Nazi politician, born in Trakehnen, Germany. He studied at Berlin and Leipzig, was one of Hitler's chief advisers, and succeeded Schacht as minister of economics and president of the Reichsbank. He played a leading part in planning the economic aspects of the attack on Russia, and in the exploitation of occupied territories. Captured in 1945, he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a war criminal, but was released in 1957 because of illness.
Walther Emanuel Funk (August 18, 1890 - May 31, 1960) was a prominent Nazi official.
Early life
Funk was born into a merchant family in Königsberg, East Prussia. He was the son of building contractor Walther Funk the elder and his wife Sophie (née Urbschat). In 1919 Funk married Luise Schmidt-Sieben.
Political life
Funk, a nationalist and anti-Marxist, resigned from the newspaper in the summer of 1931 and joined the Nazi Party, becoming closer to Gregor Strasser who arranged his first meeting with Adolf Hitler. Partially due to his interest in economic policy, he was elected a Reichstag deputy in July 1932, and within the party, he was made chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy in December 1932; After the Nazi Party came to power, he stepped down from his Reichstag position and was made Chief Press Officer of the Third Reich.
Third Reich career
In March 1933, Funk was appointed as a State Secretary at the Ministry of Propaganda. In January 1939 Funk gained another credit to his name when he assumed the post of President of the Reichsbank, again replacing Schacht.Nuremberg
Despite poor health Funk was tried with other Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg Trials. Göring described Funk as "an insignificant subordinate," but documentary evidence and his wartime biography Walter Funk, A Life for Economy were used against him during the trial, leading to his conviction on counts 2, 3 and 4 of the indictment and his sentence of life imprisonment.
Funk was held at Spandau Prison along with other senior Nazis.
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