The Nuremberg Interviews (20 page)

I said that he had told the court that he was unaware of the nature of these deposits at all, but that from his present words, it would seem he was explaining how other possibilities for their presence might be conjured up. He replied that in fact he had never seen those SS deposits and only in retrospect was he explaining how, even if he had seen them, it was possible not to link them up with killing people. “I thought, when Oswald Pohl told me of the SS deposits, that they were gold coins seized from persons in concentration camps. Just as every citizen had to turn in his gold coins.”

Regarding the actual deposits from the SS, as revealed in the short film shown in court last Tuesday, Funk said: “Believe me, I had no idea of those eyeglasses, watches, gold teeth. That affidavit of Pohl’s accusing me of having said we should accept the deposits as confiscated property from the eastern territories is false in its implications. I may have had a conversation with him regarding SS deposits, but not of that nature.”

I reminded him of Pohl’s affidavit, in which it was stated that “with Funk’s knowledge and consent these materials were accepted by the Reichsbank.” I also reminded him that Pohl said he had inspected the vaults of the bank along with Funk. He repeated that he had never seen the gold teeth, watches, eyeglass frames, and so forth. He said: “Those deposits must have been sent to the Reichsbank by mistake. They should have gone to the finance minister.” I asked him what difference that would make. He said, “All the difference. I was not finance minister. I had nothing to do with the Finance Ministry.” And so Funk shifted the burden to someone else.

I persisted, however, and remarked that nevertheless the film showed these items in the Reichsbank, and Pohl substantiated their presence and said Funk had knowledge of it, and approved it. Again Funk agreed
that such was the case, but he had not been informed of it. “The Reichsbank presidency was a big job and I did not know everything that went on. If the bank did this, it was wrong.”

I passed on to another facet of Dodd’s cross-examination, namely the Roges Corporation and its being set up by Funk’s ministry and its plundering the markets of France by black market means, using 100 million Reichsmarks in French francs. I asked him about his associate Friedrich Landfried’s affidavit that 100 million was not enough because 30 million were used every ten days, and that 200 million was needed.

“That is so, as Dodd said. But the real thing is that in the Roges Corporation I had little to say either. I was told to go ahead, and a way was shown me. So I did. Later in 1943 I opposed black market dealings. The black market was encouraged by the plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, Goering. I had no say in the matter.”

I remarked that his denial of previous interrogations was interesting to me, as, I daresay, to the tribunal. What did he have to say about them? “I was interrogated when I first came here and at the time everything looked black. Now I can review these things in my mind and separate the black from the not so black.” Funk smiled. I asked him pleasantly but pointedly whether he did not find that with the passage of time and the attempt to justify his own actions, many black things became white. He weakly disagreed. “No. They become clearer.” I asked whether that was the explanation for his having said, “I am guilty,” during early interrogations here, and in court defended himself and denied practically all charges. He said, “In reality, I am guilty as every German who participated in a regime that did cruel, inhuman things. But as to the specific charges, there are legal ways of proving that they are not accurate and I think I did well to repudiate these charges.” He did not look as if he thought he had done too well, at that moment. He looked to me for agreement. I said I was of the opinion he had denied too much and had been too technical in his answers. He attributed that to his illness. “I told you, half the time I felt like my bladder was full.”

I asked him what he thought of Counselor M. Y. Raginsky’s cross-examination for the Russian prosecution. “Those Russians. They did worse things when they entered Pomerania than we ever did in Russia.” I asked him if that was all he had to comment about the Russian cross-examination. “No. I told the court I was against economic plundering in Russia, but that I could do nothing about it. I was not in charge and it was not my responsibility but that of Rosenberg.”

He went on to state that he was against low wages in occupied Russia, against forced labor, against not caring for the welfare of the Russian population. “I was against starvation because for one thing it destroys the production ability of the occupied territory, which was important practically for us. Another thing I was against was taking the labor and forcing it into Germany. I protested it.”

He is still somewhat absorbed in his recent defense before the tribunal, but today I wanted to ask him some questions on his development and family as well as on his marital situation.

Family History:
“My father was an old Königsberg merchant and came from a family of businesspeople. My father himself was a construction engineer who built bridges, canals, sewers, streets, et cetera. At one time he held the title of state engineer. He was a university graduate.”

In response to questions as to his father’s personality and characteristics, Funk said, “Father was a very lively and spiritually alert man of impressive appearance. He was bigger and better proportioned than myself. He was greatly beloved, musically inclined, and had a wonderful baritone voice. One of my father’s brothers was a famous actor of international reputation who had played at St. Petersburg and all over the world. This uncle of mine died early, at the age of forty-two, as the result of a heart attack. Father was sixty-four when he died, also of a heart attack.”

Funk displayed no evidence of emotional disturbance in discussing his father’s ailments or death. He said, “Father suffered for many years from bladder and kidney trouble, and in later years took cures at various spas. He died on his sixty-fourth birthday, when I was thirty-two years old. At that time I was chief editor of a large newspaper. As a matter of fact, just prior to his death I became chief editor, and do you know, it is a curious thing that on the very day my mother died, November 27, 1937, I became minister. My mother outlived my father by fifteen years. She died at the age of seventy-eight of an asthmatic heart attack.”

I asked him whether he had any great emotional attachment to his father. Funk smiled and said, “I would say, ‘Yes.’ As a child, I was colossally spoiled, mainly because of my musical inclinations. At the age of seven I could repeat whole operas, to which my parents frequently took me. I remember after I was taken to see
The Gypsy Baron
, when I came home, my parents were astonished at my ability to reproduce the tunes from that operetta.

“My mother was also very musically inclined and played the piano. She was also well informed in the field of literature. She wrote well and her letters were like books.”

I asked him whether he considered himself emotionally closer to his mother or to his father. “It is hard to say; I was close to both.” In response to my question regarding the personality of his mother, he said, “She was very sensible but inclined to a melancholic disposition. Father was more sanguine but Mother was definitely temperamental. Father loved life, traveled much, enjoyed being with people. Mother desired more the quiet life and was more withdrawn, but they were happily married.

“They were happily married because their tempers were so different. Of course, they had their differences occasionally, and sometimes they would not speak to each other for a few days. But Father usually gave in easily, and was unable to carry a grudge.”

In an attempt to obtain a clear picture of Funk’s childhood, I had to be very specific in my questions. I had the feeling that he was somewhat evasive and was consciously generalizing in many respects. It soon became evident that Funk’s childhood was a rather insecure one in that he lived at home with his parents only until he was nine years of age. “I was only home until my ninth year. After that I went to live in a boarding school. But until my ninth year, we lived in a nice house near the woods and close to a river. It was a rural environment and I grew up with horses and dogs and had no playmates except animals.

“I had an older brother who left home at the age of seven, when I was only four years old. Then I had a second brother, who was ten years younger than myself, and so he wasn’t even born when I left home. Our home was secluded and that was the reason for my having no childhood companions.”

Regarding the school which he attended, he said, “It was a humanistic gymnasium for children of the rich as well as those of the middle class. One had to have money to attend this school. I lived there full-time and visited my home only during vacation. I remained there for nine years, until I graduated at the age of eighteen.”

Education:
Gymnasium, ages nine to eighteen years. Funk gave as his reason for attending boarding school and not living at home the fact that his parents lived in the country and that there were no suitable schools in that part of East Prussia in which he lived. Regarding his life at the
school itself, he said, “In school I was spoiled because of my musical talents. My comrades said that I never passed tests because of knowledge but by virtue of my musical ability. I think that they were a little jealous or resentful because I mingled a great deal with the finest families in town and with the professors in their homes. At the age of sixteen I appeared in public concerts as a pianist and organist.”

Siblings:
A brother age forty-six, ten years younger than himself, is at present in English captivity. He is married and has two sons. He was a reserve officer during the war, but later left the army to become a high administrative official. For this reason he is under arrest automatically. During the First World War this same brother was also in English captivity as a young officer. The brother is a party member and held the title of district magistrate.

Funk’s oldest brother died in early childhood, before Funk was born. He has another brother who is three years older. He was an officer in the First World War and died at the age of forty-five as the result of the gas poisoning he had incurred years before, during that war. This brother has a son who is a soldier in British captivity.

Funk’s only sister died at the age of three. She was slightly younger than Funk.

Marital History:
His wife is two years younger than himself, will be fifty-five in a few months. They have no children. “We couldn’t have children. In the early years of our marriage my wife had an operation because of fibroids, and her womb was removed.” I asked him whether the marriage was disturbed in any way because of this occurrence. He said, “On the contrary, we have been very happy. Of course, we suffered because we could not have children. Recently my wife wrote me a letter asking whether I recalled that on Mother’s Day poor women used to come to our home because they knew we couldn’t have children of our own. They would bring their children with them. People were always good to us.

“My wife lives in a house in a wooded area in the neighborhood of my estate. One day an American officer called for her and brought her to the courthouse. He showed her the prison in which I am incarcerated, and told her that she could not see me. Then she was taken to the detention house on Novalis Street where Heinrich Hoffmann
¹⁰
and other people are staying. The American officer told her that my defense counsel would visit her there. She was nicely treated and four or five days later
the American officer brought her back to her home. After that the American officer told my wife that when the trials were over she and I could live in another country. I guess the officer promised this out of courtesy and that it doesn’t mean very much. It is funny, though. My wife was not called by the defense. Originally my defense counsel wanted to call her but I said it was nonsense and would only be a burden to my wife and to me. She did give an affidavit. You heard about that affidavit in court, the one in which she said that I called Dr. Goebbels on the telephone after the great acts against the Jews of November 9–10, 1938, and how I told Goebbels what an outrage I considered these acts. So, I think her being called here was a case of mistaken identity.

“You know about that conversation with Goebbels. It is funny, I didn’t even remember it, or rather, I didn’t remember that my wife was present when I spoke to Goebbels, because I was so distraught at the time. But my wife happened to be in the next room and clearly overheard my words on the phone.”

I asked him about the personality of his wife, and he replied, “She is colossally lively. She comes from an old Rhineland family of manufacturers. She has traveled a great deal and as a young girl spent some time in Paris with friends. She is extraordinarily lively and skillful, with great ability as an interior decorator. Her favorite occupation is to furnish apartments, houses, et cetera, and she has talent and taste in decoration and in the selection of colors. Last year we would have been able to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary, but at that time I was already in the prison.

“My wife was never a member of the party, and inwardly was opposed to the party. When the persecution of the Jews started, my wife tried with all means to convince me to make a living as a journalist and to give up politics. Unfortunately, I paid no attention because I thought myself obligated to remain at my post and serve the state.

“Our home life was very quiet although we did enjoy good company. We hardly ever met with party people, and our guests were mainly artists, such as Richard Strauss, the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, and similar people of the artistic world, including authors, editors, and scientists. Of all the ministers, the only personal contact I had was with Lammers, and that was not very intimate. We always lived somewhat aside — we had a nice comfortable home which belonged to the Reichsbank, and I also had my personal estate in Bavaria. My wife was therefore
fully occupied with these two large dwelling places. We always had at least eleven guests at my home in Wannsee. On weekends it had the appearance of a tourist hotel. Here in Bavaria in my estate we also had many guests. But what I said before, that we lived quietly and somewhat aside, is true in that we rarely visited other people and we selected guests who were artists and not party people. Occasionally my wife went alone to visit other people but it was hard to convince me to ever leave my home even on weekends. During the week I left home early in the morning to go to work and returned late at night. Saturdays and Sundays I spent at home, and since it was my only chance for relaxation and rest, I didn’t care to leave. We had a wonderful cook who had formerly worked for a brother of the emperor Franz Josef. She was a marvelous baker. I liked to eat and drink well. I also appreciated good cigars. My wine cellar was distinguished for its rare Rhine and Moselle wines and we had some Chartreuse from the original cloisters where the stuff was made.”