Background
Kurt von Schröder was born in Hamburg on 24 November 1889.
Kurt von Schröder was born in Hamburg on 24 November 1889.
Studyied at the University of Bonn.
He served during World War I as a Captain on the General Staff. After the war, von Schröder became a leading partner in the firm of J. H. Stein and a wealthy banker based in Cologne.
A founding member of the Keppler Circle, von Schröder contributed substantial funds to the NSDAP, channelling industrialists’ money to the Party, and he also arranged the crucial secret meeting between Hitler and Franz von Papen which took place at his home in Cologne on 4 January 1933. At this meeting, the two men agreed to bring down the government of Kurt von Schleicher and replace it by an alliance between themselves.
During the Third Reich, von Schroder held numerous directorships. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Adlerwerke (Frankfurt am Mam), Felten and Guilleaume Carlswerk AG, Thyssen Hutte AG, Braunkohle-Benzin AG (Berlin) and Boswau & Knauer AG (Berlin), as well as President of the Guuwirtschaftskammer (Regional Economic Chamber), Cologne-Aachen. Von Schroder was also appointed President of the Rhineland industrial Chamber in Cologne and head of the Trade Association of Private Banks. Found disguised as an SS corporal in a POW camp in France, he was interned by the British after World War II. Von Schroder was eventually tried by a German court for crimes against humanity in November 1947, being sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and a derisory fine. On appeal by the prosecution the fine was substantially increased in 1948 to 500.000 Reichsmarks; but after the currency reform and a further appeal by the defence in June 1950, the final amount to be paid was insignificant.
The former Nazi banker spent his last years in Hohenstein bei Eckernforde and is reported to have died around 1965.