FUNK: No; and I was not a member of the Cabinet, either.
DR. SAUTER: Dr. Funk, we have frequently seen and heard of an affidavit by the American Consul General, Messersmith, dated 28 August 1945, Document 1760-PS. He says in the passage which concerns you:
“He had been the editor of one of the leading financial journals in Berlin before the Nazis came in and had very little open Nazi sympathy when they did come in.”
He goes on to say:
“...later he became an ardent Nazi and one of their most effective instruments because of his undoubted capacities in various fields.”
That is what the American Consul General, Messersmith, says about you. I should like to remind you of another passage from the book by Dr. Oestreich, which I have already mentioned and which has the title Walter Funk, A Life for Economy. That is 3505-PS, which has already been used and submitted in these proceedings.
In this book the author says that the assignments given to you by the Party, even if they covered a period of a few months only, might be regarded as particularly important.
What can you tell us about these two quotations?
FUNK: I have already stated that I declared myself for the Party and took up my Party work with enthusiasm. I was never attached to the propaganda organization, as has been asserted by Mr. Messersmith. I cannot remember that I ever knew Mr. Messersmith at all; nor do I remember discussing Austria with him, which he also asserts.
DR. SAUTER: Nor the Anschluss of Austria to Germany?