p1-Bridget5

Bridget Clarke Period 1

On August 18, 1890, in [|Trakehnen, Germany] Walther Emanuel Funk was born. Born into a merchant family, Funk was growing up just like them, getting into a job that deals with financial things. Attending universities at Berlin and Leipzig, he was a pretty bright kid. To break away from all this Walther joined the armed forces at the outbreak of World War I; however he was discharged in 1916 as being unfit for services. So basically Walther Funk knew war, personally.

Now Walther was a man who loved to write. He enjoyed writing so much that he got himself a job of being the editor of the leading German financial and economic daily, called the //Berliner Boerseh Zeitung//, in 1922. Since he was a nationalist and believed in anti-Marxism (anti-communism), he resigned from the newspaper and in the summer of 1931, he joined the Nazi Party. Moving up in the rank of the financial and economic business, he decided to serve for his country again. However this time he wouldn’t be fighting. In July of 1932 he was elected Reichstag deputy, and within the party, in December of 1932 he was made chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy. After the Nazi Party came to power, he stepped down from his Reichstag position and was made Chief Press Officer of the Third Reich.

As time continued, he kept being put into a more powerful position. For example, in March of 1933, again he was given another job. He was then appointed State Secretary at the Ministry of Propaganda. However from 1937 to 1945, Walther Funk was put into the most powerful position of his life. He was the Minister for Economic Affairs. He was Hitler’s //personal// economic adviser. You might think that it doesn’t seem like such a big. Even though he didn’t beat Jews personally, he still had an effect that did just as much. He was the man who drove German Jews from the economy and played a major role in recycling confiscated property, valuables, and financial assets of holocaust victims into the German war economy. So basically he was the guy in charge of taking all of the holocaust victims’ valuables, and putting them into the German economy. Now imagine every single victim had their valuables taken, which must have helped Germany earn a lot of money. However it was just a horrific thing to do…

Near the end of the war, Walther Funk was captured by allied troops. He was then sent to Nuremberg, Germany where his trial was. He was indicted on all counts, however guilty on 4 out of the 5 counts. But, his life was saved due to mitigating evidence. Instead of execution, he was sent to imprisonment for life. Now you might ask yourself, what kind of evidence could save a guy like this? It was said that Walther Funk never took a lead role in the activities in which he participated. He might have been a major role, but not the lead role. From what I have read about his court trial, there were some pretty clever things that were said on his side. So maybe that had a big effect on sparing his life. In his defense, he described himself as “a little man who was frequently allowed up to the door but not in.” What I really find interesting is the fact that he believed that he was partly guilty. He actually admitted it.

“But ignorance of this law is no excuse. A person is guilty even if he breaks the law unknowingly. I shall perhaps be the first of the defendants to get up on that stand and admit that I am partly guilty”

Not only that, but he also almost regrets joining the Nazi Party. He is ashamed of what he did. He felt that he got so far into doing his job that he could not leave. He thought he was helping and serving the people, all until he realized what he was really doing. He said to himself that if only he had stayed with his writing in the first place, he would not have been in the Nazi Party, and he would not be a criminal in Nuremberg Prison.

No matter what him and other people call Walther Funk, in my mind he is a perpetrator. Because what he did was done, and he couldn’t go back and change what he did. He had so much effect on this Holocaust that I must label him a Perpetrator because he caused so many tears. So much pain. So much fury. And he can’t take that back.

In prison for over 10 years, on May 16, 1957 he was released due to ill health. Just before his death, he made a last-minute call on [|Rudolf Hess], [|Albert Speer] and [|Baldur von Schirach] , who are also former Nazis. Three years after being released, at the age of 69, Walther Emanuel Funk died in Düsseldorf, Germany.

"Walther Funk." __Wikiquote__. 17 Aug. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation. 6 May 2009 . " Walther Funk ." __Encyclopædia Britannica__. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 06 May. 2009 < [] >. "The Nuremberg Trials: IMT Charter, Indictments, Verdicts and Sentencing of Major War Figures." __Famous World Trials__. 6 May 2009 .
 * Sources **

"Walther Funk." __Jewish Virtual Library__. 2009. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 6 May 2009 .

"Walther Funk." __Wikipedia__. 5 March 2009. Wikimedia Foundation. 5 May 2009 .