Kurt Schmitt

Kurt Paul Schmitt (7 October 1886 in Heidelberg – 2 November 1950 in Heidelberg) was a German economic leader and the Reich Economy Minister.

The jurist Kurt Schmitt graduated in 1911 in Munich with the thesis "The Ongoing Information File, in Particular the Information Convention". and then went into the service of the Allianz AG insurance company. From 1914 to 1917 he participated in the First World War and was discharged having reached the rank of captain. In 1917, he became a member of the Allianz board of directors, leading the company from 1921 to 1933 as chairman of the board. During these years, he made a name for himself as one of the most gifted leaders when it came to organization in the Weimar Republic's insurance industry.

Allianz's leadership, represented by directors Kurt Schmitt and Eduard Hilgard, led a policy of drawing nearer to the Nazis, even before they seized power. Already in October 1930, ties were forged with Hermann Göring. These contacts were realized through company dinners and by providing private financial loans. Heinrich Brüning and Franz von Papen tried without success to get Schmitt a ministerial office.

Schmitt, who was also General Director of the Stuttgart Social Insurance Corporation (Stuttgarter Verein-Versicherungs AG) by 1931, was included in Hjalmar Schacht's objectives in mid-1931.

On 18 December 1932 he participated in a meeting of the Circle of Friends of the Economy (Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft), or Circle of Twelve (Zwölferkreis) at the Berlin Kaiserhof, where the Nazi Party agreed to lend its support. Schmitt now had closer relations with the Nazi leadership and on 20 February 1933, he, along with Hermann Göring, took part in a meeting that Adolf Hitler had with German industrialists, at which Schmitt made an election campaign donation to the Nazis of RM 10,000. In early 1933, Schmitt joined the Nazi Party (membership no. 2,651,252). He likewise took over the posts of Vice President of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and of the Chamber of Commerce in 1933.

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