Extract from an interrogation, on the time when Funk learned a war against the USSR was imminent (late April 1941)

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Walther Funk (Reich Minister of Economics; Reichsbank; Central Planning Board)

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Walter Funk

German economist, Nazi politician and convicted war criminal (1890-1960)

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  • Born: 1890-08-18 (Yasnaya Polyana)
  • Died: 1960-05-31 (Düsseldorf)
  • Country of citizenship: Germany
  • Occupation: banker; economist; journalist; politician
  • Member of political party: Nazi Party
  • Participant in: International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
  • Position held: director (of: Bank for International Settlements, Reichsbank); member of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
  • Employer: Bank for International Settlements; Reichsbank

Date: 19 October 1945

Literal Title: Testimony of Walter Funk, taken at Nurnberg, Germany, on 19 October 1945, 1035-1205, by Lt. Col. Murray Gurfein AUS, OUSCC.

Defendant: Walther Funk

Total Pages: 1

Language of Text: English

Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)

Evidence Code: PS-3952

Citation: IMT (page 9124)

HLSL Item No.: 452856

Trial Issue

Wars of aggression

Document Summary

Staff Evidence Analyses

PS-3952: Interrogation of Walter Funk at Nurnberg on 19 Oct. 945 by Lt. Col. Murray Gurfein, US OUSOC

Extract of Testimony of Walter Funk, taken at Nürnberg, Germany, on 19 October 1945, 1035-1205, by Lt. Col. Murray Gurfein, AU'S, OUSCC. Also present: Captain A. W. Frank, Interpreter, and S/Sgt Horace M. Levy, Court Reporter. [Page 14]
Q. Now, when did you first learn of the fact that an attack on Russia was contemplated?
A. That must have been toward the end of April 1941. Toward the end of April '41 I heard that the Fuehrer, or somebody in his entourage had said that a war against Russia was
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about to break out. I remember that time, because I had a discussion with Hess on the matter. The reason was quite a different one, but it was on that occasion that Hess asked me: "Have you heard that war against Russia is pending?" I said to Hess, "I have not heard anything certain, but it appears that this sort of thing is being talked about."
Excerpts from Interrogation of Walter Funk, 22 October 1945
Q. As a matter of fact, you were present at many meetings of the Central Planning Board, were you not?
A. I only joined the meetings of the Central Planning Board when I required something for my small sector; that is to say, something to do with export and consumer goods in industries; for example, iron, and I had to fight on each occasion to get just a few thousand tons for my consumer goods industry.
Q. But during these meetings you attended, you heard, did you not, discussions concerning forced labor?
A. Oh, yes, I did.
Q. And you knew from those meetings, that the policy was to bring in more and more foreign workers to the Reich against their will?
A. Yes, certainly.
Q. And you never objected to that, I take it?
A. No, why should I have objected. It was somebody else's task to bring these foreign workers in. .
Q. Did you believe it whs legal to take people against their will from their homes and bring them into Germany?
A. Well, many things happen in wartime which aren't strictly legal. I have never wracked my brains about that.
FRANZ B. WOLF, being first duly sworn upon oath, deposes and says:
I was born in Stuttgart, Germany on June 15, 1900, and I am presently employed as an editor by the Research Institute of America, Inc., 292 Madison Avenue, New York 17, N. Y. I