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Partly-printed DS, in German, one page, 8 x 12.25, no date but circa 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 "Dr. Schwedler, Reichsbank director" citing his knowledge of the following facts: "This witness can confirm that, for years, he was constantly in the company of the accused Funk, especially on journeys, (when they travelled together), that in particular he also made all the arrangements for the accused Funk's journeys and that, in consequence, he can state that, to his knowledge, Funk has never visited a concentration camp, and in particular, not the one at Dachau, and that the accused Funk never took part in a Finance Minister's conference, no matter where.
These facts are important for my defense on the following grounds:
The witness Dr. Blaha has stated in his deposition in the present trial that he was told that the accused Funk had once made a visit to the Dachau concentration camp. In fact, Funk has never been in the concentration camp at Dachau or in any other such camp. Through the testimony of the witness named above, the account of Dr. Blaha can be set aside and shown to be false." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Walther Funk. Backed by a lightweight cardstock sheet and in very good to fine condition, with professional cleaning having evidently obliterated the date and Sauter's signature.
This application was submitted specifically to rebut the deposition of Dr. Franz Blaha, a former Dachau inmate who testified he had been told Funk once visited the camp. Funk's defense argued Schwedler, as his constant companion, would have known immediately of any such visit, and further suggested Blaha had confused Funk with another Nazi official or relied on unreliable hearsay. The stakes were high: Funk's knowledge of the SS's recycling of gold teeth, jewelry, and other valuables looted from camp victims into the Reichsbank sat at the heart of his indictment, and disproving a personal camp visit was central to his claim of plausible deniability.
The tribunal was not persuaded. Funk was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his broad institutional role in exploiting occupied territories and financing the Nazi war machine, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
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