Note 115 — IV. GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN LAW DURING THE NAZI PERIOD

For various periods of time under the Hitler regime, over half of the defendants held one or more of the various titles and positions which the defendant Mettgenberg here proceeds to describe. For example, the defendant Joel was a Referent and later a ministerial counsellor; the defendants von Ammon and Westphal were ministerial counsellors; the defendant Mettgenberg himself was a Ministerialdirigent; the defendants Altstoetter and Engert were ministerial directors; and the defendants Schlegelberger, Klemm and Rothenberger were Under Secretaries. Only two persons held the position of Reich Minister of Justice during the Hitler regime, Guertner and Thierack, both of whom were dead by the time of the trial. The defendant Schlegelberger was acting Reich Minister of Justice between the death of Guertner in January 1941 and Thierack’s appointment as Minister in August 1942.