Evening star., 1947-05-13
l5chacht Is Sentenced
To 8 Years by Reich
Disqualification Court
By the Associated Press

|DendzItIcdtI0n lOuf
BY the A.seeioted Press
STUTTGART, May 13-Hjai
mar Schacht, German financia
wizard, who was cleared of wa,
crimes charges by the Interna
tional Military Tribunal a
Nuremberg seven months ago, wa
convicted as a major Nazi Of
fender by a German denazifica'
ton court today and sentenced
to eight years imprisonment.
The verdict was announced b.
Court President Fritz Lenz In |
packed courtroom in the communit.
singing hall where the former Naz
finance minister and Reichsbanl
president has been on trial for 81,
weeks. The 70-year-old Schach
heard the verdict in stunned silence
his face drawn and white.
The court ordered the conf1scatior
of all of Schacht's remaining per.
sonal fortune-officially estimated Al
/, 10000 marks ($119,000-excep
for 10000 reichsmarks.
1t also forbade him to hold an!
public Office during the remaindel
of his life and deprived him Of mos
of his civil rights for the next Il
years, banning him from voting ir
any election, practicing as an at
torney, participating in any politica
activities, joining any political party
or joining any professional or eco
nomic organization.
The verdict, practically the maxi.
mum that could be imposed, means
in effect that until Schacht is 81
years old he will be unable to hole
any position socially or economically
aside from the role of common
laborer.
In imposing the prison sentence
the court decided to take into ac-
count the two years that Schacht
already has been in custody, there
by reducing his actual term to six
years.
If Schacht's health permits, he
will be compelled to perform some
sort of labor during his prison term
Schacht's attorney, DR.. Wolfgang
Schwamberger, said he would ap-
peal the sentnce to the highest Ger
man court.
Icy Toward Interviewers.
BY noon, Schacht had recovered
his composure and displayed his
customary icy sarcasm for foreign
while heartily consum-
ing a meal of pancakes.
IT have been convicted as a GRIM
inal and it's strange you regard the
opinion of a criminal as worth print
ing" he snapped. &
Asked about his plans, he replied:
MY plans are eight years in a
labor camp now. Don't bother me
with silly questions.
He gave every indication, how
ever, that he intended to exhaust
every legal possibility before recon-
CLING himself to imprisonment.
Il take whatever heaven sees fit
to send me-" Schacht said, but when
asked about his hopes of reversal,
ne responded: Just you wait and
,ee."
Expected Exoneration.
A group Of Schacht's friends held
l private party last night to cele-
orate what they felt sure was the
eve of his complete exoneration.
himself was reputed to have
neld firmly to the belief that he
would be acquitted as he was at
Nuremberg.
How can you make a criminal
)ut of man whom Hitler put into
/ concentration camp for plotting
against him?" he asked.
The court, composed of German
Judges chosen from all political
parties and the trades unions, hand
ID down its verdict after a months
testimony in which Schacht's ae-
sivities were reported by a score of
The prosecution contended that
5chacht had joined Hitler's govern
nent willingly and set up the ma
chinery that made financing the
war possible.
Schacht argued that he had re-
NAMED in his top capacity only until
ne saw the Nazi party's aggressive
Then, he asserted, he
denied further appropriations for
Declared He Fought Nazism.
In the defense he declared he
fought against Nazism once it broke
,eyond Germany's borders and was
. participant in several attempts to
lnseat Hitler, including the unsuc-
,essful July 20, 1914, bomb plot.
Schacht has been a prisoner since
he roundup of anti -Hitlerites that
'ollowed the bomb plot. He was
held in concentration camp by
Hitler, and at the end of the war
1e became prisoner of the Allies.
Schacht was one of three high
,ff1cials acquitted of war crimes by
he International Military Tribunal
It Nuremberg. The others were
Franz Won Papen, diplomat, and
Hans Fritzsche, radio propaganda.
Since then, Papen has been SEN
,enced by a denazification court to
eight years as major offender"
sritzsche drew a sentence of nine
'ears.
The maximum that can be i'm
,osed on Nazis by German courts is
10 years. The prosecution had asked
,nly eight years against Schacht.
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