Walther Funk
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Economics Minister · Germany
On the regime page: Nazi Germany
5 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
Content note: Defends the exclusion of Jews from economic life. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“State and economy constitute a single unit. They must be directed according to the same principles. The best proof of this is given by the most recent development of the Jewish problem in Germany. One cannot exclude the Jews from political life and yet let them live and work in the economic sphere.”
English: Nuremberg trial translation of document 3545-PS (as read into the IMT record). Original-language text not found.
Extract from a speech by Funk, then Economics Minister, a few days after the 12 November 1938 decree excluding Jews from German economic life. Reported on page 2 of the Frankfurter Zeitung of 17 November 1938 (document 3545-PS, exhibit USA-659), read by US prosecutor Lt. Meltzer.
Prosecution reading of document 3545-PS (Frankfurter Zeitung, 17 November 1938), in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 5, p. 160 (session of 11 January 1946) Source
“How happy and thankful we have to be to you that we are allowed to see these overwhelmingly great and world-shaking times and be able to cooperate in the mighty events of these days. The information transmitted to me by Field Marshal Goering that you, my Fuehrer, have in principal approved last night the measures prepared by me for the financing of the war and for the shaping of wage and price conditions, and of the carrying out of an emergency sacrifice has made me extremely happy. Herewith I report most obediently that by the careful forethought of the last few months I succeeded in making the German Reichsbank so strong internally, so unassailable from the outside, that even the heaviest shocks of the international finance and credit system cannot touch us in any way. Meanwhile, I have quite inconspicuously transferred into gold all assets in any way available of the Reich Bank and the whole Germany economy abroad. Through the suggestions I have worked out to keep down ruthlessly any non-vital consumption and any public expenses and tasks of no importance to the war. We will be in a position to satisfy all demands to be made on the finances and economy without any serious shocks.”
English: Office of United States Chief of Counsel, translation of Nuremberg document 699-PS. Original-language text not found.
Letter written on 25 August 1939, a week before the invasion of Poland, thanking Hitler for birthday wishes and reporting on the financial and economic preparations for war made by Funk as Economics Minister and Plenipotentiary General for Economics.
Letter from Reich Minister Walther Funk to Hitler, Berlin, 25 August 1939, document 699-PS, in Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 3 (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 508 Source
Content note: Concerns the confiscation of Jewish property. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“As far as my participation in this Jewish affair is concerned, that was my responsibility, and I regretted later on that I ever participated. The Party had always brought pressure to bear on me to make me agree to the confiscation of Jewish property, and I refused repeatedly. But later on, when the anti-Jewish measures and the brutality against Jews were being carried out with full force, something legal had to be done to prevent the looting and confiscation of the whole of Jewish property. [...] That is when I should have resigned, in 1938. I am guilty. I am guilty. I admit that I am a guilty party here.”
English: Nuremberg trial translation of document 3544-PS (as read into the IMT record). Original-language text not found.
Funk's answers in a pre-trial interrogation on 22 October 1945, read into the record by US prosecutor Lt. Meltzer (document 3544-PS, exhibit USA-660). Funk answered the second question while weeping, according to the prosecutor's introduction.
Prosecution reading of document 3544-PS (interrogation of Funk, 22 October 1945), in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 5, p. 160 (session of 11 January 1946) Source
Content note: Refers to gold teeth and other items taken from murdered people. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“Until the time of this Trial, I did not know and did not suspect that among the assets delivered to the Reichsbank there were enormous quantities of pearls, precious stones, jewelry, gold objects, and even spectacle frames, and--horrible to say--gold teeth. That was never reported to me, and I never noticed it either. I never saw these things. But until this Trial I also knew nothing of the fact that millions of Jews were murdered in concentration camps or by the Einsatzkommandos in the East. Never did a single person say even one word to me about these things. The existence of extermination camps of this kind was totally unknown to me.”
English: Official IMT simultaneous translation. Original-language text not found.
From Funk's final statement to the Tribunal before judgment, on the assets delivered by the SS to the Reichsbank, of which he was President.
Final statement of the defendant Funk, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 22, p. 386 (session of 31 August 1946) Source
“Human life consists of error and guilt. I, too, have made many mistakes; I, too, have let myself be deceived in many things and I frankly acknowledge, I admit, that I have let myself be deceived all too easily, and in many ways have been too unconcerned and too gullible. Therein I see my guilt, but consider myself free from any criminal guilt which I am supposed to have incurred in discharging my official duties. In that respect, my conscience is just as clear today as on the day when I entered this courtroom 10 months ago for the first time.”
English: Official IMT simultaneous translation. Original-language text not found.
Closing passage of Funk's final statement to the Tribunal before judgment.
Final statement of the defendant Funk, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 22, p. 387 (session of 31 August 1946) Source