7182 - Walther Funk Document Signed at Nuremberg, Seeking Testimony from Hitler’s Finance Minister

Walther Funk Document Signed at Nuremberg, Seeking Testimony from Hitler’s Finance Minister Partly-printed DS, in German, one page, 8 x 11.75, January 10, 1946. Document headed (translated), "The International Military Tribunal, Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness," made while preparing his defense for the Nuremberg trials. Funk and his defense lawyer, Fritz Sauter, request testimony from "Count Schwerin-Krosigk, former Reich Minister of Finance, presumably in American imprisonment," citing his knowledge of the following facts: "He can testify that the moment the Defendant Funk assumed direction of the Reichsbank, the authority to determine the amount of Reich notes to be discounted by the Reichsbank was withdrawn from the President of the Reichsbank and was thenceforth exercised by Hitler himself...that the proposal for a war emergency levy in August 1939 was not made by the Defendant Funk...that the preparations for financing the war and for a civilian war economy, mentioned in a letter from the Defendant Funk, to Hitler, dated 25 August 1939, were initiated in August 1939." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Walther Funk, and countersigned by his defense counsel, Fritz Sauter. Restored to near fine condition, with professional cleaning and archival backing to fill in minor paper loss to edges. Accompanied by a contemporary English translation. Funk's goal in calling Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk before the Tribunal was to rebut the prosecution's case that the Reichsbank, under his presidency, knowingly received, stored, and melted down gold and valuables looted from concentration camp victims, including gold teeth, and to distance himself from an alleged agreement between Himmler, Funk, and Krosigk on processing the confiscated assets. The strategy split the difference: Funk was acquitted on the conspiracy count but convicted on the remaining three, including for his role in the concentration camp gold, and sentenced to life imprisonment.