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   Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume Two, Chapter XIV

                                                  [Page 716]
                                                            
B. FUNK, BY VIRTUE OF HIS ACTIVITIES IN THE MINISTRY OF
PROPAGANDA, ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED IN THE CONSOLIDATION OF
THE CONSPIRATORS' CONTROL OVER GERMANY.

The Nazis created a vast propaganda machine which they used
to proclaim the doctrine of the master race, to inveigh
against the Jews, to impose the leadership principle upon
the German people, to glorify war as a noble activity, to
create the social cohesion necessary for war, and to weaken
the capacity and willingness of their intended victims to
resist aggression. (See

                                                  [Page 717]
                                                            
Section 9 of Chapter VII on Propaganda, Censorship and
Supervision of Cultural Activities.)

The operation of this propaganda machine was principally the
responsibility of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and
Propaganda. Funk played a significant role in the operations
that Ministry and in related agencies of the Nazi State. On
January 1933, the day on which Hitler became Reich
Chancellor, Funk was appointed Press Chief of the Reich
Government. that capacity, and even after the establishment
of the Ministry Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, he
reported regularly to Hitler and President von Hindenburg
(3505-PS; 3501-PS).

On 13 March 1933, the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment
and Propaganda was established with Goebbels as its Chief an
d Funk as its under-Secretary 2029-PS; Voelkischer
Beobachter 15 March 1933, p. 2. (South German Edition)). In
an interview with a reporter from the Voelkischer Beobachter
on 30 March 1933, Funk made clear the importance which
propaganda was to have in the Nazi State. He stated:

     "Propaganda is the most modern instrument of power and
     fighting weapon of state policy. The establishing of
     the Propaganda Ministry is vital, for the national
     political policy of the new State Leadership is to be
     the general good of the whole people. Therefore, the
     total political, artistic, cultural and spiritual life
     of the nation, must be brought on to one level and
     directed from one central point." (Voelkischer
     Beobachter, South German Edition, 31 March 1933).

In order to achieve this purpose, the Ministry of
Enlightenment and Propaganda was organized so as to reach
and control every medium of expression within Germany. In
the language of the decree defining the duties of the
Minister of Propaganda, he was to have

     "*** jurisdiction over the whole field of spiritual
     indoctrination of the nation, of propagandizing the
     State, of cultural and economic propaganda, of
     enlightenment of the public at home and abroad;
     furthermore, he is in charge of all institutions
     serving these purposes." (2030-PS).

Under this decree, the Ministry controlled propaganda
abroad, propaganda within Germany, the press, music, the
theater, films, art, literature, radio and all related
institutions.

Funk discharged important responsibilities in the Ministry.
As Undersecretary he was Goebbels' chief aide. In this
capacity he appears to have been the primary organizer of
the machine from which flowed Nazi propaganda. This is made
clear by the following excerpt from an affidavit dated 19
December 1945, and

                                                  [Page 718]
                                                            
signed by Max Amann, who held the position of Reich Leader
of the Press and President of the Reich Press Chamber.

     " *** In carrying out my duties and responsibilities, I
     became familiar with the operations and the
     organization of the Reich Ministry of Propaganda and
     Enlightenment.

     "Walther Funk was the practical Minister of the
     Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment and managed
     the Ministry. Funk was the soul of the Ministry, and
     without him Goebbels could not have built it up.
     Goebbels once stated to me that Funk was his 'most
     effective man.' Funk exercised comprehensive control
     over all the media of expression in Germany: over the
     press, the theater, radio and music. As Press Chief of
     the Reich Government and subsequently as Under
     Secretary of the Ministry, Funk held daily meetings
     with the Fuehrer and a daily press conference in the
     course of which he issued the directives governing the
     materials to be published by the German press". (3501-PS).

A note for the files prepared by one Sigismund, an SS
Scharfuehrer, also stresses the important role which Funk
played in The Ministry of Propaganda (3566-PS). That note
records a discussion between Sigismund and one Weinbrenner,
an official of the Ministry of Propaganda, about the
selection of a General Manager for the German Radio. The
note states:

     "Weinbrenner made the following statement: *** it is
     almost impossible to determine whom the Minister would
     name General Manager, since Dr. Goebbels reaches most
     of the important decisions only by agreement with Under
     Secretary Funk." (3566-PS).

In addition to his position as Undersecretary, Funk had many
other important responsibilities in subordinate offices of
the Ministry for Propaganda (3533-PS). In 1933, for example,
he was appointed Vice President of the Reich Chamber of
Culture, whose President was Goebbels (3533-PS;
Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, I, p. 798).

Funk's position as Vice President of the Reich Chamber of
Culture was related to his position as Undersecretary of the
Ministry, since the Chamber of Culture and the seven
subordinate chambers were by law subject to the control of
the Ministry of Propaganda (2082-PS). This control was
insured in practice by placing officers of the Ministry of
Propaganda in the highest positions of the Chambers. Thus,
for example, Goebbels was its President and Funk its Vice
President. By virtue of his dual position, Funk directly
promoted two fundamental and related

                                                  [Page 719]
                                                            
Nazi policies: (1) the regimentation of all creative
activities in he interest of Nazi political and military
objectives; (2) the elimination of Jews and dissidents from
the so-called cultural professions.

The mechanics by which these policies were carried out have
been described in Section 9 of Chapter VII on Propaganda,
Censorship and Supervision of Cultural Activities. That
description will be supplemented here only by reference to
the second decree the Execution of the Law of Reich Chamber
of Culture, dated 9 November 1933 (2872-PS). This decree,
which was signed by Funk, representing Goebbels, fixed the
effective date for the entire scheme for the domination and
purging of the cultural professions.

The control of the Ministry of Propaganda was based in part
on the requirement that persons engaged in so-called
"cultural activities" belong to the appropriate Chamber
(1933 Reichsgesetzblatt, I p. 797). Decrees were then passed
which prescribed standards of admission to these Chambers,
which automatically excluded Jews. For example, in the field
of journalism, "only persons who were of Aryan descent and
not married to a person of non-Aryan descent" were permitted
to be so-called Schriftleiter, that is, to perform any work
relating to the contents a newspaper or a political magazine
(2083-PS).

Similarly, newspaper publishers had to submit proof tracing
their Aryan descent (and that of their spouses) as far back
as the year 1800 (Decree 24 April 1935, issued by the
President of the Reich Press Chamber, Article 1, 3 and
Article II, 1(f) and 2, reprinted in Karl Friedrich
Schrieber in "Das Recht der Reichskulturkammer", vol. 2,
1935, pp. 109-112; Decrees 15 April 1936 and 2 May 1936
issued by the President of Reich Press Chamber reprinted in
Karl Friedrich Schrieber "Das Recht der Reichskulturkammer",
vol. 4, 1936, pp. 101-102, 120-122; see also: Decree 17
September 1934 reprinted in Karl Friedrich Schrieber's "Das
Recht der Reichskulturkammer", vol. 2, 1935, p. 79).

In view of Funk's official positions and the policies which
he advanced it is natural that Nazi writers have stressed
his contribution to the perversion of German culture. Thus
Oestreich's biography of Funk states:

     "Besides, Funk had a special duty from his Ministry
     received the task to take care of the cultural life. In
     this position he organized quietly a tremendous concern
     which represented an investment of many hundreds of
     millions. In close co-operation with the Reich Leader
     of the Press, Max Amann, the economic fundamentals of
     the German
     
                                                  [Page 720]
                                                            
     press were reconstructed according to the political
     necessities. The same took place in the film industry
     and in other cultural fields."

The reconstruction of "the economic fundamentals of the
German press * ** and other cultural fields" was a
biographer's euphemism for the elimination of Jews and
dissidents from the field of literature, music, theater,
journalism, broadcasting, and the arts.

The completeness with which the policy of cultural
extermination was carried out is made clear by a pamphlet
entitled "The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and
Propaganda", by Georg Wilhelm Mueller, an official of the
Ministry of Propaganda, which was published by the German
Academy for Politics as part of a series on the organization
of the Nazi Government. That pamphlet states:

     "The Department Special Cultural Tasks (a department
     within the Ministry of Propaganda) serves mainly the
     purpose to remove the Jews from cultural professions.
     It reviews the political attitude of all artistic or
     cultural workers and cultural economic enterprise that
     are members of the seven individual chambers of the
     Reich Chamber of Culture (except the Reich Chamber of
     the Press), it has to supervise the removal of Jews in
     the entire field of the seven individual chambers and
     settles as highest authority all complaints and appeals
     of cultural workers whose membership was rejected by
     the Chamber because of lack of proof of Aryan descent.
     At the same time, it is the task of this department to
     supervise the activities of non-Aryans in the
     intellectual and entire cultural field, therefore, also
     the supervision of the only Jewish organization in the
     cultural field in the entire Reich territory, that is,
     the 'Jewish Kulturbund' (Jewish Cultural Association).

     "In this way this department also cooperates with all
     other professional departments of the Ministry or the
     Chambers by consulting the local officials of the
     party, the State police offices, etc, and when
     supervising the Jewish 'cultural work' with the
     political police.

     "It is mainly the merit of this department  to 1937 a
     department in the Managing Office of the Reich Chamber
     of Culturethat the purge of the entire German cultural
     life from Jewish or other non-German influences was
     completely accomplished according to the assignments of
     the Minister." (Das Reichsministerim fuer
     Volksafklaerung und Propa-
     
                                                  [Page 721]
                                                            
     ganda (Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and
     Propaganda) pp. 30-31).

Funk contributed to the achievement of the Nazi propaganda
program in other capacities. Thus, in 1933, Goebbels
appointed him Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Reich Broadcasting Company (3505-PS). That company was the
coordinating authority for all German radio broadcasting and
supervised all German radio stations, with a view to
insuring that radio serve the political purposes of the Nazi
State (Das Deutsche Fuehrerlexikon, 1934-193, p. 139; 3505-PS). 
Moreover, in 1933, Funk also was appointed Vice-president of 
the Filmkreditbank. The Filmkreditbank was a
government-controlled financing corporation which influenced
film production in the interests of the Nazi program by
granting financial assistance in connection with only those
films deemed desirable from the Nazi point of view (Seager,
"Der Film im Nationalsocialistischen Staat" ("The Film in
the National-Socialist State"), in Frank:
"Nationalsozialistisches Handbuch fuer Recht und
Gesetzgebung" ("National Socialist Handbook for Law and
Legislation"), 1935, 2nd edition, p. 512). It is lear from
the foregoing that Funk was from 1933 until the end of 1937
a versatile and key figure in the propaganda field. His
activities ranged from daily conferences with the Fuehrer
and the organization of a new large Ministry vital to the
Nazi program to depriving the most humble Jewish artist of
his power to earn a livelihood. Funk appears to have been
what Goebbels said he was: Goebbels' "most effective man" (3501-PS).


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