As Minister of Economics, Funk accelerated the pace of rearmament and as Reichsbank president banked for the SS the gold teeth fillings of concentration camp victims, probably the most ghoulish collateral in banking history.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Funk notes his role in rearmament and the horrific use of victims' gold as collateral, acknowledging the dark history.
- In plain terms
- He helped fund the war and accepted gold from concentration camp victims.
- What can you take from it?
- Economic decisions can enable atrocities without direct violence.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does finance enable war?
- When does profit become complicity?
Another view
Acknowledging the crime does not absolve responsibility.
More from Walther Funk
A Reichsbank president who was totally ignorant of what went in and out of the vaults of his bank.
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