Walther Funk

Walther Funk
Name	Walther Funk
Caption	Walther Funk in 1939
Birth date	18 August 1890
Birth place	Berlin, German Empire
Death date	31 May 1960
Death place	Düsseldorf, West Germany
Occupation	Economist; Banker; Politician
Nationality	German

Walther Funk was a German economist, banker, and Nazi official who served as Minister of Economics and President of the Reichsbank during the Third Reich. A participant in high-level fiscal and monetary policymaking, he played a central role in implementing economic measures, currency controls, and asset seizures linked to Nazi racial policy and wartime finance. After World War II he was tried at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and convicted for crimes including plunder and participation in a common plan for aggressive war.

Early life and education

Funk was born in Berlin and studied at institutions such as the University of Berlin and the University of Greifswald, where he pursued economics and law. Influenced by conservative nationalist networks and contacts in Prussian civil service circles, he joined professional associations connected to Deutscher Volksverein-era organizations and early post-World War I economic debates. During the Weimar Republic he worked in journalism and publishing, building ties to figures in German National People's Party-aligned editorial circles and to financiers in Berlin and Munich.

Banking and economic career

Funk entered the financial and publishing sectors, holding positions with firms that connected him to leading bankers and industrialists such as Hjalmar Schacht, Alfred Hugenberg, and members of the Thyssen and Krupp families. He served on boards and used contacts within the Reichsbank network and commercial banks in Frankfurt and Leipzig. His publishing roles linked him to media conglomerates involved with UFA (film company) and conservative press outlets allied with nationalist politicians like Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher. These connections helped him transition into political appointments under the emerging National Socialist regime.

Role in the Nazi government

After the rise of Nazi Party leadership under Adolf Hitler, Funk was appointed to senior economic posts and became a visible regime economist alongside figures such as Hermann Göring and Wilhelm Keppler. He succeeded Hjalmar Schacht as Minister of Economics and later was made President of the Reichsbank, roles that placed him in the cabinets of successive Reich Chancellors and within the apparatus of the Third Reich. Funk interacted with agencies including the Reich Ministry of Finance, the Four Year Plan authority, and the Ministry of Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels. He also took part in international financial diplomacy with delegations to Geneva, London, and occupied capitals.

Involvement in wartime economic policies and Aryanization

As Reichsbank President and Minister, Funk implemented monetary policies, currency controls, and fiscal measures to finance rearmament and occupation, coordinating with administrators like Albert Speer, Walther von Brauchitsch, and Ernst von Weizsäcker. He participated in the coordination of looting and asset transfers involving institutions such as the Reichsbank, the Deutsche Bank, and various occupation administrations in Poland, France, and the Netherlands. Funk’s offices were linked to the seizure and “Aryanization” of Jewish property involving intermediaries like Emanuel Schäfer-linked security services, Adolf Eichmann’s emigration and deportation apparatus, and commercial agents connected to IG Farben and Friedrich Flick. Occupation monetary policies in territories such as the General Government (Poland) and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia used currencies and credit instruments overseen by Reich financial authorities, facilitating forced transfers from institutions including synagogues, Jewish businesses, and communal organizations.

Arrest, Nuremberg Trial, and conviction

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, Funk was arrested by Allied forces and indicted at the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg Trials). Prosecutors charged him with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, including plunder and participation in plans for aggressive war alongside co-defendants such as Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel. At Nuremberg he testified on economic policy, monetary operations, and relations with industrialists and banking houses like Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank. The Tribunal found him guilty on counts related to plunder and participation in a common plan; he received a sentence markedly influenced by evidence of his administrative participation in economic exploitation.

Imprisonment, later life, and death

Funk was imprisoned in Landsberg Prison and served part of his sentence before being released early by authorities managing postwar sentences amid broader political considerations involving Allied Occupation policies. After release he lived in West Germany and sought to resume a private existence, maintaining contacts with former officials and industrial figures such as members of the Thyssen and Krupp networks. He published memoir fragments and engaged in limited correspondence with former colleagues but remained a controversial figure in postwar debates over restitution, denazification, and the role of business under National Socialism. Funk died in Düsseldorf in 1960 and has since been the subject of historiographical study by historians of the Third Reich, economic historians, and scholars of transitional justice.

Category:1890 births Category:1960 deaths Category:German economists Category:Nazi Party politicians Category:People convicted at the Nuremberg trials