During World War II Schmidt held positions of authority at the University of Berlin and had to carry out various Nazi resolutions against the Jews — a job that he apparently did not do well , since he was criticized at one point for not understanding the " Jewish question . " At the celebration of Schmidt 's 75th birthday in 1951 a prominent Jewish mathematician , Hans Freudenthal , who had survived the Nazi years , spoke of the difficulties that Schmidt faced during that period without criticism . He was , however , a conservative and a nationalist , and defended Hitler after Kristallnacht , telling Issai Schur that " Suppose we had to fight a war to rearm Germany , unite with Austria , liberate the Saar and the German part of Czechoslovakia . Such a war would have cost us half a million young men . But everybody would have admired our victorious leader . Now , Hitler has sacrificed half a million Jews and has achieved great things for Germany . I hope some day you will be recompensed but I am still grateful to Hitler "
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Erhard Schmidt