Walter Schmidt (politician, 1903)

Walter Schmidt (* 1903 in Waldkirchen / Erzgeb. , † 1962 ) was a German NSDAP functionary . He served as Lord Mayor of Chemnitz from 1933 to 1945 . He should not be confused with the SA functionary of the same name, Walter Schmidt (1886–1935).

Live and act

After the National Socialists came to power in spring 1933, Schmidt was assigned full-time mayor of the city of Chemnitz in December 1933. Since then he has been “de facto head of the city” according to a publication by the Chemnitz City Archives. In addition, Schmidt was appointed deputy mayor and city treasurer in 1933 or in the following years. Schmidt's official appointment as Lord Mayor did not take place until 1938 - before that, the office had been vacant for almost five years since 1933. Schmidt kept the office of Lord Mayor until his escape on May 7, 1945.

In his function as mayor, Schmidt introduced the so-called “Jewish pillory” around 1934, an official notice in which “sympathizers of Jews” could be publicly denounced by a report. Furthermore, Walter Schmidt, as the board member of the "Office for Physical Exercise", pushed forward two major urban sports construction projects that still shape the cityscape today: the Stadtbad as a modern and architecturally impressive indoor pool and the "Süd- or Großkampfbahn", today the " Sportforum ", as a large stadium and parade ground for National Socialist propaganda events. To make both projects possible, Walter Schmidt successfully used his influence as the Saxon state representative of the Reich Sports Leader Hans von Tschammer und Osten . The Stadtbad was thus completed in 1935 and ceremoniously opened on March 27 of the same year. Three and a half years later, on September 18, 1938, the large stadium was consecrated with an international soccer match between Germany and Poland. 70,000 spectators followed the game, which the hosts won 4: 1. Chemnitz now had the largest stadium in Central Germany, the “Südkampfbahn”.

In addition to his work in the party, Schmidt was also a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), in which he reached the rank of SA brigade leader on November 9, 1938 .

Fonts

• Two years of personnel policy in the state of Adolf Hitler. From the administrative report of the Lord Mayor of Chemnitz for 1935–1937 , 1937.

literature

• Stadtarchiv Chemnitz [Hrsg.]: Contributions to the city history of Chemnitz , 1999, p. 112.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ Dr. Hendrik Thoß: Physical exercises under the swastika (PDF; 58 kB) . TU spectrum 1/2005