These actions of the leader of the State against the Jews can be explained by his attitude upon the Jewish question, which thoroughly differs from mine. Hitler wanted to punish Jewry because he held them responsible for the unleashing of the war and for the bombs dropped on the German civilian population.

It is deeply regrettable that the mass killings which can be traced back to a personal decision of the leader of the State, Adolf Hitler, have led to a treatment of the German people which also must be considered as being inhumane. The executed mass killings I reject in the same way as they are being rejected by every decent German.

Gentlemen of the Tribunal.

Neither in my capacity as Gauleiter nor as political author have I committed a crime, and I therefore look toward your judgment with good conscience.

I have no request to make for myself. I only have a request for the people from whom I originate. Gentlemen of the Tribunal, fate has given you power to pronounce every judgment. Do not pronounce a judgment which would imprint the stamp of dishonesty upon the forehead of an entire nation.

XII. WALTER FUNK

1. FINAL ARGUMENT by Dr. Fritz Sauter, Defense Counsel Gentlemen of the Tribunal:

I have the task to examine the case of the defendant Dr. Walter Funk, that is to say, I am to deal with a topic which unfortunately is especially dry and prosaic.

General

The total course of this trial and the particular evidence offered in his own case have proven that the defendant Funk, at no time of the National Socialist regime and in none of the cases indicted here, played a decisive role.

Funk's authority of decision, was always limited by superior power of authority. The statement of the defendant during his personal examination, that he was allowed to proceed as far as to the door, but was never permitted to enter, has been proven by the evidence to be quite correct.

In the Party Funk was entrusted with several tasks only during the last year prior to the seizure of power, that is in 1932. These however were of no practical significance, as they were of short duration. From the seizure of power on Funk was never appointed

to an office in the Party. He was never a member of any party organization, neither of the SS nor the SA, nor of the Corps of Political leaders. Funk held a Reichstag-Mandate only for the brief space of slightly more than six months prior to seizure of power. Consequently he was not a member of the Reichstag at the time when the fundamental laws for the consolidation of National Socialist power were passed.

The laws of that time, especially the Enabling Act, presented under 2962-PS and 2963-PS, with the responsibility for which Funk is also charged, were accepted by the Reichs Cabinet at a time when Funk was not yet a member of the Cabinet. He became a member only at the close of 1937, by virtue of his appointment as Minister of Economy (Reichswirtschaftsminster), that is at a time when Cabinet sessions took place no longer. Funk, as press chief of the Reich-Cabinet, had neither a seat nor a vote in the cabinet and could not exert any influence whatsoever upon the contents of the bills. (Statement of Lammers, on pages 7394 and 7395 of the official transcript of 8 April 1946.) The same applies to racial laws, the so-called Nurnberg laws.

Funk had closer relations to the Fuehrer only during the period of 111⁄2 years, in which he held regular press conferences at Hitler's in his capacity as Press-chief of the Reich-Cabinet from February 1933 through August 1934, that is up to the death of Reich President von Hindenburg. Later, Funk met Hitler only very rarely. The witness Dr., Lammers in this respect states the following: Later he, (Funk) in his capacity as Reich Minister of Economy came to see Hitler only extremely rarely. He was not consulted in many conferences, conferences at which he should have been consulted. He complained to me about this frequently. The Fuehrer often raised objections. There were various reasons against Funk. He viewed Funk sceptically and did not want him (p. 7398 of the official transcript of 8 April 1946). Upon the question to the witness Dr. Lammers whether Funk had often expressed to him his grief about his unsatisfactory position as a Reich Minister for Economy and about his anxiety weighing heavily upon him due to the general conditions, Dr. Lammers replied: "I know that Funk had great worries and he was looking for an opportunity to discuss these with the Fuehrer. He had the fervent desire to have a discourse with the Fuehrer in order to be at least partially informed about the war situation." (That was in 1943 and 1944.) "With the best will, it was not possible for Funk to be received by the Fuehrer and it was not possible for me to get him to the Fuehrer." (Pp. 7401 and 7402 of the official German transcript of the afternoon of 8 April 1946.)

Funk, for the striking fact that during all his ministerial activity he was called to the Fuehrer conferences but four or five times, gives the explanation that Hitler did not need him. Hitler, up to 1942, issued his instructions in economic affairs to Goering, who, in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year-Plan, was responsible for the entire economy and, from the beginning of 1942, to Speer, who as Armament Minister, upon the grant of special authority could issue directives to all branches of production and who as of 1943 personally directed the entire production. Therefore Funk never played the main part but rather a subaltern role in the economy of the National Socialist Reich. The co-defendant Goering specifically verifies this in his statement of 16 March (p. 6009 of the official German transcript) with the following words: By reason of the special authorities vested in me, he, Funk, certainly had to follow my instructions of economic nature in the sphere of the Ministry of Economy and of the Reichsbank. "I fully and exclusively assume responsibility for any instructions, issued by and any economic policy executed by Funk in his capacity as the Reich-Minister for Economy and President of the Reichsbank." In the session of 20 June even the defendant Speer, as witness declared, that in his capacity as Armament Minister he claimed for himself from the very beginning any authority of decision in the most important economical spheres, such as coal, iron and steel, metal, aluminum, and production of machinery. The entire management of energy and the total building program prior to Speer's commissioning at the beginning of 1942 was under the jurisdiction of Armament Minister Todt.

The evidence submitted by the prosecution in the case of defendant Funk, does not for the greater part bear on personal acts of Funk or instructions issued by him, but it bears rather on the various and manifold positions he occupied. On page 29 of the trial brief the prosecutor himself declares that the argument offered against Funk may be said to be inferential. The prosecution starts from the assumption that Funk, upon the basis of the many positions held by him, must have had knowledge of the various happenings, which are the subject of the accusation. The indictment refers, broadly spoken, to instructions and directives, issued by Funk personally only where the decrees of execution, issued by Funk for the carrying out of the Four-Year-Plan for the elimination of Jews from the economic life in November 1938, were concerned. This chapter will have to be dealt with separately.

At political and military conferences, Funk was not consulted. His position was one of a ministerial expert with far narrow limitations on authority of decisions.