they were used from November 1914 as reporters with the regimental staff (battle orderly) of the List Regiment. During the four years of the war, Schmidt and Hitler lived and worked closely together as part of their assignment as reporters, which both worked until the end of the war. Schmidt later stated that he and Hitler were “always together” and shared the same quarters. In his controversial book Hitler's Secret , published in 2001, the historian Lothar Machtan took the view that Hitler and Schmidt had a homosexual or at least homosexual relationship during their joint war effort.
When hit on their shelter on October 5, 1916, Hitler and Schmidt were wounded. Hitler was sent to the hospital in Beelitz , Schmidt to Brandenburg.
Weimar Republic
At the end of the war, Schmidt came to Munich, where at the end of November 1918 he met Hitler again, who had previously spent a few weeks in the hospital in Pasewalk. For almost a year, the two then formed a kind of community, whereby Schmidt, who formally resigned from the army on April 12, 1919, was looking for work as a painter, while Hitler worked as an undercover agent for the Bavarian army. With Hitler's entry into politics in the autumn of 1919, due to the relocation of Hitler's center of life to the sphere of politics, the relationship between the two men gradually eased, although the friendship between the two continued until Hitler's death.
On March 1, 1920, shortly after Hitler had secured decisive influence in this party, Schmidt joined the German Workers' Party (DAP) (membership number 858), which was soon renamed the NSDAP .
In the summer of 1922 Schmidt moved to Garching an der Alz. With this spatial distancing, the constant close relationship between him and Hitler came to an end, but not their mutual friendly affection. The contact between the two never broke off: Schmidt visited Hitler again and again, u. a. in May 1924 at Landsberg Fortress, where he was imprisoned after the failed coup in November 1923.
Politically, Schmidt remained a close follower of the old friend despite the loosening of their relationship: for his sake he resigned from the social democratic union and instead founded a local group of the Völkisch Block , a replacement organization of the NSDAP, which was banned after the failed Hitler putsch of 1923, in the spring of 1924 . which in 1925 merged into the newly founded NSDAP.
On May 1, 1925, Schmidt formally joined the newly founded NSDAP. Hitler thanked him for this with a gilt edition of his book Mein Kampf ("To remember my dear and loyal war comrade"). In the book itself Schmidt is mentioned by name, but in a slightly veiled form as "Schmiedt, Ernst".
In 1926 Schmidt became the local group leader of the NSDAP in Garching. In the SA , which he joined in 1931, he was initially a squad leader and made it up to storm leader.
In 1928 Schmidt passed his master craftsman examination. In 1931 he started his own business as a master painter in Garching. The painting business was slow at first, after 1933 the economic situation developed in his favor, thanks to the support of his old friend. In 1934 he already had seven employees and was able to build his own house.
When Hitler was exposed to journalistic attacks in 1932 over the question of whether he had rightly received the Iron Cross during the First World War, Schmidt supported him with affidavits.
Nazi era
After the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933, Schmidt was rewarded for his old friendship with Hitler as well as for the loyalty and discretion with which he had accompanied his political rise: on the one hand by Hitler helping him to relative prosperity, on the other hand by helping him through public Awards - he was the guest of honor in November 1933 at the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the march on the Feldherrnhalle in Munich - and increased his reputation by being appointed second mayor of Garching.
During the initial phase of the Second World War, Schmidt was involved in the National Socialist war propaganda in an exposed way when, in June 1940, shortly before the armistice with France , he visited the joint theater of war with Hitler and Max Amann, which was accompanied by camera teams and in the newsreel and in magazines.
In 1941 Schmidt was appointed the first mayor of Garching and in 1942 the district leader of the NSDAP in this area.
post war period
On May 28, 1945, Schmidt was arrested by the US Army and sent to the Dachau labor and internment camp a week later . He was then held in captivity until 1948. Even after the fall of the Third Reich, he stood by Hitler unreservedly. During interrogation he declared that he had already recognized his “genius” in 1914. The private Adolf Hitler was also a great man.
After going through a panel of judicial proceedings in 1948 , Schmidt withdrew into an inconspicuous private life.
literature
- Lothar Machtan : "War comrade and more: Ernst Schmidt", in: Ders. Hitler's Secret , 2001, pp. 107–125.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmidt, Ernst |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German painter and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 16, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wurzbach , Thuringia |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1985 |
| Place of death | Garching an der Alz |