7209 - Hjalmar Schacht Document Signed at Nuremberg, Calling for Testimony from for Elisabeth Strünck, Widow of an Executed Anti-Hitler Conspirator

Hjalmar Schacht Document Signed at Nuremberg, Calling for Testimony from for Elisabeth Strünck, Widow of an Executed Anti-Hitler Conspirator Partly-printed DS, in German, one page, 7.75 x 12, November 7, 1945. Document headed (translated), "The International Military Tribunal, Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness," made while preparing his defense for the Nuremberg trials. Schacht and his defense lawyer request testimony from "Frau Elisabeth Strünk," explaining: "She is the second of my two foremost witnesses because her husband (who was killed by the Gestapo) has cooperated with me for years against Hitler. She is fully informed in every way about what we did." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Hjalmar Schacht. In fine condition. Accompanied by a contemporary English translation. Elisabeth Strünck offered Schacht a particularly powerful defense witness: her husband, Theodor Strünck, had worked closely with resistance leaders Hans Oster and Carl Goerdeler, and the Strüncks’ Berlin home served as a meeting place for conspirators seeking Hitler’s overthrow. Both were arrested after the failed July 20, 1944 assassination attempt; Theodor was condemned by the People’s Court and executed at Flossenbürg in April 1945, while Elisabeth survived months of imprisonment. Her testimony supported Schacht’s contention that his break with Hitler and contacts with the German resistance predated Germany’s defeat and were not merely a postwar defense. The argument ultimately proved successful: the IMT concluded that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Schacht knowingly participated in Nazi plans for aggressive war, and acquitted him on all counts.