She studied history, German, and theology and completed a dissertation on Edwin von Manteuffel, a Prussian field marshal, in 1920.

Her most significant teachers included historian Friedrich Meinecke and the liberal theologian Adolf von Harnack, and she maintained close ties with both men and their families.

She then completed a teacher preparation program as well as additional academic work in theology, demonstrating proficiency by passing her second state examination.

In a memorial speech on the 120th anniversary of Schmitz's birth, Margot Käßmann described her as "among the first generation of women to be particularly well educated," and asserted that she and colleagues such as Carola Barth, Elisabet von Harnack and Martha Kassel, "took advantage of this fact to express their views with vigor.

[4] Her unwillingness to incorporate this ideology into her teaching led her to resign, requesting an immediate leave of absence and a voluntary early retirement.

"[5] The events of Kristallnacht had troubled her greatly and she later wrote of her decision to resign, "I decided to give up school service and no longer be a civil servant of a government that permitted the synagogues to be set afire.

"[5] Victoria Barnett of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes this as "a remarkable act of integrity and courage.

[6][circular reference] In 1933, Schmitz worked to persuade Friedrich von Bodelschwingh to speak out about the persecution of the Jews, which he declined to do.

[1] She signed a "Red Card" joining the Confessing Church in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial parish led by Pastor Gerhard Jacobi.

[2] Schmitz continued to argue her case that for the Protestant Church to remain silent in the face of the oppression of Jews was a deep violation of its integrity.

The victims of this persecution have suffered dreadful distress both outwardly and inwardly but this is not widely known, which makes the guilt of the German people all the more reprehensible.

"[7] Acknowledging the peril that denouncing the Nationalist Socialists would bring, Schmitz wrote, "And if, in some cases, the Church cannot do anything for fear of its utter destruction, why does not she at least know about her guilt?

As Margot Käßmann summarized in her memorial speech, "For her, it wasn’t just a question of the Church’s freedom to witness, as Karl Barth assumed, or about the fate of the baptized Jews, which so concerned Marga Meusel.

Victoria Barnett, of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, sees in that a disturbing question about how historical narratives are created.

Papers from this conference were published as Elisabeth Schmitz und ihre Denkschrift gegen die Judenverfolgung.