Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-16-responsibility-11-03
Last-Modified: 1997/05/06

   Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume Two, Chapter XIV

                                                  [Page 721]
                                                            
C. FUNK, AS MINISTER OF ECONOMICS, CONTINUED TO ADVANCE THE
CONSPIRACY TO PERSECUTE THE JEWS BY ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING
IN THE PLANNING AND EXECUTION OF THE MEASURES WHICH
ELIMINATED THE JEWS FROM THE GERMAN ECONOMY.

The systematic anti-Jewish program of the Nazi conspirators
is discussed in Chapter XII. The evidence discussed below
shows that Funk, by virtue of his activities as Minister of
Economics, is responsible for the planning and execution of
the program to exclude the Jews from the German economy.

The first record of Funk's anti-Jewish activities as
Minister of Economics consists of a series of decrees which
he signed and which were designed to exclude the Jews from
various occupations, such as real estate business,
auctioneering, etc. Reference will be made to only a few of
these decrees (Decree amending trade code of 6 July 1938,
1988 Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p. 832; de-

                                                  [Page 722]
                                                            
cree concerning occupation of auctioneers, 12 February 1938,
1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, I p. 202). Moreover, on 14 June 1938
Funk signed a decree providing for the registration of
'Jewish enterprises" (1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p. 627).
This decree was part of a system of economic persecution
which obliterated Jewish ownership in all commercial,
financial and industrial

In 1938, the death of von Rath in Paris was exploited by the
Nazis as a pretext for intensifying the persecution of the
Jews. Their new anti-Jewish policy called for the complete
elimination of Jews from the economic life of Germany. Funk
took a significant part in both the formulation and
execution of this policy.

Thus, he was present at the meeting of 12 November 1938,
where, with Goering as the leading spirit, the basis for a
more drastic policy against the Jews was established (1816-PS). 
Goering described the meeting as a decisive one, and
demanded "that the Jewish question be now, once and for all,
coordinated and solved, one way or another." (1816-PS). Funk
came to the meeting with a draft law which he had prepared,
and which he submitted with the following explanation:

     "I have prepared a law elaborating that, effective 1
     January 1939, Jews shall be prohibited to operate
     retail stores and wholesale establishments, as well as
     independent artisan shops. They shall further be
     prohibited from keeping employees or offering any ready
     products on the market. Wherever a Jewish shop is
     operated, the police shall shut it down. From 1 January
     1939, a Jew can no longer be employed as an
     enterpriser, as stipulated in the law for the
     Organization of National Labor from 20 January 1934.
     If a Jew holds a leading position in an establishment
     without being the enterpriser, his contract may be
     declared void within 6 weeks by the enterpriser. With
     the expiration of the contract, all claims of the
     employee, including all claims to maintenance become
     obliterated. That is always very disagreeable and a
     great danger. A Jew cannot be a member of a
     corporation; Jewish members of corporations shall have
     to be retired by 31 December /1939. A special
     authorization is unnecessary. The competent Ministers
     of the Reich are being authorized to issue the
     provision necessary for the execution of this law."
     (1816-PS)

The substance of Funk's draft law promptly found its way
into the Reichsgesetzblatt. On 12 November 1938, Goering
signed a

                                                  [Page 723]
                                                            
decree entitled "For the Elimination of Jews from the German
Economic Life" (1662-PS)

An examination of the provisions of the decree will reveal
how well it deserved its title. Thus, Jews were forbidden to
operate retail stores or mail order houses, or to engage
independently in any handicraft, to offer goods or services
at markets, or to take orders therefor (Section I): or to be
"leaders" of any industrial enterprise. That decree also
provided that any Jew in an executive position of an
industrial enterprise was subject to notice of dismissal
(Section 2), and that Jews should be excluded from
membership in cooperative organizations (Section 3). Funk
was expressly authorized in Section 4 of the decree to issue
the regulations necessary for implementing its provisions
(1662-PS).

Funk was also authorized to issue the regulations in
connection with another anti-Jewish decree, also issued on
12 November 1938. This decree provided that all damage done
to Jewish enterprises and apartments during the riots of 8,
9, and 10 November, was to be repaired by the Jewish owners
out of their own pockets, and that claims by German Jews
against insurance companies were to be confiscated in favor
of the German Government (1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p. 1581).

Soon after the passage of the decree of 12 November, Funk,
in a speech which he delivered on the Jewish question, made
it clear that the program of economic persecution was a part
of the larger program of extermination and boasted of the
fact that the new -program insured the complete elimination
of the Jews from the German economy. In the course of this
speech, Funk stated:

     "The state and the economy constitute a unity. They
     must be directed according to the same principles. The
     best proof thereof has been rendered by the most recent
     development of the Jewish problem in Germany. One
     cannot exclude the Jews from the political life, but
     let them live and work in the economic sphere. The fact
     that the last violent explosion of the disgust of the
     German people, because of a criminal Jewish attack
     against the German people, took place at a time when we
     were standing just before the termination of the
     economic measures for the elimination of the Jews from
     the German economythis fact is a result of the other
     fact that in the last years we had not handled this
     problem sufficiently early and consistently. In any
     event, the basis of a complete elimination of the Jews
     also from the economy had already been laid by the
     decrees of the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan,
     General Field Marshal Goering, who was the first
     
                                                  [Page 724]
                                                            
     to undertake the solution of this problem. In the
     meantime by means of Aryanization, performed under
     governmental supervision, the Jews had already been
     excluded completely from the stock exchanges and the
     banks and almost completely from the large businesses
     and all important industrial enterprises. According to
     estimates, of the net property of approximately 7
     billion marks, determined pursuant to the decree for
     the registration of Jewish property, 2 billion marks
     have already been transferred into German possession."
     (3545-PS).

On 3 December 1938, Funk again advanced the policy of
economic extermination by signing a decree which carried out
the promise of the more severe anti-Jewish policy implied in
his above speech (1409-PS). This decree imposed additional
and drastic economic disabilities upon Jews and subjected
their property to confiscation and forced liquidation. It
provided that: owners of Jewish enterprises could be ordered
to sell or liquidate their enterprises (Section 1); trustees
could be appointed for such enterprises, with the expenses
of trusteeship borne by the owner of the enterprise (Section
2); Jews could be ordered to sell their property (real
estate, etc.) (Section 6); Jews were prohibited from
acquiring any real estate (Section 7); governmental consent
was required for any disposition of real estate (Section 8);
Jews were forced to deposit all stocks, mining shares,
bonds, and other securities with specially designated banks,
and accounts had to be marked "Jewish" (Section 11); Jews
were forbidden to acquire, to give as security, or to sell
objects made of gold, platinum, or silver, precious stones,
or pearls, etc. (Section 14); and Jews could be required to
make certain payments to the Reich before receiving the
consent necessary for the transfer of their property
(Section 15). (1409-PS).

In addition, many other decrees aiming at the economic ruin
of the Jews were promulgated over the signature of the
Minister of Economics. For example:

     Decree, 23 November 1938,198 Reichsgesetzblatt, I, p.
     162, signed by Brinkmann acting for Funk and containing
     detailed rules for the liquidation of Jewish retail
     stores, etc.;
     
     Decree, 14 December 1938,1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p.
     1902, also signed by Brinkmann acting for Funk, and
     providing detailed rules for the elimination of Jews
     from industrial enterprises;
     
     Decree, 8 May 1939,1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p. 895,
     signed
     
                                                  [Page 725]
                                                            
     by Dr. Landfried acting for Funk, excluding Jews from
     the occupation of travel agents;
     
     Decree, 4 May 1940, 1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p. 730,
     also signed by Dr. Landfried acting for Funk,
     concerning registration of transfers of Jewish
     property;
     
     Decree, 14 November 1940,1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p.
     1520, also signed by Dr. Landfried acting for Funk,
     establishing a procedure for setting aside financial
     arrangements which Jews, discharged from executive
     positions of industrial enterprises prior to 12
     November 1938, had made with their companies.
     
     Extending certain of the above-described decrees to
     Austria, see, e.g.:
     
     Decree, 22 August 1942, 1942 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p.
     537, signed by von Hanneken, acting for Funk;
     
     Decree, 4 December 1940,1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p.
     1564, signed by Dr. Landfried acting for Funk.
     
Funk had important responsibilities, not only in the
formulation of anti-Jewish policy and in the drafting of
anti-Jewish legislation, but also in the administration of
the conspirators' anti-Jewish measures. Funk was the person
to whom appeals were made concerning action taken by
subordinate officials in the administration of the anti-Jewish 
economic program. In fact, he as the paramount
authority in this field; his decisions were final and
conclusive. For example, he had the final voice in the
administrative hierarchy set up for deciding whether an
enterprise was a Jewish enterprise within the meaning of the
decree requiring the registration of such enterprises
(Decree of 14 June 1938, Section 9, 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt,
1, p. 628; see also decree of 3 December 1938, section 19,
1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p. 1711; decree, 14 November
1940,1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, 1, p. 1520).

Nazi publications have recognized the significant
contribution made by Funk to the anti-Jewish program. Thus
Hans Queeke, an official of the German Ministry of
Economies, in describing the work of the Ministry during
Funk's incumbency, stated:

     "A task of special political significance and economic
     importance arose as an absolute necessity out of the
     National Socialist conception of state and economy,
     namely, the eradication of Jewish influence from the
     economy. In this connection, a wealth of legislative
     and administrative work, though temporary, was created
     for the Ministry. The steps
     
                                                  [Page 726]
                                                            
     of the work were as follows: definitions of the term
     'Jewish enterprise', registration of Jewish property,
     securing the 'deployment' of such property in
     accordance with the interests of the German economy,
     exclusion of Jewish employees from executive positions,
     and, finally, re-examination of steps taken in the de-
     Judaization of enterprises with a view to ordering
     payments to the Reich for the unjust profits secured in
     the process of de-Judaization. That task can now be
     considered as practically completed in the field of the
     industrial economy." (Building of the Third Reich (Das
     Dritte Reich in Aufbau) Vol. 5, pp. 318-319 (1941)).

Moreover, Funk himself, in the course of administering this
program, emphasized the importance of his new role. For
example, on 6 February 1939, he issued a circular in
connection with the administration of the decree of 3
December 1938 which, as indicated, he himself signed. In
that circular, which was published in the Ministerial
Gazette of the Reich and Prussian Ministry of the Interior
("Ministerialblatt des Reichsund Preussischen Minsteriums
des Inneern"), for 1939, No. 7, p. 265, Funk stressed (at p.
265) "the great political and economic importance" of the
anti-Jewish program and stated with respect to the broad
powers conferred by the decree of 3 December 1938, that:

     "*** The extent and speed with which they [the powers]
     will be utilized, is dependent upon my orders, to be
     given under the general direction of Goering."

In the same circular (at p. 265) Funk also emphasized the
importance of the laws for de-Judaization, stating:

     "The execution of the laws for the economic de-
     Judaization will, for a time, impose extraordinary
     burdens upon the administrative organization. However,
     it is expected that the officers charged with the
     execution, in view of the great political and economic
     importance of the tasks assigned to them, will bend all
     their efforts to assure a most rapid, efficient, and in
     every way faultless execution of the de-Judaization."

Funk, in an interrogation dated 22 October 1945, admitted and deplored his
responsibility for the economic persecution of the Jews:

     "Q. All the decrees excluding the Jews from industry
     were yours, were they not?
     
     "A. *** So far as my participation in this Jewish
     affair is concerned, that was my responsibility and I
     have regretted it later on that I ever did participate.
     The Party had
     
                                                  [Page 727]
                                                            
     always brought pressure to bear on me previously to
     make me agree to the confiscation of Jewish property,
     and I had refused repeatedly. But later on, when the
     anti-Jewish measures and the force used against the
     Jews came into force, something legal had to be done to
     prevent the looting and confiscation of all Jewish
     property.
     
     "Q. You know that the looting and all that was done at
     the instigation of the Party, don't you?
     
     "(Here witness weeps)
     
     "A. Yes, most certainly. That is when I should have
     left in 1938, of that I am guilty, I am guilty. I admit
     that I am a guilty party here." (3544-PS)
     

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor