I need help to find information about the post-war life and testimony of 5 Hitler's Reichsministers

[sfivdf21]

Hello everyone, lately when I have been dealing with issues related to "Holocaust" revisionism I have been paying a lot of attention to the compilation of the post-war testimonies of the main National Socialists and collaborators of Hitler in general (you know, Reichsministers, high rank NSDAP officials, high military command of the Wehrmacht, the Hitler's Inner Circle, etc.). However, speaking about ministers, I toke a look at all the members of Hitler's cabinet and their post-war lives and testimonies (I am referring only to those Hitler's Reichsministers who did not commit suicide at the end of the war and that were not sentenced to death or live imprisonment in Nuremberg and therefore sometime after the war they were released and died as free men in the 1950s, 1960s and even in some cases in the 1970s and 1980s), and yet there are 5 of them whose post-war lives are very undocumented and I have not been able to find any information on the internet about it (the only thing I found are rehashes of the little information that Wikipedia offers). Next I am going to cite which are those 5 Hitler's Reichsministers that I am referring to and analyze the little and insufficient information that appears on wikipedia and the internet in general about their post-war lives (and nothing about their post-war testimony as Hitler's Reichsministers and their role in the Third Reich). But to avoid confusion, I want to clarify to you before I begin that by "post-war testimonies" I'm not referring to their statements at the infamous Nuremberg trials (in the first place because in the case of some of the Reichsministers that I am going to cite, we do have information about it and in secondly because as you know, due to the circumstances of intimidation, torture and coercion, the Nuremberg statements in many cases are not credible or reliable and do not express what the defendants really thought) but in their post-war lives since they were released until they died. In other words, since their lives were no longer in danger, they finally had the opportunity to speak at least to a certain extent with more sincerity and freedom about their experiences, about their role in the Third Reich and the Second World War as Hitler's Reichsministers and high ranking National Socialist leaders and their views on the "Holocaust" lies and atrocity propaganda against them. That said, let's start listing Hitler's Reichsministers whose post-war testimony, life, and statements are largely undocumented.

1- The first of them is Walther Funk (Reichsminister of Economics since 5 February of 1938 until 2 May of 1945). The only information I have been able to find about his postwar live on wikipedia and other internet sites is that he was released on May of 1957, that he made a last-minute call on Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach before leaving Spandau prison (but no information is specified or given on what type of "last-minute" call it was) and that he died of diabetes in Düsseldorf on 31 May of 1960. But beyond that superficial information, no more information is given and no further details of what Funk's postwar life was like since his release in 1957 until his death. Does anyone of you know if from his release until his death Funk wrote and published some memoirs (as other Nuremberg defendants did after their release such as Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Albert Speer or Hans Fritzsche) and/or granted interviews to historians and/or journalists to talk about his role in the Third Reich and the war (as did the aforementioned Dönitz and Speer)? If so, I would be very grateful if you would let me know, because Walther Funk was one of the main National Socialist leaders and one of Hitler's most important Reichsministers, so his post-war testimony is undoubtedly of vital importance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Funk

2- Franz Schlegelberger (Reichsminister of Justice since 30 January, 1941 until 20 August 1942). About Schlegelberger's post-war life I could only find that he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 at the infamous Judges' Trial, although he was released in 1951 for health reasons, that for decades he received a monthly pension of DM 2,894 (by comparison, the average monthly income in Germany at the time was of DM 535, implying that Hitler's former Reichsminister of Justice had a privileged life in post-war Germany, though according to German-speaking wikipedia due to pressure from the SPD parliamentary group his pension was finally reduced to 600 marks in 1966), that it was tried to been tried again after his release but that attempts to re-imprison Schlegelberger were foiled by the West German Justice and that since his release he lived in Flensburg until his death on December 14, 1970. In both the German-speaking and English-speaking wikipedia in the "bibliography" section of Schlegelberger's writings several books are mentioned that he wrote after his release in 1951 but no details are given about it and judging from the titles of these books it seems to be books on purely legal matters and have nothing to do with his role as Reichsminister of Justice. Having said all this, Franz Schlegelberger is closely related to the "Holocaust" lie (see the Schlegelberger document/Schlegelberger letter), he was one of Hitler's ministers who lived more. Like I said before, he was released in 1951 and died in 1970, so he had nearly 20 years to write memoirs and give many interviews about his role as Hitler's Reichsminister of Justice and exposing his views on the anti-German accusations and the lies of the "Holocaust" (in addition to the fact that Schlegelberger had the great advantage of having had much less intimidation and coercion against him during the postwar period than many other National Socialist leaders and Hitler's ministers and having a postwar life much more privileged than many of them). I am very interested in Schlegelberger's post-war testimony (especially his views on the "Holocaust" claims), so if anyone has any information about it please feel free to let me know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schlegelberger
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schlegelberger

3- Hans Heinrich Lammers (Chief of the Reich Chancellery since 30 January 1933 until 24 April 1945 and Reichsminister without Portfolio since 1 December 1937 until 24 April 1945). Without a doubt, he was one of the most important men of the Third Reich and one of Hitler's closest collaborators. About Lammers' testimony and post-war life the only information I found is that he was a defense witness at the infamous Nuremberg trials in April 1946, that from April 1949 he was tried in the so-called Ministries Trial, where he was sentenced to 20 years in prison but his sentence was commuted to 10 years and that sometime between 1951 and 1954 he was released from Landsberg Prison (there seem to be contradictory sources on the date he was pardoned), that he died on 4 January of 1962 in Düsseldorf and that he was buried in Berchtesgaden in the same plot as his wife and daughter. However it doesn't mention any details about his life after his release, whether he published memoirs and gave interviews or not, whether he made public appearances or chose to remain completely anonymous, etc. So assuming Lammers was released in 1954 (and not 1951) he spent the last 8 years of his life as free man, so he also had plenty of time to write a memoirs and/or give interviews about his important role in the Third Reich. Hans Heinrich Lammers due to his position as Chief of the Reich Chancellery was without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable men about all the state secrets of Germany and knew all the documents of the Hitler government (both official and non-official who were state secrets) and in fact as have been proved in this forum he strongly denied that there had been any plan to exterminate the Jews (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13978&p=102072&hilit=Hans+Heinrich+Lammers#p102072, viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12287&p=91296&hilit=Hans+Heinrich+Lammers#p91296), so if he wrote memoirs and gave interviews after his release he would surely have spoken a lot about this particular issue. If anyone has any information about Lammers' post-war life after his release please let me know, that may be of the utmost importance to "Holocaust" Revisionism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Lammers

4- Walther Darré (Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture since 29 June 1933 until 23 May 1942). He was one of the main ideologues of National Socialism which makes his post-war testimony of great importance. However, the only available information about his post-war life that I have been able to find states that Darré was arrested by the Allies in 1945 and imprisoned in the Ludwigsburg air-raid barracks. That he was tried in the so-called Ministries Trial, where he was charged by the US military court with confiscating the property of Polish and Jewish farmers and ordering that Jews be denied basic food, allegedly causing civilians to die of hunger That on 14 April 1949, Darré was sentenced to seven years in prison but was released from Landsberg prison by the Allied occupation authorities in August 1950 for health reasons. The German-speaking wikipedia claims that Walther Darré spent the last years of his life in the town of Bad Harzburg and that he died on 5 September 1953 in a private clinic in Munich; that he was buried in the Hildesheimer Strasse cemetery in Goslar to a high level of sympathy from the people of Goslar, with many of them attending his funeral to pay their respects to the Reichsernährungsminister, and even the then Mayor of Goslar was present and the city covered the Darré's funeral expenses.

As in the case of Franz Schlegelberger, in the "writings" section (where the writings published by Walther Darré throughout his life appear) you can see 2 books that he published after his release in 1950 under the pseudonym of C. Carlsson (the first published in 1951 by the German revisionist publisher Türmer Verlag and the second in the German-Argentine revisionist magazine Der Weg in 1953). So as we can see, Darré was encouraged to publish two books after being released, although like those postwar writings published by Schlegelberger, were books focused on purely professional matters and had nothing to do with his role in Hitler's government as Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture. In the case of Darré, it seem to be books published on agricultural issues, although it seems significant to me that he published them under a pseudonym and in openly revisionist publishers. That can help us get an idea that Darré was perhaps willing to talk about his role in the Third Reich and his views on the "Holocaust" lie, although I have no record that he did. Do any of you know if he did it? If so, I would greatly appreciate the information.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Darr%C3%A9

The Russian-speaking wikipedia claims that after being released in 1950 he worked as a consultant in agricultural chemistry.

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0 ... 1%80%D0%B4

5- Wilhelm Ohnesorge (Reichspostminister from 2 February 1937 to 30 April 1945). This man is probably the most unknown National Socialist leader and the less notorious of all the Hitler's Reichsminister. Not only his post-war life is largely undocumented but also his trajectory in the NSDAP and his role in the Third Reich is almost entirely unknown. The only information that I have found about his life after 1945 is that during the infamous denazification after the war, as a leading member of the NSDAP, the allies brought charges against him. However, for unknown reasons, these charges were later overturned and Ohnesorge was not sanctioned for his involvement in Hitler's government despite being a personal friend of the Führer, an early National Socialist (he joined the NSDAP at such an early date as the year 1920 being his Party Membership the Nr. 42) and having the rank of Reichsminister in the Hitler cabinet. His post-war life remains undocumented beyond the fact that according to the German-speaking wikipedia Ohnesorge was released in 1955 and then lived on a pension until his death in Munich in 1962. Ohnesorge was probably in terms of hierarchy in Hitler's government the least important of the ministers mentioned, but undoubtedly because he was a personal friend of the Führer his post-war testimony (if it's true that after his release he opened to talk about his role in the Third Reich and his relationship with Hitler, that's what I'm trying to find out) can also be very interesting, just for having been a Hitler's minister the Ohnesorge's testimony worths it to be known.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_O ... (Politiker)

In closing, any information that can be found on the post-war life of those 5 Hitler's Reichsministers and any statements that they may have made (either about their role in the Third Reich, the WWII and the "Holocaust" or about their relationship with Hitler) seem highly valuable to me, no matter if were through interviews, letters, personal diaries or memoirs. Any type of information about it that you can find is highly welcome to me.

Thanks in advance,

sfivdf21

[hermod]

But to avoid confusion, I want to clarify to you before I begin that by "post-war testimonies" I'm not referring to their statements at the infamous Nuremberg trials (in the first place because in the case of some of the Reichsministers that I am going to cite, we do have information about it and in secondly because as you know, due to the circumstances of intimidation, torture and coercion, the Nuremberg statements in many cases are not credible or reliable and do not express what the defendants really thought) but in their post-war lives since they were released until they died. In other words, since their lives were no longer in danger, they finally had the opportunity to speak at least to a certain extent with more sincerity and freedom about their experiences, about their role in the Third Reich and the Second World War as Hitler's Reichsministers and high ranking National Socialist leaders and their views on the "Holocaust" lies and atrocity propaganda against them.

The postulate that the high-ranking National Socialist survivors were free to share their past experiences after the end of WWII is gullible and preposterous (no offense intended). No Hitler bashing in post-WWII public statements was the best way to be labelled as an-unrepentant-nay-dzee-mass-murderer-who-wants-to-kill-six-godzillion-Jews-and-eat-babies and treated accordingly. Denazification was no joke. One could say that the Germans of the 1950s and 1960s (former NS leaders or not) were as 'free' to talk about the Holocaust, the 2nd World War and the 3rd Reich as the Germans of today are...

https://postimg.cc/ppq27yt6

https://postimg.cc/0z7spCCD

https://postimg.cc/9DsBjd38

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazific ... scheid.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification

[EtienneSC]

In closing, any information that can be found on the post-war life of those 5 Hitler's Reichsministers and any statements that they may have made (either about their role in the Third Reich, the WWII and the "Holocaust" or about their relationship with Hitler) seem highly valuable to me, no matter if were through interviews, letters, personal diaries or memoirs.

There have been quite a few German studies of middle-ranking officials in recent years. For example:

1. Walther Funk Reichsminister of Economics - Blind Obedience and Denial: The Nuremberg Defendants. Andrew Sangster (forthcoming).
2. Franz Schlegelberger Reichsminister of Justice - Recht oder Unrecht?: Der Verwaltungsrechtsstreit des Staatssekretärs Franz Schlegelberger um seine beamtenrechtlichen Versorgungsbezüge. Hennig von Alten (2013). This is about his post-war right to a pension, but it includes discussion of the "Jewish question".
3. Hans Heinrich Lammers Chief of the Reich Chancellery - Hans-Heinrich Lammers: Der Chef von Hitlers Reichskanzlei. Volker Koop. (2017).
4. Walther Darré Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture. Richard Walther Darré: Der "Reichsbauernführer", die nationalsozialistische "Blut und Boden"-Ideologie und Hitlers Machteroberung. Horst Gies (2019).
5. Wilhelm Ohnesorge Reichspostminister - Die Neue Hakeburg: Wilhelminischer Prachtbau, Hitlers Forschungszentrum. Hubert Faensen (2018).
I'd try looking through their bibliographies.

[Otium]

4. Walther Darré Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture. Richard Walther Darré: Der "Reichsbauernführer", die nationalsozialistische "Blut und Boden"-Ideologie und Hitlers Machteroberung. Horst Gies (2019).

There's also 'Richard Walther Darré: Kommandeur der deutschen Bauernschaft' by Eric Kaden:

Richard Walther Darré was a politician from the forefront of National Socialist Germany as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture, Reich Farmers' Leader, NSDAP Reichsleiter, Chief of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office and SS-Obergruppenführer. His name is inseparably linked with the ideologically charged concept of "blood and soil", with the Reichserbhofgesetz, the Reichsnährstand and the market organisation. With factual and source-based argumentation, this biography describes the meteoric rise of this versatile Nazi functionary and writer. Already during the Third Reich, Darré was controversial because of his ideological ideas, his peasant politics as well as personal vanity and claims to power. For a limited period of time, however, the agricultural expert succeeded in rising to become a key figure in National Socialist agricultural and peasantry policy and the apologist for a state concept of "blood and soil" as well as one of the most powerful men in the SS. The individual stages of the theoretician and granted practitioner are traced in detail, as well as special aspects such as the intimate friendship with Heinrich Himmler or initiatives for alternative-ecological land management are examined in more detail.

A comprehensive pictorial section rounds off the presentation, which is unprecedented in its totality and thoroughness.

The book was published by DVG-Verlag (Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft) which specialises in literature on the Third Reich and revisionist historiography.

---

I actually have an edited version of Darré's private diary, but it's truncated, and purposely so. It's editor was the Nationalsocialist Agrarian functionary, and State Secretary of Lower Saxony, Hanns Deetjen. In his brief forward to the diary in November 1972, he wrote:

At the request of a circle of old members of the association "Gesundes Landvolk" and with the consent of Mrs Charlotte Darre, I have produced an exerpt [of the diary] which makes the work and character of Darre quite clear to those in the know and which brings to life once again the whole personal tragedy of his life. . .

He also wrote:

In order not to damage R. Walther Darre's personality - in retrospect in the public eye - when evaluating fragmentary diary entries, partly under ad hoc emotions and depressions, always a known danger to the connoisseur - the 19 diaries were subsequently destroyed. It is the wish of the friends repeatedly gathered in this cause dear to our hearts to consider this extract intended only for their own hands and not to let it fall into foreign hands.

It was not intended for publication, and never has been. The preliminary note written by Deetjen elaborates further on the conditions in which the diary was written, it's volatile nature. For example:

The diary records many very personal things - as one would say today - from the "intimate sphere", from duel demands to family concerns of a very special kind, which scbon for this reason prohibit the transfer of these diaries, for example to the Federal Archives or other places where research on National Socialism is conducted. In addition, the diaries contain very harsh and, on later reflection, unjust judgements about personalities still alive today. Darre very often confided in his diary - the contents of which were probably known neither to his wife nor to anyone else - what he was feeling at the moment he wrote it down, without any caution or consideration. This could then lead from one day to the next to the statement: Prey friend, tomorrow enemy and the day after tomorrow perhaps friend again.

This must be what David Irving meant when he told me earlier this year that: "Elke Fröhlich [editor of the Goebbels diary] told me once, many years ago, around 1995, that the Darré diary is very lurid, and hence edited down, as I was able to see for myself a year or two after."

Whether Irving's last comment meant that he was able to 'see for himself' because the complete diary still might exist, is an interesting question. Irving used the diary in his 1978 book 'The War Path'. So it seems to me that he could hardly have confirmed this out of just seeing the truncated version of the diary, but would've had to have seen the unedited version. But I can't know for sure, his answer was evasive. Although there is a copy of Darre's diary in the Sammlung Irving file in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, so that might yield answers.

The diary which does remain has clearly been significantly cut down from its original 19 volumes to a mere 134 typewritten pages. Many entries are a paltry one sentence, and not even particularly long sentences either. Others are summaries from Deetjen, containing not a word from Darré at all.

An example from the diary, Darré's reflection upon 10 years of work on June 1st, 1940:

Ten years ago I started working for Adolf Hitler! ... That God has helped me in an almost unimaginable way to get through until today! I have been able to cope with the mental, moral and economic decline of the German peasantry. With the best will in the world, however, no inner reassurance ... Everything is still too fragile ... Göring's economic policy metternichiades are also a burden ... Himmler's power-hungry dilettantism ... Backe's failure of character ... There are also forces ready to destroy my work in a short time ... but not the self-confidence of the German peasantry.

1 June 1940, Darré Diary.

Obviously the ellipsis indicate where certain sections of the entry have been removed.

---

Darré's various correspondence which seems to be mostly post-war is held in the German Federal Archives. The letters to his wife Charlotte from the years 1946-1950 are currently "Blocked for any use until January 1st, 2023". So, nobody has seen these yet. I'm interested in what they reveal, if anything. Also in the archives is an unfinished biography manuscript written in the 1950s by Hartwig von Rheden who was an SA-Führer and friend of Darré's. Very interesting stuff indeed.

[sfivdf21]

But to avoid confusion, I want to clarify to you before I begin that by "post-war testimonies" I'm not referring to their statements at the infamous Nuremberg trials (in the first place because in the case of some of the Reichsministers that I am going to cite, we do have information about it and in secondly because as you know, due to the circumstances of intimidation, torture and coercion, the Nuremberg statements in many cases are not credible or reliable and do not express what the defendants really thought) but in their post-war lives since they were released until they died. In other words, since their lives were no longer in danger, they finally had the opportunity to speak at least to a certain extent with more sincerity and freedom about their experiences, about their role in the Third Reich and the Second World War as Hitler's Reichsministers and high ranking National Socialist leaders and their views on the "Holocaust" lies and atrocity propaganda against them.

The postulate that the high-ranking National Socialist survivors were free to share their past experiences after the end of WWII is gullible and preposterous (no offense intended). No Hitler bashing in post-WWII public statements was the best way to be labelled as an-unrepentant-nay-dzee-mass-murderer-who-wants-to-kill-six-godzillion-Jews-and-eat-babies and treated accordingly. Denazification was no joke. One could say that the Germans of the 1950s and 1960s (former NS leaders or not) were as 'free' to talk about the Holocaust, the 2nd World War and the 3rd Reich as the Germans of today are...

https://postimg.cc/ppq27yt6

https://postimg.cc/0z7spCCD

https://postimg.cc/9DsBjd38

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazific ... scheid.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denazification

Hello hermod, thanks for your reply and your information. Don't worry, I'm not offended by your answer, anyway I think you misunderstood me when I said that Hitler's former Reichsministers who survived the infamous Nuremberg trials and were released sometime in the 1950s had more freedom to speak about their experiences with the Führer and their role as ministers in the Third Reich after their release than during the Nuremberg trials where depending that they could claim it could cost them their lives. Of course the infamous denazification wasn't a joke, it was an atrocious crime and a mass terror projected against an entire nation. However and despite this, it's a fact that in the 1950s and 1960s Western Germany (despite being under the yoke of an occupation regime which is a puppet of foreign powers) there was more freedom of expression than today (in the communist puppet occupation regime of the the DDR things were different). It's also an obvious fact that Germany is an occupied country since 1945 and therefore without national sovereignty or freedom, but due to the tense climate of the Cold War and above all because the puppet authorities of the BRD regime knew that without the former NSDAP officials it was going to be impossible to rebuild Germany, the infamous and unpopular denazification was declared ended in the early 1950s and the ideological persecution against National Socialism in Western Germany was almost non-existent until well into the 1960s (except in some cases in the early 1950s where the National Socialists encouraged to overthrow the BRD puppet occupation regime and restore the Third Reich, such as the case of General Otto Ernst Remer's SRP or the Gauleiterkreis of the former State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Werner Naumann). Thus, during the 1950s, 1960s and even the most part of the 1970s, Hitler's former Reichsministers (and high ranking military officers, members of Hitler's inner circle, and party officials in general) who survived the war and Nuremberg had more freedom to talk about their experiences than they had during the Nuremberg trials and than they had since the 1980s. If I remember correctly, it was not until 1993 that "Holocaust" Revisionism was outlawed in the Federal Republic (although by the end of the 1970s some revisionist books had begun to be systematecly banned). However, since the 1950s untile the late 1970s there was at least to some extent more freedom in West Germany to talk about National Socialism, Hitler, the Third Reich and the "Holocaust" (at least much more than today). For example, Helmut Sündermann, an important National Socialist high ranking official who was the deputy press Chief of the NSDAP and a Reichstag member since 1942 until 1945, founded the publishing house Druffel Verlag in 1952 (I don't know if it still exists today), an openly National Socialist and Revisionist publishing house in which the memoirs of prominent National Socialist leaders were published and in which books that praises Hitler and the Third Reich and even debunks the "Holocaust" lie were also published. In fact Sündermann himself openly questioned the "Holocaust" during the post-war decades, in his memoirs 'Hier stehe ich… – Deutsche Erinnerungen 1914/45 ' (published posthumously in 1975, three years after his death), he claimec that it was necessary to persecute the Jews because the National Socialist measures against the Jews were national security measures in times of war. He also questioned the figure of "6 million" and stated that he did not see any evidence that there was any "extermination" against the Jews by the Hitler's government (as a curious fact, Sündermann appears as the witness Nr. 35 in the well-known and excellent Gerd Honsik's revisionist book, 'Freispruch für Hitler').

Another notable example is the famous public statement that Hitler's sister made in the year 1957 in defense of her brother in which she praised and defended the Führer's legacy and his patriotic fight for Germany. Unfortunately, something like these two examples that I menctioned is unthinkable in the current Federal Republic. This doesn't mean that the early Federal Republic was better than the current one (an occupation regime that is created to subjugate a country to foreign enemy powers of which it's a puppet is always and evil and ilegitime regime and political system), but due to the prevailing circumstances in Germany and Europe during the 1950s, it was tolerated in West Germany that there was (I repeat, only at least to some extent) more freedom to express openly pro-Hitler, pro-Third Reich and Revisionist views.

Greetings,

sfivdf21

[sfivdf21]

In closing, any information that can be found on the post-war life of those 5 Hitler's Reichsministers and any statements that they may have made (either about their role in the Third Reich, the WWII and the "Holocaust" or about their relationship with Hitler) seem highly valuable to me, no matter if were through interviews, letters, personal diaries or memoirs.

There have been quite a few German studies of middle-ranking officials in recent years. For example:

1. Walther Funk Reichsminister of Economics - Blind Obedience and Denial: The Nuremberg Defendants. Andrew Sangster (forthcoming).
2. Franz Schlegelberger Reichsminister of Justice - Recht oder Unrecht?: Der Verwaltungsrechtsstreit des Staatssekretärs Franz Schlegelberger um seine beamtenrechtlichen Versorgungsbezüge. Hennig von Alten (2013). This is about his post-war right to a pension, but it includes discussion of the "Jewish question".
3. Hans Heinrich Lammers Chief of the Reich Chancellery - Hans-Heinrich Lammers: Der Chef von Hitlers Reichskanzlei. Volker Koop. (2017).
4. Walther Darré Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture. Richard Walther Darré: Der "Reichsbauernführer", die nationalsozialistische "Blut und Boden"-Ideologie und Hitlers Machteroberung. Horst Gies (2019).
5. Wilhelm Ohnesorge Reichspostminister - Die Neue Hakeburg: Wilhelminischer Prachtbau, Hitlers Forschungszentrum. Hubert Faensen (2018).
I'd try looking through their bibliographies.

Hello EtienneSC, thanks for your reply and your information.

I will try to get hold of these books, it seems very interesting (of the 5 that you have menctioned to me the one that I finded the most interesting is the one that seems to be a biography of Hans Heinrich Lammers, I hope it also covers his years after being released in 1951 or 1954). However the as yet unpublished one by Andrew Sangster (I didn't know him) and which you have put next to Walther Funk's description seems to be a full analysis of all the Nuremberg defendants (I hope it covers their later lives to trials). Judging by the title I have the impression that it's going to be the typical book destined to slander and denigrate the leadership of the Third Reich, however I will try to get it anyway, to see if it offers information about Funk's life after his release in 1957.
And about the biography of Franz Schlegelberger which you say deals primarily with his post-war entitlement to a pension, but also deals with his role as Reichsminister of Justice on the Jewish question I have to get, certainly it can be of great value and interest for the aspects more purely related to the "Holocaust" issue.

Greetings,

sfivdf21

[research]

Regarding Hans Heinrich Lammers, the following book should be mentioned, in which Lammers was "involved".

Helmut Sündermann: Das Dritte Reich. Eine Richtigstellung in Umrissen, Druffel-Verlag, second edition 1964 (first edition 1959).

Table of contents in the German National Library

The 1964 edition states:

It is now possible for the author to mention with gratitude the important and valuable help he received in the winter of 1958-59 on the part of the former Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Reichsminister Hans-Heinrich Lammers, who has since died. Former Reich Minister Lammers - appointed to his important office in the spring of 1933 as an experienced official of the Reich Ministry of the Interior by the confidence of Reich President von Hindenburg and subsequently Hitler's direct collaborator in all matters of state policy - critically reviewed the manuscript of the "Erwiderung" and provided numerous comments. In view of the then ongoing attempts to deny the almost eighty-year-old former Reich Minister his pension entitlements acquired during his previous decades of civil service, it seemed advisable to omit the thank-you note in the first edition of this publication.

[sfivdf21]

4. Walther Darré Reichsminister for Food and Agriculture. Richard Walther Darré: Der "Reichsbauernführer", die nationalsozialistische "Blut und Boden"-Ideologie und Hitlers Machteroberung. Horst Gies (2019).

There's also 'Richard Walther Darré: Kommandeur der deutschen Bauernschaft' by Eric Kaden:

41KSBVopQQL.jpg

Richard Walther Darré was a politician from the forefront of National Socialist Germany as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture, Reich Farmers' Leader, NSDAP Reichsleiter, Chief of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office and SS-Obergruppenführer. His name is inseparably linked with the ideologically charged concept of "blood and soil", with the Reichserbhofgesetz, the Reichsnährstand and the market organisation. With factual and source-based argumentation, this biography describes the meteoric rise of this versatile Nazi functionary and writer. Already during the Third Reich, Darré was controversial because of his ideological ideas, his peasant politics as well as personal vanity and claims to power. For a limited period of time, however, the agricultural expert succeeded in rising to become a key figure in National Socialist agricultural and peasantry policy and the apologist for a state concept of "blood and soil" as well as one of the most powerful men in the SS. The individual stages of the theoretician and granted practitioner are traced in detail, as well as special aspects such as the intimate friendship with Heinrich Himmler or initiatives for alternative-ecological land management are examined in more detail.

A comprehensive pictorial section rounds off the presentation, which is unprecedented in its totality and thoroughness.

The book was published by DVG-Verlag (Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft) which specialises in literature on the Third Reich and revisionist historiography.

---

I actually have an edited version of Darré's private diary, but it's truncated, and purposely so. It's editor was the Nationalsocialist Agrarian functionary, and State Secretary of Lower Saxony, Hanns Deetjen. In his brief forward to the diary in November 1972, he wrote:

At the request of a circle of old members of the association "Gesundes Landvolk" and with the consent of Mrs Charlotte Darre, I have produced an exerpt [of the diary] which makes the work and character of Darre quite clear to those in the know and which brings to life once again the whole personal tragedy of his life. . .

He also wrote:

In order not to damage R. Walther Darre's personality - in retrospect in the public eye - when evaluating fragmentary diary entries, partly under ad hoc emotions and depressions, always a known danger to the connoisseur - the 19 diaries were subsequently destroyed. It is the wish of the friends repeatedly gathered in this cause dear to our hearts to consider this extract intended only for their own hands and not to let it fall into foreign hands.

It was not intended for publication, and never has been. The preliminary note written by Deetjen elaborates further on the conditions in which the diary was written, it's volatile nature. For example:

The diary records many very personal things - as one would say today - from the "intimate sphere", from duel demands to family concerns of a very special kind, which scbon for this reason prohibit the transfer of these diaries, for example to the Federal Archives or other places where research on National Socialism is conducted. In addition, the diaries contain very harsh and, on later reflection, unjust judgements about personalities still alive today. Darre very often confided in his diary - the contents of which were probably known neither to his wife nor to anyone else - what he was feeling at the moment he wrote it down, without any caution or consideration. This could then lead from one day to the next to the statement: Prey friend, tomorrow enemy and the day after tomorrow perhaps friend again.

This must be what David Irving meant when he told me earlier this year that: "Elke Fröhlich [editor of the Goebbels diary] told me once, many years ago, around 1995, that the Darré diary is very lurid, and hence edited down, as I was able to see for myself a year or two after."

Whether Irving's last comment meant that he was able to 'see for himself' because the complete diary still might exist, is an interesting question. Irving used the diary in his 1978 book 'The War Path'. So it seems to me that he could hardly have confirmed this out of just seeing the truncated version of the diary, but would've had to have seen the unedited version. But I can't know for sure, his answer was evasive. Although there is a copy of Darre's diary in the Sammlung Irving file in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, so that might yield answers.

The diary which does remain has clearly been significantly cut down from its original 19 volumes to a mere 134 typewritten pages. Many entries are a paltry one sentence, and not even particularly long sentences either. Others are summaries from Deetjen, containing not a word from Darré at all.

An example from the diary, Darré's reflection upon 10 years of work on June 1st, 1940:

Ten years ago I started working for Adolf Hitler! ... That God has helped me in an almost unimaginable way to get through until today! I have been able to cope with the mental, moral and economic decline of the German peasantry. With the best will in the world, however, no inner reassurance ... Everything is still too fragile ... Göring's economic policy metternichiades are also a burden ... Himmler's power-hungry dilettantism ... Backe's failure of character ... There are also forces ready to destroy my work in a short time ... but not the self-confidence of the German peasantry.

1 June 1940, Darré Diary.

Obviously the ellipsis indicate where certain sections of the entry have been removed.

---

Darré's various correspondence which seems to be mostly post-war is held in the German Federal Archives. The letters to his wife Charlotte from the years 1946-1950 are currently "Blocked for any use until January 1st, 2023". So, nobody has seen these yet. I'm interested in what they reveal, if anything. Also in the archives is an unfinished biography manuscript written in the 1950s by Hartwig von Rheden who was an SA-Führer and friend of Darré's. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Hello Otium, thanks for your reply and information.
This biography of Walther Darré written by Eric Kaden seems very interesting to me. In addition to the fact that apparently Kaden is a member of the NPD, which makes the book hardly suspect of being a critical biography of Walther Darré and the Third Reich in general and therefore even more interesting. In fact, it may even be an apologetic biography of Walther Darré and National Socialism (honestly, the truth is that if this is the case I would be very happy, we already have more than enough of anti-German/anti-National Socialist propaganda, so we will always it is good to see the other point of view in times with as so little freedom as those that run today). Although according to the German-speaking wikipedia "it's said that Kaden had separated himself from the far-right scene", implying that he renounced National Socialism and Revisionism and abandoned his NPD membership (although wikipedia also claims that Kaden is currently a member of the parliamentarian group of the AfD in the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt, curious because according to wikipedia AfD is also "far-right"). However I contrasted that information with the German-speaking Metapedia and it doesn't mention anything about his alleged renounce of the NPD and the "far-right scene" and changed it to the AfD, who knows if the wikipedia (as it's so usual) has lied.

Anyway, going back to the subject of the book, I would like so much to buy it, but since it's a book published by a local German revisionist publisher I don't know if it can be bought from abroad, or in other words, if it can be bought outside of Germany. I hope that if it can be acquired in my country.

Also it's very interesting what you said about the edited version of Darré's private diary. Out of curiosity, how did you manage to do it? That's a primary source document, certainly a very valuable one. For what you have mentioned about the reasons why Darré's personal diary was truncated, if I have not misunderstood it was because apparently according to his friend and comrade Hanns Deetjen it was a personal diary that was not intended to be published and that therefore it contained many passages of a very private and personal nature (which I suppose that Darré wanted to keep it in private) and because it was truncated by a person who was very close to Darré and with the knowledge and consent of his wife, his diary was truncated to protect the image of the Reichsernährungsminister and to prevent that the diary falled into the hands of people hostile to Darré.

I'm a little confused by what you've told me that David Irving told you about Darré's diary, you say that Irving told you earlier this year that Elke Fröhlich told him around 1995 that Darré's diary is very "lurid" (Did Irving tell you what he meant by "lurid"? Perhaps Darré's diary in the original version contains passages that debunks the "Holocaust"?) and therefore it was hence edited down.

As for the partially censored passage of June 1, 1940 from Darré's diary (I suppose that if it's censored it's because it belongs to the authentic version, it's true or does it belong to the truncated version?) I was surprised, because I didn't know that Walther Darré had bad relations with Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler (if it's true, that would contradict the Kaden's biography which claims that Himmler and Darré were close friends) and his State Secretary and later successor as Reichsernährungsminister, Herbert Backe. In a passage that appears partially censored, Darré claims that there are also forces ready to destroy his work in a short time. What forces was Darré referring to here (I repeat, if that passage you quoted belongs to the authentic version of his diary and not the truncated one)?

Also very revealing is what you have stated about the correspondence of Walther Darré (predominantly from the postwar period, which is the most unknown part of Darré's life and that the most interesting to me) currently guarded by the Bundesarchiv. As you say, the correspondence he had with his wife from 1946 to 1950 (that is, during the period which he was imprisoned) will be blocked for any use until 1 January 2023. Very suspicious, why nobody can't see this correspondence? Does it contain statements by Darré that jeopardize the official narrative of the "Holocaust" and World War II (like the unpublished manuscripts of Fritz Darges that he wanted to be published after his death)? In any case, the positive part is that there is little left for these documents to be accessible. Now that David Irving has finished his biography of Himmler, perhaps he will be encouraged to research it the next year, who knows. As you have said, it's a very interesting things that in my opinion can be of great help to the revisionist movement.

Greetings,

sfivdf21

[Otium]

Also it's very interesting what you said about the edited version of Darré's private diary. Out of curiosity, how did you manage to do it? That's a primary source document, certainly a very valuable one. For what you have mentioned about the reasons why Darré's personal diary was truncated, if I have not misunderstood it was because apparently according to his friend and comrade Hanns Deetjen it was a personal diary that was not intended to be published and that therefore it contained many passages of a very private and personal nature (which I suppose that Darré wanted to keep it in private) and because it was truncated by a person who was very close to Darré and with the knowledge and consent of his wife, his diary was truncated to protect the image of the Reichsernährungsminister and to prevent that the diary falled into the hands of people hostile to Darré.

Yes. That's correct.

I'm a little confused by what you've told me that David Irving told you about Darré's diary, you say that Irving told you earlier this year that Elke Fröhlich told him around 1995 that Darré's diary is very "lurid" (Did Irving tell you what he meant by "lurid"? Perhaps Darré's diary in the original version contains passages that debunks the "Holocaust"?) and therefore it was hence edited down.

No, that's unlikely. You really shouldn't make unwarranted assumptions, not to mention that the whole diary is edited down, not just the parts concerning the war. Deetjen specifically says that it records 'very personal things' from the 'intimate sphere', thus, relating to sex, and no doubt other things too, though we cannot know for sure because the diary is lost to time. Unless of course, as I want to think but wasn't told, that Irving some way, some how, actually has a copy of the full diary. Though I must say, that for as much as I'd like to think this is the case, it seems unlikely to me because I don't think Deetjen was lying when he said it was destroyed.

'Lurid' is just another word to describe things which are detailed, explicit, sensational, and shocking. That the diary is 'lurid' is the same thing Deetjen refers to when he merely sketches the reason it was edited.

As for the partially censored passage of June 1, 1940 from Darré's diary (I suppose that if it's censored it's because it belongs to the authentic version, it's true or does it belong to the truncated version?) I was surprised, because I didn't know that Walther Darré had bad relations with Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler (if it's true, that would contradict the Kaden's biography which claims that Himmler and Darré were close friends) and his State Secretary and later successor as Reichsernährungsminister, Herbert Backe. In a passage that appears partially censored, Darré claims that there are also forces ready to destroy his work in a short time. What forces was Darré referring to here (I repeat, if that passage you quoted belongs to the authentic version of his diary and not the truncated one)

All passages in the diary are censored. Like I said, we're talking about a diary which spanned 19 oilcloth binders (sounds like they were loose leaf if that's the case, much like Rosenberg's diary) which now - presumably - only survives in a meagre 134 typewritten pages.

You seem also to be confused about the diary. There aren't more than one version. The only version which I can confirm exists is the one, edited down, by Deetjen. That doesn't mean it's inauthentic, only incomplete.

The diary also doesn't contradict Kaden, what it shows, as Deetjen says, is that Darré's relationships changed over time. It's well known that he was initially very good friends with Himmler and Backe, but these relationships turned sour and this is the kind of thing, written in moments of passion, that remain in the diary. There's one point in which Darré derides the SS for it's 'Cheka methods' and proclaims that 'The German people has never been so unfree as now!' (November 26, 1939) and derides (on May 22, 1940) the 'cult of Himmler and his first name' because he named his private train 'Heinrich' which to him seemed 'downright comical' (geradezu komisch), as if he thought himself the reincarnation of King Heinrich I (Er hält sich für die Reinkarnation König Heinrich I).

The break in their relationship seems to have occurred in early October 1939, when he wrote:

Harmening reports that all settlements in Poland are to be transferred to the SS by Führer decree. This is the decisive defeat of my life!

Why did Himmler keep silent about me? Well, now I am at least completely clear about his character and know that the accusations of the other Reich leaders against Himmler are true after all.

2 October 1939, Darré Diary.

And a few days later:

Asked to Lammers. Chief's meeting about my objection in the settlement case in Poland ... Himmler appeared, blushed when he saw me ... The Führer decree remains, since it is logical and clear ... Necessity of a special representative justified, since our administration is unreasonably ordered.

However, the REM's responsibility for the formation of a new German peasantry remains unaffected. Without Lammer's help, the RUS-Hauptamt (Race and Settlement Main Office) would have won. Himmler did not show a clear attitude. My honour means loyalty?

7 October 1939, Darré Diary.

The order he's referring to is that issued on the same day - October 7 - the "Decree of the Führer and Reich Chancellor for the Consolidation of German Nationality" (Erlass des Fuhrers und Reichskanzlers zur Festigung deutschen Volkstums) which I've read in the 'Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS' file in the Bundesarchiv.

Also very revealing is what you have stated about the correspondence of Walther Darré (predominantly from the postwar period, which is the most unknown part of Darré's life and that the most interesting to me) currently guarded by the Bundesarchiv. As you say, the correspondence he had with his wife from 1946 to 1950 (that is, during the period which he was imprisoned) will be blocked for any use until 1 January 2023. Very suspicious, why nobody can't see this correspondence? Does it contain statements by Darré that jeopardize the official narrative of the "Holocaust" and World War II (like the unpublished manuscripts of Fritz Darges that he wanted to be published after his death)? In any case, the positive part is that there is little left for these documents to be accessible. Now that David Irving has finished his biography of Himmler, perhaps he will be encouraged to research it the next year, who knows. As you have said, it's a very interesting things that in my opinion can be of great help to the revisionist movement.

I doubt it.

[sfivdf21]

Regarding Hans Heinrich Lammers, the following book should be mentioned, in which Lammers was "involved".

Helmut Sündermann: Das Dritte Reich. Eine Richtigstellung in Umrissen, Druffel-Verlag, second edition 1964 (first edition 1959).

Table of contents in the German National Library

The 1964 edition states:

It is now possible for the author to mention with gratitude the important and valuable help he received in the winter of 1958-59 on the part of the former Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Reichsminister Hans-Heinrich Lammers, who has since died. Former Reich Minister Lammers - appointed to his important office in the spring of 1933 as an experienced official of the Reich Ministry of the Interior by the confidence of Reich President von Hindenburg and subsequently Hitler's direct collaborator in all matters of state policy - critically reviewed the manuscript of the "Erwiderung" and provided numerous comments. In view of the then ongoing attempts to deny the almost eighty-year-old former Reich Minister his pension entitlements acquired during his previous decades of civil service, it seemed advisable to omit the thank-you note in the first edition of this publication.

Hello research, thanks for your reply and information. Well, although the excerpt that you have shown to me about Hans Heinrich Lammers, in the acknowledgments of Helmut Sündermann in the 1964 version of his 1959 book, Das Dritte Reich. Eine Richtigstellung in Umrissen, does not fully reveal what Hans Heinrich Lammers did for a living and what became of his life after his release, it helps me to get a simplified and partial idea about ​​how the Chief of the Chancellery lived since his release until his death. What is obvious is that due to the fact that in 1959 (as Sündermann appoints) Lammers was 80 years old (so when he was released no later than 1954, he was about 75 years old) he lived as a pensioner thanks to having been a Reichsminister during the Hitler's era and that due to that reason, certain political and pressure power groups tried to take away his right to receive a pension from the state and because this reason he decided to avoid getting into trouble and live unnoticed the rest of his days, that reason is why that he asked Sündermann not to mention that he collaborated with him on his revisionist book on the history of the Third Reich until he died. It's also a fact that Hans Heinrich Lammers never renounced National Socialism nor Hitler and that he remained loyal to the memory of the Führer until his death (unlike traitors such as Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach). That is the reason why after his release he agreed to collaborate with Helmut Sündermann (another important high-ranking National Socialist official) in a revisionist book that debunks the lies against the Third Reich and shows a positive view of the Hitler era. By the way, I am also very interested in getting this Sündermann's book, although as it's a very old revisionist book that was published in West Germany during the 1950's I don't know if it would be available outside Germany. By the way, what is the "Erwiderung" manuscript that Sündermann mentions?

Changing the subject a bit, about the life and activity of Walther Funk after his release until his death (in his case, he was released in 1957 and died in 1960) do you know anything? It's of all the Hitler's Reichsministers that I have mentioned in this thread that I have found the least information about his post-release life. In fact I have not found any information that gives the slightest detail of his life after his release until his death (the only thing that is mentioned is that he died in Düsseldorf but nothing more else). Did Funk collaborate with any revisionist work about Hitler and/or the Third Reich like Lammers did with Sündermann? Did he publish any memoirs or a private manuscript about his role as Reichsminister of Economics in the Hitler cabinet at least? If you know anything about it, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

sfivdf21

[Otium]

By the way, what is the "Erwiderung" manuscript that Sündermann mentions?

Look at the table of contents. The first part of the book, pages 9 to 80 is titled 'Eine Erwiderung' (A Reply), this is what Sündermann is referring to, and the part of the book Lammer's reviewed and commented on for publication in Sündermann's book.

I actually have Sündermann's book, the 1964 edition. It's much expanded from the first edition. He's not an insignificant personality either. being Otto Dietrich's assistant in the Reich press office. It's funny how Dietrich went on to slander Hitler and Nationalsocialism, while Sündermann didn't. I've been curious about what Sündermann's views of Dietrich after the war had been, whether he was still in contact with him or not until he died in 52'.

[sfivdf21]

By the way, what is the "Erwiderung" manuscript that Sündermann mentions?

Look at the table of contents. The first part of the book, pages 9 to 80 is titled 'Eine Erwiderung' (A Reply), this is what Sündermann is referring to, and the part of the book Lammer's reviewed and commented on for publication in Sündermann's book.

I actually have Sündermann's book, the 1964 edition. It's much expanded from the first edition. He's not an insignificant personality either. being Otto Dietrich's assistant in the Reich press office. It's funny how Dietrich went on to slander Hitler and Nationalsocialism, while Sündermann didn't. I've been curious about what Sündermann's views of Dietrich after the war had been, whether he was still in contact with him or not until he died in 52'.

Thanks for the clarification. Out of curiosity, did you acquire the 1964 version of Sündermann's book on the Third Reich outside Germany? If it's the case, through which publisher were you able to acquire it?

Certainly Helmut Sündermann was no insignificant figure in the Third Reich, he was the deputy press Chief of the NSDAP (as well as a member of the Reichstag) since 1942 until the end of the war and Germany's defeat. Which made him the second most powerful and influential person in the National Socialist regime in terms of the control of the press. Yes, now that you mention it, I knew from a lot of time ago about the case of Otto Dietrich's betrayal of Hitler and National Socialism after the war. What I can say about it is that the fact that while Dietrich renounced on everything after the war and by the other hand Sündermann remained loyal to the memory of Hitler and National Socialism until his death was because Dietrich proved to be a coward and an opportunist, while Sündermann proved to be a man of integrity, brave and honorable. As for Helmut Sündermann's post-war views on Otto Dierich, I don't know if the two men were still in contact in the 1950s, but seeing the contrast in their post-war attitudes seems unlikely to me, which is also why I'm inclined to believe that Sündermann's opinion of Dietrich after the war must have been very hostile and negative (not only because Dietrich betrayed Hitler's memory, but also because of the fact that being Sündermann's boss and mentor during the time of the Third Reich probably made that Dietrich's betrayal was even more shocking, evil and immoral to him). The matter of contrasting post-war attitudes between Otto Dietrich and Helmut Sündermann reminds me very much of the Albert Speer-Hermann Giesler case. While Speer (as we all know) betrayed everything (like Dietrich), Giesler (the other official architect of the NSDAP and Hitler's regime) remained loyal to the memory of Hitler and National Socialism until his death (like Sündermann). Perhaps we could also make a second comparisonabout it with the case between Baldur von Schirach on the one hand and his succesor as Reichsjugendführer, Arthur Axmann on the other. While von Schirach also disowned and slandered Hitler, I think that if I'm not wrong Axmann remained loyal to the Führer after the war, though I'm not entirely sure. I know that he wrote some memoirs (which unfortunately I haven't been able to read yet) and that he appeared in some TV documentaries about Adolf Hitler and World War II in the 1980's. If you know something about it, could you confirm or belie it?

Going back to the topic of the thread and Sündermann's book on the Third Reich's history, on the one hand the book was started to writing in 1958 and published in 1959. Hans Heinrich Lammers (a former Hitler's Reichsminister who was still alive at the time) collaborated with Sündermann to write his book. And on the other hand Walther Funk, another former Hitler's Reichsminister who also was still alive and already released from prison at the time that Sündermann's book was written and published (Funk was released in 1957 and died in year 1960). So now that I think about it, it's possible that Funk also agreed to collaborate with Sündermann on his book on the history of the Third Reich? And speaking of Walther Funk, you know something known about his post-war life?

Thanks in advance,

sfivdf21

[research]

Sündermann's book "Das Dritte Reich – Eine Richtigstellung in Umrissen" (in which Lammers was also involved) was at that time an answer or "Erwiderung" to the mainstream book by Hans Buchheim "Das Dritte Reich – Grundlagen und politische Entwicklung".
Der Spiegel, 1960
HTML

[Hektor]

....
1- The first of them is Walther Funk (Reichsminister of Economics since 5 February of 1938 until 2 May of 1945). The only information I have been able to find about his postwar live on wikipedia and other internet sites is that he was released on May of 1957, that he made a last-minute call on Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach before leaving Spandau prison (but no information is specified or given on what type of "last-minute" call it was) and that he died of diabetes in Düsseldorf on 31 May of 1960. But beyond that superficial information, no more information is given and no further details of what Funk's postwar life was like since his release in 1957 until his death. Does anyone of you know if from his release until his death Funk wrote and published some memoirs (as other Nuremberg defendants did after their release such as Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Albert Speer or Hans Fritzsche) and/or granted interviews to historians and/or journalists to talk about his role in the Third Reich and the war (as did the aforementioned Dönitz and Speer)? If so, I would be very grateful if you would let me know, because Walther Funk was one of the main National Socialist leaders and one of Hitler's most important Reichsministers, so his post-war testimony is undoubtedly of vital importance.
.....
sfivdf21

There is a text authored by Walther Funk: 'Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft (1943)' = European Economic Community.
It is about the reorganization of Europe after a German victory or terms agreeable to Germany.

He was an important man, but how important exactly is another matter. The thing here is that there is a vast number of 'high official' that had merely 'expertise functions' as oppose to some real political power in making decision and giving direction. This isn't that different from ministers, secretaries of state nowadays. They are for sure not powerless, but also not as 'all-powerful' as many people seem to think.

At the IMT they tried to frame Funk with all kinds of things, which he however rejected. He did have had some regrets about what (supposedly) "happened to the Jews". Obviously under the impression of the atrocity propaganda movies presented in Nuremberg. Nevertheless it's interesting to listen to how Thomas Dodd tries to frame him. The same Thomas Dodd that was worried that ~75% of those involved in the trial were Jewish. What Dodd uttered is more potent than what Funk said. Simply because it appears more credible than what the accused would say, against whom it would be held that they were 'Antisemites'. So there is no way around it that the trial was heavily influence by Jews who had an axe to grind. Most people will of course link this to NS-Antisemitism, but this falls short. Jewish Germanophobia (and 'hostility towards Christians') is older than the NSDAP.

The one thing they tried to frame Funk with were the 'wedding rings' deposit in some reserve bank storage, suggesting that it came from Jews being gassed somewhere. But that has all the alarm bells of planted suggestive pseudo-evidence about it. Quite like the trinket table in Buchenwald.

Hans Fritzsche is another interesting case. Essentially an official dealing with 'public relations' aka propaganda (as they called it then pretty honestly). In his book "Sword in the Scales" Fritzsche points out that he noticed that Jews played an important role at the IMT: "A glance round the hall revealed the presence of a comparative1v large number of Jews, the fate of whose race was one of the chief features of the trial and who, therefore, represented to us the hostile camp in a double sense. One or two of us reckoned that they would have a particularly stiff time with Jewish accusers; others averred that it would be only honest to thrash things out direct with those who yesterday had been our principal victims and were now our principal opponents. Be that as it may, after some initial Anxiety we were finally convinced that there was not a single Israelite either on the Bench or among the prosecutors with one exception— though I may say he was a conspicuously active exception —of a former emigrant, Dr. Kempner. On the other hand, we soon learnt that a very high proportion of the experts and interpreters were Jews. Moreover, towards the end of the trial, a large number of Jewish lawyers suddenly joined the American prosecution. Many of these individuals had been until a few years before German citizens, and the prison officials referred to them as specialists in matters relating to internal conditions in the Reich, they had come to help prepare further proceedings which were being put in hand."

The book also gives some indication on how Fritzsche (and I suppose many of the other accused) came to believe that what later was coined 'the Holocaust' was somehow true and not only atrocity propaganda. It's the combination of the Death-Mill type of film and the Hoess + Ohlendorf footage. Hoess essentially representing the concentration camps (Auschwitz) and Ohlendorf representing the Einsatzgruppen. In later calculation this added up to 4 million Jews killed in concentration camps mostly by gassing and 2 Million Jews killed by shooting behind the Eastern Front. Those 'confessions' were of course not 'voluntarily', but I doubt the accused realized this at the time of the IMT. Although there are some hints that Fritzsche realized that there was something fishy with Bach's testimony. And it seems he realized that there were more problems with the narrative than just this one of von dem Bach-Zelewski.

What the charges and witnesses alleged appeared to some extent still plausible and conclusive to him. But appearance isn't being. There was no attempt to prove the allegation technically with forensic evidence. It was more of "There are dead Jews, so there must have been an extermination program". The pictures of piles of bodies are the 'proof for this'. But photos don't prove causality. So it is a fallacy of logic. Just like the 'where did they go, if they weren't gassed' line of argument is a fallacy. But being confronted with statements and pictures is persuasive to most in an audience. Few people will realize that they are lied to on such a massive scale. And even if they don't trust their own capability to notice a lie, they will put their trust in others to notice and express it. Problem is that most with a soap box in 1946 wanted to believe that lie.

A compilation on what NS-leadership wrote post WW2 would be interesting. There is of course always the question whether they wrote so earnestly and sincerely or, why they tried to 'recant' and 'make a buck' from this. I think there are several Albert Speer books and some have the character of the later. It seems the 'recantations' are the books that get pushed in distribution as well. The Fritzsche book is definitely worth reading so is the Funk Text on European Economic Community. Ironically that was, what predecessor organization of the European Union was called, but of course they didn't give credit where credit was due.