Funk’s position as Plenipotentiary for Economics was vigorously disputed from the beginning. When the Defendant Funk was cross-examined, Document EC-255 was submitted, a letter from the Reich War Minister, Von Blomberg, to the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, Göring, dated 29 November 1937, wherein Blomberg proposes that the Defendant Funk, who had just then, on 27 November 1937, been appointed Reich Minister of Economics, should also be appointed Plenipotentiary for War Economy. This was not, however, done.
Göring himself took over the Reich Ministry of Economics to begin with, and only handed it over to the Defendant Funk in February 1938, 3 months afterward. Then the High Command of the Armed Forces—more especially the Army Economic Staff under General Thomas, whose name has been mentioned repeatedly—requested that the Plenipotentiary for War Economy should be bound in the future to follow the directives of the High Command in all questions concerning supplies for the Armed Forces. In this Document, EC-270, USA-840, the Economic Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces claims a right to direct the Plenipotentiary for War Economy in nearly all his fields of activity.
The Defendant Funk tried by means of a conversation with Reich Marshal Göring and a letter to Reich Minister Dr. Lammers to clarify his position as Plenipotentiary for War Economy, and as such claimed to be placed under the direct command of Hitler and not bound to abide by the directives of the High Command of the Armed Forces. Göring and Lammers concurred with Funk’s opinion. It must, however, be emphasized most strongly that this did not affect Funk’s subordination to Göring, for all the other supreme Reich offices and ministers directly subordinate to Hitler’s command were also bound by the directives of the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, that is, by Göring’s directives.
It is a remarkable fact that according to the Reich Defense Law of 4 September 1938—the Second Reich Defense Law—the Defendant Funk did not become Plenipotentiary for War Economy, but Plenipotentiary for Economics, without the word “War,” and that this act explicitly stated that Funk was bound to comply with the demands of the OKW. The OKW, therefore, won its battle against Funk in the end.
But the individual economic departments, which according to the Reich Defense Law were under the direction of the Plenipotentiary for Economics for his special assignments, were equally unwilling to recognize him. In an interrogatory by the former State Secretary Dr. Hans Posse, Funk’s deputy as Plenipotentiary for Economics (Document 3819-PS, USA-843) which was produced during the cross-examination of the Defendant Funk, Posse states that the Plenipotentiary for Economics “never really exercised any function.” The ministers and state secretaries of the individual economic departments of finance, agriculture, transport, et cetera, did not, according to Posse, wish to be placed under Funk’s control, and even protested against it. Posse also mentions the disputes which Funk had with the Four Year Plan. He calls these conflicts “the struggle for power,” which in this connection simply means the authority to make decisions concerning the other economic departments. This was not a dispute between Göring and Funk; that is untrue because obviously Funk as Plenipotentiary for the Economics was still subordinate to Göring. Actually, this was a quarrel among state secretaries. The individual economic departments declared that they were subordinate to the Delegate for the Four Year Plan and refused to recognize the right of the Plenipotentiary for Economics to give them directives, since Funk himself was under the direction of the Four Year Plan. The state secretaries of the Four Year Plan supported the departments in their interpretation, and this lack of clarity and the overlapping of competencies caused the authority to issue directives to pass formally from the hands of the Delegate of the Four Year Plan a few months after the outbreak of the war.
Questioned by the Prosecution as to whether he had been in the habit of discussing important matters with Funk, the above-mentioned State Secretary Posse replied: “Yes; but these discussions did not produce results.” Posse confirms that the authority given to Göring was much more extensive and that Göring finally dissolved the office of the Plenipotentiary for Economics. According to Funk this happened as early as December 1939, a few months after the outbreak of the war. Funk retained only the formal right to issue decrees. This has also been confirmed by Lammers. Therefore, the Codefendant Göring’s statement that he was also of the opinion that Funk’s position as Plenipotentiary for Economics could be described as having existed only on paper is quite correct.
Naturally the office of the Plenipotentiary for Economics worked in continuous business relations with the other economic departments, with the Four Year Plan, with the staff of the department for defense economics of the German Supreme Command, and with the Plenipotentiary for Administration, that is to say, the Reich Minister of the Interior. As proof the Prosecution presented various documents showing that at the meetings of the Deputy Plenipotentiary for Economics and his staff, questions of finance, war production, labor, and others were discussed. In this connection the office of the Plenipotentiary once also treated the question of employing prisoners of war in the industry, but this was an entirely theoretical discussion (Document Number EC-488, USA Exhibit Number 842).
Why this General Staff economy work, which had to be done in times of peace for the eventuality of war, should be incriminating for the Defendant Funk is not clear. Besides, until August 1939 he personally did not take any interest in the details of these questions. All this work of the Plenipotentiary for Economics consisted of general preparations in case of war and did not apply to any special war. However, when Funk’s proposition for changing over from peacetime to wartime economy was worked out in co-operation with the other economic departments in August 1939, the danger of war with Poland was already pressing.
Nowhere in the material presented by the Prosecution is there a single indication of the fact that the Defendant Funk knew anything about military and political conversations and preparations which had as their object the planning of war—in particular, a war of aggression to be waged by Germany. Funk was never invited to take part in any conversations of this kind. He was, in particular, not present at the well-known discussion with Göring on 14 October 1938, which was treated exhaustively by the Prosecution on Page 24 of the trial brief. According to the Prosecution, Göring during that meeting referred to an order issued by Hitler for an unusual increase in armaments, especially weapons of attack. The Prosecutor declared during the session of 11 January 1946 that at that meeting Göring addressed words to Funk which were described as “the words of a man already at war.” Several documents included in the Funk document book and submitted to the Tribunal prove, however, beyond doubt that the Defendant Funk did not attend that meeting at all, as he was in Sofia at the time in order to conduct economic negotiations with Bulgaria. This exhibit, which the Prosecution obviously intended to use as a main exhibit, is thereby invalidated. On 25 August 1939, the date of Funk’s letter to Hitler to which I referred this morning, the German and Polish armies were already completely mobilized and stood face to face with each other. He was, therefore, compelled to act in that particular manner, and by that time he was no longer able to cancel any of the preparations. All this is corroborated by the diary kept by the witness Kallus and submitted in the Funk document book under Number 18. The Defendant Funk stated here on the witness stand:
“It was naturally my duty as Plenipotentiary for Economics to do all I could to prevent the civilian section of the economy from being shattered in the event of war, and it was also my duty as president of the Reichsbank to increase as much as possible the Reichsbank’s reserves of gold and foreign currency.”