V. EVIDENCE CONCERNING PRINCIPAL ISSUES IN THE CASE (continued 9)

Thus, the defendant committed an offense also under section 2 of the decree against public enemies.

The personal character of the defendant likewise stamps him as a public enemy. The racial pollution practiced by him through many years grew, by exploiting wartime condition, into an attitude inimical to the nation, into an attack on the security of the national community during an emergency.

This was why the defendant Katzenberger had to be sentenced, both on a crime of racial pollution and of an offense under sections 2 and 4 of the decree against public enemies, the two charges being taken in conjunction according to section 73 of the penal code.

In view of the court the defendant Seiler realized that the contact which Katzenberger continuously had with her was of a sexual nature. The court has no doubt that Seiler actually had sexual intercourse with Katzenberger. Accordingly the oath given by her as a witness was to her knowledge and intention a false one, and she became guilty of perjury under sections 154 and 153 of the penal code.

IV

In passing sentence the court was guided by the following considerations:

The political form of life of the German people under national socialism is based on the community. One fundamental factor of the life of the national community is the racial problem. If a Jew commits racial pollution with a German woman, this amounts to polluting the German race and, by polluting a German woman, to a grave attack on the purity of German blood. The need for protection is particularly strong.

Katzenberger practiced pollution for years. He was well acquainted with the point of view taken by patriotic German men and women as regards racial problems and he knew that by his conduct the patriotic feelings of the German people were slapped in the face. Neither the National Socialist Revolution of 1933, nor the passing of the Law for the Protection of German Blood in 1935, neither the action against the Jews in 1938, nor the outbreak of war in 1939 made him abandon this activity of his.

As the only feasible answer to the frivolous conduct of the defendant, the court therefore deems it necessary to pronounce the death sentence as the heaviest punishment provided by section 4 of the decree against public enemies. His case must be judged with special severity, as he had to be sentenced in connection with the offense of committing racial pollution, under section 2 of the decree against public enemies, the more so, if taking into consideration the defendant’s personality and the accumulative nature of his deeds. This is why the defendant is liable to the death penalty which the law provides for such cases as the only punishment. Dr. Baur, the medical expert, describes the defendant as fully responsible.

Accordingly, the court has pronounced the death sentence. It was also considered necessary to deprive him of his civil rights for life, as specified in sections 32–34 of the penal code. When imposing punishment on the defendant Seiler, her personal character was the first matter to be considered. For many years, Seiler indulged in this contemptible love affair with the Jew Katzenberger. The national regeneration of the German people in 1933 was altogether immaterial to her in her practices, nor was she in the least influenced when the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor was promulgated in September 1935. It was, therefore, nothing but an act of frivolous provocation on her part to apply for membership in the NSDAP in 1937 which she obtained.

When by initiating legal proceedings against Katzenberger the German people were to be given satisfaction for the Jew’s polluting activities, the defendant Seiler did not pay the slightest heed to the concerns of State authority or to those of the people and decided to protect the Jew.

Taking this over-all situation into consideration the court considered a sentence of 4 years of hard labor as having been deserved by the defendant.

An extenuating circumstance was that the defendant, finding herself in an embarrassing situation, affirmed her—as she knew—false statement with an oath. Had she spoken the truth she could have been prosecuted for adultery, aiding, and soliciting. The court therefore reduced the sentence by half despite her guilt, and imposed as the appropriate sentence 2 years of hard labor. (Sec. 157, par. I, No. 1, of the Penal Code.)

On account of the lack of honor of which she was convicted, she had to be deprived of her civil rights too. This has been decided for a duration of 2 years.

Taking into consideration the time spent in arrest pending trial: Section 60, Penal Code. Costs: Section 465, Code of Criminal Procedure.

[Signed] Rothaug

Dr. Ferber

Dr. Hoffmann

Certified:

Nuernberg, 23 March 1942

The Registrar of the Office of the Special Court for the district of the Nuernberg Court of Appeal with the District Court Nuernberg-Fuerth

[Stamp]

District Court

[Illegible signature]

Nuernberg-Fuerth

Justizinspektor

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-129

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 355

LETTER FROM DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER AND GREISER, REICH GOVERNOR OF THE WARTHEGAU (POLAND) TO LAMMERS, 15 DECEMBER 1941, STATING THAT GREISER’S AUTHORITY CONCERNING THE EXECUTION OF DEATH SENTENCES AND PARDONING OF POLES AND JEWS IS NO LONGER RESTRICTED

Berlin, 15 December 1941

II a-2-3020/41

To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Chancellery of the Reich

Subject: Letter of the cosignatory Reichsstatthalter of the Reichsgau Wartheland, dated 13 November 1941

Since the cosignatory Reichsstatthalter of the Reichsgau Wartheland has been notified by the cosignatory Reich Minister of Justice, that until further notice, that is for the duration of war, the delegation of authority to the Reichsstatthalter in the Reichsgau Wartheland to order the execution of death penalties against Poles and Jews, as well as for pardoning of Poles and Jews who have been sentenced to death, is no longer restricted, the contents of the communication of 13 November is of no further consequence.

[Signed] Schlegelberger

[Signed] Greiser

Rk 1000 B

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-128

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 354

LETTER FROM THE PROVINCIAL PRESIDENT OF UPPER SILESIA TO LAMMERS, 26 JANUARY 1942, REQUESTING THE POWER OF AMNESTY FOR POLES AND JEWS SENTENCED TO DEATH

BK 1279 28 January 1942 [Initial] Fi [Ficker]

Provincial President

Of the Province of Upper Silesia

O. P. I b 3

[Handwritten] on hand RM 1,000 B 1ob

BBT 145

Katowice, 26 January 1942

Hindenburgstrasse

Telephone: 34 921

[Initial] Ma 28/1

[Initial] Gg

[Illegible initial]

28/1

To the Chief of the Reich Chancellery

Reich Minister Dr. Lammers

Reich Chancellery

Berlin

Dear Reich Minister:

The decree of 4 December 1941, 1b (Reich Law Gazette I, p. 759), concerning penal measures against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories aims at punishing quickly and effectively criminal acts committed by Poles and Jews within the Incorporated Eastern Territories. Its success, however, is doubtful as long as it is necessary to obtain a decision from the Reich Minister of Justice before granting amnesties [Gnadenrecht] to Poles and Jews sentenced to death. In view of the peculiar criminal and political situation in Upper Silesia, which is marked by the growing Polish resistance movement, such delays—especially in wartime—are intolerable.

I therefore request you to take steps to have transferred to the power of granting amnesties—at least for the duration of the war—to Poles and Jews within the province of Upper Silesia who have been legally sentenced to death.

I should like to point out especially that according to an article in the periodical “Deutsches Recht,” 1941, (p. 2472), the Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter in the Reichsgau Wartheland [Greiser][358] has already been granted similar powers.

Heil Hitler!

Yours

[Signed] Bracht

N 89 Justice 12

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-126

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 356

LETTER FROM DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER TO LAMMERS, 26 MAY 1942, TRANSMITTING A COPY OF SCHLEGELBERGER’S DECREE DELEGATING THE RIGHT TO PARDON POLES AND JEWS TO REICH GOVERNORS AND PROVINCIAL PRESIDENTS

[Stamp]

Reich Chancellery 7996B-2 June 1942

[Initial] Fi [Ficker]

1 enclosure

Reich Minister of Justice

9170 East /2—IIa-2-1054/42

Berlin W 8, 26 May 1942

Wilhelmstrasse 65

Telephone: 11 00 44

Long distance: 11 65 16

[Initial] Kr [Kritzinger]

To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

Subject: Delegation of the right of pardon in the case of Jews and Poles

Reference: Letter of 16 March 1942—Reich Chancellery 2477 B.

1 enclosure

I enclose for your information a copy of my decree of 28 May 1942, by which I, in agreement with the Reich Minister and the Chief of the Presidential Chancellery, delegated the exercise of the right of pardon in the case of Poles and Jews sentenced by general courts in the Incorporated Eastern Territories to the Reich governors and provincial presidents of these provinces for the duration of the war.

The Acting Minister

[Signed] Dr. Schlegelberger

[Handwritten notes]

1. Submitted to the Reich Minister.

[Initial] L [Lammers] 6 June

2. File!

[Initial] Kr [Kritzinger] 3 June

[Initial] F [Ficker] 2 June

[Decree delegating Right to pardon Poles and Jews to Reich Governors and Provincial Presidents]

I delegate for the duration of the war the exercise of the right to pardon Poles and Jews sentenced by the general courts in the Incorporated Eastern Territories (including the Special Courts), as far as the Fuehrer has delegated it to me and no other delegation has yet been made by me, to the Reich governors (attorneys general) each for his respective province, in the Reich provinces of Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia and the provincial presidents of the provinces of Upper Silesia and East Prussia.

Berlin, 28 May 1942

The Acting Reich Minister of Justice

[Signed] Dr. Schlegelberger

(Seal)

to 9/70 East /2—II a-2-1054/42

7886 B 341357

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-744

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 500

LETTER FROM THE REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, SIGNED BY FREISLER, TO PRESIDENTS OF DISTRICT COURTS OF APPEAL AND OTHERS, 7 AUGUST 1942, CONCERNING “POLES AND JEWS IN PROCEEDINGS AGAINST GERMANS”

The Reich Minister of Justice

4110-IV a-4-1586

Berlin W 8, 7 August 1942

Wilhelmstrasse 65

Telephone: 11 00 44

Long distance: 11 65 16

To the

Presidents of the District Courts of Appeal,

Attorneys General at the District Courts of Appeal

For information to:

(a) The Presidents of the Reich Supreme Court and of the People’s Court,

(b) The Chief Reich Prosecutors at the Reich Supreme Court and at the People’s Court.

Subject: Poles and Jews in proceedings against Germans

Enclosures: Copies for the Presidents of the District Courts, Chief Public Prosecutors, Local Courts, and Public Prosecutors at the Local Courts

The Penal Ordinance for Poles of 4 December 1941[359] (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 759) was intended not only to serve as a criminal law against Poles and Jews, but beyond that also to provide general principles for the German administration of law to be adopted in all criminal proceedings against Poles and Jews irrespective of the role which the Poles and Jews play in the individual proceedings. The regulations of article IX, for instance, according to which Poles and Jews are not to be sworn in apply to proceedings against Germans as well.

I have found that the special legal status of the Poles and Jews who are subject to the penal ordinance for Poles is not always taken into account. Reference is therefore made to the following points:

1. Proceedings against Germans should be carried on whenever possible without calling Poles and Jews as witnesses. If, however, such a testimony cannot be evaded, the Pole or Jew must not appear as a witness against the German during the trial, he must always be interrogated by a judge who has been appointed or requested to do so, (art. II, par. 1 of the Order for Execution of 31 Jan. 1942[360]—(Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 52)).

2. Evidence given by Poles and Jews during proceedings against Germans must be received with the utmost caution especially in those cases where other evidence is lacking. I request that the Fuehrer order published in my circular decree of 3 September 1941-4103-II a-2-2041/41 concerning the interrogation of enemy subjects be applied to Poles and Jews as well.

3. Proceedings against Germans on the basis of charges preferred by Poles and Jews are only justified if sufficient proof is available that such a charge is well founded and if paragraph 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure appears to be nonapplicable right from the beginning. As a rule, a thorough interrogation of the person preferring charges will have to take place first. The public prosecutor will also limit his application to the police in the same way. Coercive measures against the accused German as well as his official interrogation should in every case be undertaken only if the suspicion that the German has committed a serious offense has been sufficiently substantiated.

No information about the result of the proceedings is to be given to a Pole or Jew who has preferred charges against a German.

As deputy:

[typed] Signed: Dr. Freisler

Certified.

[Signed] Kanniess

Senior clerk of Ministerial Chancellery

[Stamp]

Reich Ministry of Justice

Office of the Minister

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 662-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 263

NOTES OF THE REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ON A CONFERENCE OF 9 OCTOBER 1942 ON TRANSFER OF CONVICTS AND “ASOCIALS” IN VARIOUS CATEGORIES TO THE AFRICA BRIGADE, SPECIAL COMMANDOS IN THE EAST, AND TO HIMMLER

Copy

Conference on 9 October 1942

SECRET

I. AFRICA BRIGADE

The Fuehrer has ordered the formation of an Africa Brigade composed of members of the age groups 1908 and younger who had hitherto been classified as unworthy of military service. The military unworthy assigned to the brigade in the African theater should be given the opportunity to redeem themselves, and thereby obtain permanent military worthiness. Those called up by virtue of the Fuehrer’s orders are to be classified as military worthy for the duration of their military service.

For the execution of the Fuehrer’s order, the High Command of the Armed Forces has issued the order of 2 October 1942—Az 12 i 10.34 AHA/Ag/E (Ia)—Nr.550/42 g Kdos (top secret). Accordingly, the following will be called up:

1. Military unworthy German citizens of the age group 1908 or younger who have been sent to the penitentiary for 3 years or less and have not been penalized for the same or similar offenses either before or after the original offense.

2. Military unworthy German citizens of the same age group who have been sentenced to the penitentiary for 3 to 5 years for a first offense, and have no previous or later sentences.

3. Military unworthy German citizens of the same age group who have been sentenced to the penitentiary for 3 years (ref. par. 1) and who still are serving their sentences, in case they have served 1 year with good conduct.

Concerning paragraphs 1–3, those called up must be fit for field and tropical service. Individuals with homosexual tendencies, or who were punished for high treason, or have been ordered to be held in custody for security reasons, or to be castrated are not to be called up. For those unfit to serve who have been sentenced to and have served up to 1½ years in the penitentiary and have otherwise served sentences for only minor offenses, the restoration of military worthiness will continue as a rule through the pardon channels. These may, as usual, be placed in various units of the army.

The measures necessary in the administration of justice according to this order are put into effect—

Pardon proceedings instigated by the local recruiting authorities on behalf of those sentenced who belong to the age groups of 1908 and younger will not as a rule be continued. The armed forces replacement offices concerned will be informed by the pardoning authorities, to desist from further processing of these requests by order of the High Command of the Armed Forces. Exceptions are proceedings against those, who have been sentenced up to 1½ years’ penitentiary (see above). These proceedings will be acted upon in the manner heretofore customary, and if need be, presented to the Reich Minister of Justice for decisions.

The attorneys general will issue a report on the number of convicts who are still in confinement who come under this category for induction. They will simultaneously compile lists which will contain personal particulars of those persons sentenced (name, birth-date and town, occupation, sentence, expiration date, behavior, etc.). The list will be sent to the army office concerned. The named prisoners will await the army’s call.

II. SPECIAL COMMANDOS IN THE EAST

The Reich Marshal has expressed the wish to have convicts made available to be used as special commandos in the East, and to carry out sabotage behind the enemy’s lines. He refers to convicts who strayed off the straight and narrow and have not committed especially dishonorable deeds, for whose person and deed one may have human understanding. Especially suited are poachers who out of a passion for hunting have trespassed, and smugglers who have risked their lives in battle on the borders against the custom officials.

The poachers are already being turned over to the Reich Leader SS for special duties. The number of smugglers who come under consideration is exceptionally small. A telephonic questioning of the 13 district attorneys located on the borders of the Reich, disclosed only 2 suitable smugglers in confinement and three are being investigated. In the case of the latter, the citizenship is doubtful. There are no similar groups of convicts for this task who could make any difference in amounts. Under these circumstances it appeared practical to give the attorneys general the general task of obtaining the convicts, appropriate for this purpose, and reporting them. Prerequisites are, voluntary enlistment, physical fitness for military service, age 18 to 45 years, confinement of at least 1 year for a deed not especially dishonorable. The following are exceptions:

a. Foreigners, stateless persons, those of non-German blood.

b. Persons who have been punished because of homosexuality or high treason, or against who imprisonment for security reasons or castration has been ordered.

The appropriate request to the attorneys general has been made. The reports are expected before 25 October 1942. They are being checked in the Reich Ministry of Justice. The names of those convicts appearing suitable according to this will be made known to the Reich Marshal. Insofar as they fulfill also the prerequisites for induction into the Africa Brigade, a corresponding reference will be necessary.

III. DELIVERY OF ASOCIAL CONVICTS

[Asoziale Strafgefangen]

Persons in penal institutions designated as asocial persons by judicial decision are to be turned over to the Reich Leader SS.

1. Persons in custody for reasons of security—Persons in custody for reasons of security who are in German penal institutions will be put at the disposal of the Reich Leader SS. The execution of sentence will be regarded as interrupted by the delivery.

In detail the following principles should govern proceedings:

a. Persons under court martial sentences will not be delivered. Prisoners sentenced by former Polish courts or by courts of the Government General, will be transferred; before this, however, agreement with the Governor General will be obtained. The workhouse according to Austrian law is not equivalent to security custody [Sicherungsverwahrung].

b. Whether women are also to be delivered is still doubtful. This question will be discussed with SS Gruppenfuehrer Streckenbach. In this regard it will have to be a fundamental point from the beginning that in the case of female Poles, Jews, and gypsies no doubt about the delivery can exist.

c. Foreigners are not affected. Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, gypsies do not rank as foreigners, however, Latvians, Estonians, do. Czechs sentenced by German courts will be handled like Germans.

d. The sick will be delivered, as soon as they are able to be transported. The question whether prisoners in penal institutions who according to the opinion of the institution are insane should be delivered will be discussed with SS Gruppenfuehrer Streckenbach.

e. The delivery of persons in custody for security reasons will take place as a matter of basic principle also in the case of such prisoners who on account of age or for other reasons no longer seem dangerous. An exception will be made only in the case of persons in security custody, in whose case the institution is convinced that because of their favorable development they can be released within a predictable time. These cases will be laid before section XV for individual checking.

f. Persons sentenced who are still serving penitentiary sentences, but who in addition have been sentenced to security custody, will be put at the disposal of the Reich Leader SS.

g. When delivering prisoners it must be taken into account that the production of industries important to defense should suffer no stoppages. Insofar as necessary workers to replace them must be trained first.

h. The question, to whom the delivery will be made, will be discussed with SS Gruppenfuehrer Streckenbach.

i. In the immediate future only persons who have received final judgment will be taken; the decision on future sentences is in abeyance. For the reception of persons sentenced later, individual institution will be designated, the number of which is to be limited as much as possible.

2. Jews, gypsies, Russians, and Ukrainians will be delivered to the Reich Leader SS without exception.

3. Poles—Ethnic Poles who are subject to the Polish criminal law regulations or have been delivered to the Polish penal authorities and who have more than 3 years’ sentence to serve will be delivered to the Reich Leader SS.

Poles with smaller sentences will remain in custody of the prison system. After serving their sentences they will be reported by name to the police just the same.

4. Penitentiary prisoners—Penitentiary prisoners of the German and Czech ethnic groups, who are sentenced to a punishment of over 8 years, will be individually checked to see whether they are according to their personality, asocial, i.e., whether they will be worthless forever to the nation. If the answer to this question is affirmative, they will be delivered to the Reich Leader SS.

The check-up will be undertaken in section XV (Vice President of the People’s Court Engert, Oberregierungsrat, Hupperschwiller, Chief Public Prosecutor Meyer). Vice President Engert will regulate the technical execution. The decisions in individual cases are incumbent upon him. Special cases will be reported to the Reich Minister of Justice.

The guiding principles for those in security custody (III, 1) are valid, and furthermore the following is to be observed in this regard.

On the treatment of Czechs sentenced by courts in the Protectorate a conversation with the Reich Protector is necessary. The question whether Alsatians and Lorrainers who have been sentenced in Alsace and Lorraine should be taken must be cleared by negotiation with the chiefs of the civil administration.

Persons originally sentenced to death whose sentences have been commuted to penitentiary sentences over 8 years fall under the scope of the action, insofar as they are regarded as asocial. Under this requirement those sentenced persons are also included who have close relatives in the field, and prisoners for whom, because of their commitment in the removal of aerial bombs, a later commutation is contemplated.

On the treatment of persons sentenced who are lodged in curative or medical institutions, negotiations with SS Gruppenfuehrer Streckenbach must be undertaken.

[typed] Signed: Dr. Crohne

13 October

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-558

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 143

LETTER FROM REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE THIERACK TO BORMANN, 13 OCTOBER 1942, CONCERNING THE “ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AGAINST POLES, RUSSIANS, JEWS, AND GYPSIES”

T 459

The Reich Minister of Justice

Berlin, 13 October 1942

[Handwritten] Dispatched 13/10.

[Initials] Kue [Kuemmerlein]

To Reichsleiter Bormann

Fuehrer Headquarters

Subject: Administration of criminal justice against Poles, Russians, Jews, and gypsies

Dear Reichsleiter:

With a view to freeing the German people of Poles, Russians, Jews, and gypsies, and with a view to making the eastern territories incorporated into the Reich available for settlements of German nationals, I intend to turn over criminal proceedings against Poles, Russians, Jews, and gypsies to the Reich Leader SS. In so doing I work on the principle that the administration of justice can only make a small contribution to the extermination[361] of members of these peoples [Angehoerige dieses Volkstums auszurotten]. Undoubtedly the administration of justice pronounces very severe sentences on such persons, but that is not enough to constitute a material contribution toward the realization of the above-mentioned aim. Nor is any useful purpose served by keeping such persons in German prisons and penitentiaries for years, even if they are utilized as labor for war purposes as is done today on a large scale.

I am, on the other hand, of the opinion that considerably better results can be accomplished by surrendering such persons to the police, who can then take the necessary measures unhampered by any legal criminal evidence. I start from the principle that such measures seem entirely justified in wartime, and that certain conditions which I consider essential are fulfilled. These conditions consist in the prosecution of Poles and Russians by the police only if they resided until 1 September 1939 in the former state territory of Poland or the Soviet Union; and secondly, that Poles who were registered as being of German descent will continue to be subjected to prosecution by the administration of justice as before.

On the other hand, the police may prosecute Jews and gypsies irrespective of these conditions.

But no changes whatsoever are to be made in regard to the prosecution of other foreign nationals by the administration of justice.

The Reich Leader SS, with whom I discussed these views, agrees with them. I also informed Dr. Lammers.

I submit this matter to you, dear Reichsleiter, with the request to let me know whether the Fuehrer approves this view. If so, I would then make my official recommendations through Reich Minister Dr. Lammers.

[Handwritten] After one week.

[Initial] Kue [Kuemmerlein] 10/19, 10/26

Heil Hitler!

yours

[Initial] Th [Thierack]

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-787

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 507

LETTER OF THE REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TO LEADING JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS, 4 APRIL 1944, TRANSMITTING A REPORT OF THE REICH STATISTICAL BUREAU ON “CRIMINALITY IN THE GREATER GERMAN REICH IN THE YEAR 1942,” EXCLUSIVE OF CASES HANDLED BY THE PEOPLE’S COURT

The Reich Minister of Justice

4206 III a-4-446

Berlin W 8, 4 April 1944

Wilhelmstrasse 65

Phone: 110044

out of town: 116516

To the Presidents of the Reich Supreme Court and the People’s Courts

To the Presidents of the Districts Courts of Appeal and the Chief Reich Prosecutors at the Reich Supreme Court and the People’s Court, as well as the Public Prosecutors at the Courts of Appeal

Subject: Development of criminality

1 enclosure: 1 copy each of the enclosed report regarding criminality in the Greater German Reich in the year 1942

I am enclosing one copy of the report regarding criminality in the Greater German Reich. Please acknowledge and treat confidentially.

By order:

[Typed] Signed: Grau

Certified: [Signed] Seemann

Judicial Clerk

[Stamp]

Reich Ministry of Justice

Ministerial Chancellery

[Handwritten] To Under Secretary Dr. Klemm

Reich Statistical Bureau

Keep under lock and key

Only for official use.

Publication not permitted

Criminality in the Greater German Reich in the year 1942

1. Total result

Since 1 January 1942 the Reich statistics of criminality comprise territorially the area of the Greater German Reich with the exception of the Alpine and Danube Gaue where the criminal law of the Reich as the exclusive basis of the statistics of criminality in the Reich, has not yet been introduced in its totality. As to persons, the statistics of criminality in the Reich enumerate separately—

a. German nationals and aliens (aliens too will be enumerated separately from 1 January 1943 on).

b. Members of the Protectorate.

c. Poles and Jews sentenced on the basis of the Penal Ordinance for Poles.

d. Other racial Jews.

Taking these individual groups together, a total of 457,129 persons were sentenced[362] with legally binding effect in the Greater German Reich for crimes and offenses against laws of the Reich (not counting sentences for crimes and offenses against laws of the Reich falling under the jurisdiction of the People’s Court) that is, 9.4 percent more than in the year 1941 (417,923). The number of persons convicted with legally binding effect amounts to 417,001—91.2 percent of the total number of persons accused; 1941 [amounted] to 377,072—90.2 percent. Punishment was inflicted on 372,502 persons convicted (1941: 346,105)—89.3 percent (91.8 percent) and punishment and corrective measures on 2,449 (3,082)—0.6 percent (0.8 percent).

Of 29,305 (1941: 30,540) persons sentenced 6.4 percent (7.3 percent) were acquitted. In addition corrective measures were decreed in the case of 139 (134) defendants who were acquitted, in the case of 487 (495) corrective measures were decreed independently, and in the case of 35 (54) persons a motion to decree corrective measures independently was refused.

In 10,162 cases (2.2 percent) compared with 9,628 (2.3 percent) in the previous year, proceedings were quashed by the court.

In the year reported on 84,318—20.2 percent of the total number of persons convicted, compared with 92,546—24.5 percent in the year 1941, were persons who had been previously convicted of crimes or offenses against laws of the Reich.

Total number of persons convicted—

1941 1942

Number Percent Number Percent

I. Crimes and offenses in violation of the Reich Penal Code 232,888 61.8 240,473 57.7

II. Crimes and offenses in violation of other laws of the Reich 144,184 38.2 176,528 42.3

Thus, the proportion of crimes and offenses in violation of the Reich Penal Code decreased from 1941 to 1942, whereas the proportion of those in violation of other laws of the Reich increases as a result of the growing number of violations of wartime penal legislation.

Detailed information concerning the extent of criminal acts in 1942, important for reasons of criminal policy as well as numerically compared with the previous year, is furnished in the chart [1] below.

1941 1942

Total number of persons sentenced Persons previously convicted among them Total number of persons sentenced Persons previously convicted among them

Sexual crimes and offenses against morality 13,591 4,544 10,588 3,074

Thereunder--

Sodomy and bestiality 3,963 1,522 2,790 936

Indecent assault on persons under 14 years of age 4,374 1,364 3,415 964

Murder 187 50 153 42

Manslaughter 151 37 118 25

Abortion 2,993 482 3,193 425

Slight, dangerous, and serious bodily injury 13,353 3,439 10,024 2,215

Larceny, also in the case of repeated offenses 77,556 21,675 89,656 21,188

Aggravated larceny, also in the case of repeated offenses 12,192 3,936 15,587 3,776

Embezzlement 10,987 4,129 10,179 2,968

Robbery, also in the case of second offenders and extortion equivalent to robbery 300 104 186 59

Extortion 512 182 353 102

Receiving stolen goods, also in the case of repeated offenses 10,956 2,329 14,778 2,619

Simple fraud, also in the case of repeated offenses 16,258 8,005 12,551 5,266

Forgery of Public Documents, etc. 8,052 2,075 9,952 2,069

Arson 121 23 119 20

Major and minor crimes by breach of official duties 2,208 354 2,471 311

Crimes and offenses against the law concerning dealings with food, etc. (Adulteration of foods) 3,433 668 2,801 557

Law concerning fire arms 1,626 304 1,317 206

Law for the protection of German blood and German honor (race pollution) 189 86 109 46

Decree against people’s parasites 3,822 1,941 6,349 2,602

Decree concerning Crimes of Violence 282 149 263 131

Thus, we find an increase, to a more or less considerable degree, in the following crimes: abortion (+6.7 percent), larceny and aggravated larceny (+15.6 percent and +27.8 percent resp.), and receiving of stolen goods (+34.9 percent). The three last named criminal acts, the most important of which are directed against property, constitute approximately 50 percent of all crimes and offenses against the Reich Criminal Code recorded for this year. The same offenses constituted only 43.2 percent of the total in 1941. Cases of forgery of public instruments also show an increase (+23.6 percent), partly in consequence of the forging of the numerous identity cards and papers necessitated by the government control of economy. Offenses by breach of official duties, likewise, have increased in number (+11.9 percent). The increase of cases pertaining to the decree against people’s parasites is particularly noticeable (+66.1 percent).

On the other hand, all categories of sexual crimes have decreased in number (-22.3 percent), particularly unnatural sexual offenses (-29.6 percent) and indecent assault on persons under 14 years of age (-21.9 percent). Decreases are also recorded for the various types of willful bodily injury (-24.9 percent), for the two capital crimes, murder and manslaughter (-18.2 percent and -21.9 percent resp.), among the crimes against property, embezzlement (-7.4 percent), for both robbery and extortion equivalent to robbery (-38 percent) as well as extortion (-31.1 percent) to a considerable extent, and, furthermore, for fraud (-22.8 percent). The decline in the number of convictions arising from crimes of violence (-6.7 percent) is also notable.

Sentences imposed in 1942 (1941) (this covers both fines and imprisonment) are as follows: 2,199 (1,085) death sentences, 20,104 (15,981) limited sentences of penitentiary [Zuchthaus] (including severe penal camp), 194,386 (162,768) sentences of imprisonment (including ordinary penal camp) and 162,158 (170,254) fines.

A comparison between this and last year’s criminal statistical data for individual groups cannot be drawn because of the introduction of a revised system of enumeration, previously mentioned, that went into effect 1 January 1942. Until then the Reich criminal statistics had not yet provided such an analysis of individual groups.

2. Ethnic members of the German national community and foreigners

a. Sentences

In 1942 a total number of 378,670 persons, both ethnic members of the German national community as well as foreigners were legally sentenced within the Greater Reich for crimes and offenses against Reich laws (not including sentences for crimes and offenses against Reich laws falling within the jurisdiction of the People’s Court). Of these, 341,540, or 90.2 percent were legally convicted. Penalties alone were imposed on 297,324, or 87.1 percent of those convicted, whereas both penalties and measures of security and reform were imposed on 2,332 or 0.7 percent. The number of convicted persons, punishment for whom was set aside in accordance with the juvenile court law amounts to 2,911 or 0.8 percent. However, for the vast majority of these cases measures of reform were ordered and these amounted to 10,233 according to this year’s record. Juvenile detention was ordered in the case of 37,717 defendants, which means 11 percent of all convicted ethnic members of the German community (and foreigners), and 71.9 percent of the total number of juveniles within this particular group who were subject to a penalty. In addition, prison sentences of indefinite duration were imposed on 1,256 juveniles.

For the recorded year 26,544 defendants or 7 percent of the total number, were acquitted. Besides, in 135 instances acquittal was granted along with measures of security and reform, in 475 cases such measures alone were imposed, and in 35 cases motions for measures of security and reform were rejected.

Proceedings were quashed by courts in 9,941 cases, representing 2.6 percent of the total of persons brought to trial.

212,410 or 62.2 percent of the total of convictions of German nationals (including foreigners) in 1942, represent crimes and offenses in violation of the Reich Penal Code and 129,130 or 37.8 percent represent crimes and offenses in violation of other laws of the Reich.

b. Personal Data on Convicted Persons

Of convicted German nationals (and foreigners) 116,754 or 34.2 percent in 1942, were female and 52,423 or 15.3 percent were juveniles (ranging in age from 14 to 18). The age group of 18 to 21, normally representing the heaviest criminal quota, participates in the total of convictions only with a number of 34,401 delinquents or 10.1 percent, due to the drafting of many of these age brackets. The number of persons already previously convicted for crimes and offenses against laws of the Reich amounts to a total of 77,322 or 22.6 percent of whom 18,478 or 23.9 percent had more than 4 previous convictions. 36,419 of the convicted persons or 10.7 percent were foreigners, of whom 3,064 or 8.4 percent represented juveniles.

c. Individual Criminal Acts

Chart 1 A[363] affords a view into the criminal structure of 1942. According to this, the various acts of theft form, as previously, the greater part of the total of convictions (91,476 or 43.1 percent; all of whom are persons convicted for crimes and offenses in violation of the Reich Penal Code). If one disposes of insult as a petty and civil offense (13,516 or 6.4 percent), there follows—though at a greater interval—the other two significant offenses against property, i.e., fraud (11,567 or 5.4 percent) and receiving stolen goods (12,115 or 5.7 percent). The fifth place is accorded to sexual offenses (10,205 or 4.8 percent) among which the indecent assaults on persons under 14 as well as sodomy and bestiality (32.7 percent and 26.2 percent resp.) represent comparatively the greater share of all sexual crimes and offenses. Then follow again two offenses against property, i.e., embezzlement (9,328 or 4.4 percent) and forgery of documents (8,628 or 4.1 percent).

In major crimes, murder participates with 117 convictions; manslaughter with 101, and robbery together with extortion equivalent to robbery with 147 delinquents.

If one arranges the above discussed, numerically significant criminal acts in accordance with convicted adults and juveniles the following results: Of the total number of adult and juvenile persons convicted for crimes and offenses in violation of the Reich Penal Code, the percentage is as follows:

Adults Juveniles

Petty larceny 33.8 49.3

Aggravated larceny 3.8 17.5

Embezzlement 4.8 2.7

Receiving stolen goods 6.4 2.5

Fraud 6.0 2.8

Forgery of Public Documents 4.1 3.8

Sexual crimes and offenses 4.7 5.1

In petty and aggravated larceny together, the number of crimes represent approximately two-thirds for juveniles and slightly less than four-tenths for adults.

Due to enactment of laws pursuant to war exigencies, the following other crimes and offenses deserve mentioning: They are arranged in order of the number of their convictions.

Persons convicted with legally binding effect

Penal ordinances relating to the rationing of consumer goods of 5 April 1940 18,565

Decree amending the penal code for the protection of the military power of the German nation of 25 November 1939 9,263

Amongst them: prohibited contact with prisoners of war (article 4) 9,103

War Economy Decree of 4 September 1939 8,097

Decree against people’s parasites of 5 September 1939 5,029

Decree, subject: special measures concerning foreign broadcasts of 1 September 1939 985

Decree relating to crimes of violence of 5 December 1939 194

d. Sentences pronounced

Chart No. 2[364] gives the particulars about the sentences pronounced.

According to it, in 1942, 1,061 death sentences were pronounced, among them 18 against juveniles. 15,830 defendants were sentenced to terms in penitentiary for definite periods of time, of them 6,543 or 41.3 percent to a period of 3 years and more, 56 terms in penitentiary for a definite period of time were pronounced against juveniles.

Of the total number of terms of imprisonment amounting to 143,685—in the year reported on short-term sentences formed 41.5 percent of them, these of medium length 47.3 percent, long-term imprisonments 10.3 percent, and these of undefined length 0.9 percent.

Fines were imposed in 141,464 cases. Detention was pronounced in 378 cases.

In 1942 juvenile arrest was pronounced against 37,717 juveniles, i.e., against 71.9 percent of the total number of juvenile delinquents, among them were 25,562 arrests or 67.8 percent for a definite period of time. The proportion of chronologically defined terms of imprisonment of more than 2 weeks to the total number of arrests is 51.5 percent. 12,155 or 32.2 percent of the juveniles were sentenced to weekend incarceration, and among them 23.6 percent to the loss of three and four of their weekly off-times.

Of the protective and reformative measures described in article 42a of the Reich Penal Code, the following have been decreed with legally binding effect in 1942:

Placing into a lunatic asylum 906

Placing into a reformatory institution for alcohol addicts 90

Placing into a workhouse 400

Protective custody 1,414

Sterilization of dangerous sexual offenders 152

Ban on the exercise of trade or profession 298

In greater detail in the period reported on protective and reformative measures were decreed e.g., in the case of convictions for indecent assault on persons under 14 years of age; 232 times or 7.0 percent of the persons convicted for the offenses in question; for repeated petty larceny, 334 times or 7.4 percent; for repeated aggravated larceny, 195 times or 25.1 percent; and for repeated fraud, 271 times or 20.2 percent.

3. Other Groups of Persons

The following gives detailed particulars concerning the number of Protectorate Nationals, Poles and Jews, as well as racial Jews brought to trial in Greater Germany (exclusive of the Alpine and Danube Gaue) in 1942.

Protectorate Nationals Poles and Jews Racial Jews

Persons brought to trial 13,060 63,786 1,613

Juveniles brought to trial 482 5,169 44

Percentage of persons brought to trial 3.7 8.1 2.7

Convicted persons 12,117 61,836 1,508

Percentage of persons brought to trial 92.8 96.9 93.5

Acquitted 871 1,816 74

Percentage of persons brought to trial 6.7 2.8 4.6

Persons previously convicted 2,493 4,237 266

Percentage of total convicted 20.6 6.9 17.6

Persons with more than 4 previous convictions among these 766 593 43

Percentage of previously convicted 30.7 14.0 16.2

The figures given above concerning the convictions of Poles and Jews, refer exclusively to convictions according to the Penal Ordinance for Poles, that is to say, mainly to such crimes which have been committed in the Incorporated Eastern Territories. However, crimes are also included which have been committed in other districts of the German Reich by Jews and Poles, who on 1 September 1939 had their residence or permanent abode in the territory of the former Polish state (No. XIV of the Penal Ordinance for Poles).[365]

Contrary to expectations, the quota of Poles and Jews previously convicted is low; this can first of all be explained by the fact that some of the criminal records were destroyed in the eastern territories; furthermore that during the fighting in autumn 1939, the Poles opened the doors of the penitentiaries and released dangerous criminals who, in most cases, turned criminals again and were brought before the German summary courts; a great number of those retaken, against whom fresh violations of the law could not directly be proved, were sent to concentration camps as a preventive measure. In both instances, therefore, persons who had previous convictions were thus omitted from the census of criminal statistics. Taking these points into consideration, the quota of Poles and Jews previously convicted has still to be regarded as comparatively high.

Particulars concerning the most important punishable actions, committed by the above mentioned groups of persons which have led to a conviction, can be obtained from chart I B.

With regard to the penalties imposed upon them by the courts a total of 1,138 Protectorate Nationals, Poles, and Jews, as well as Jews by race were sentenced to death during the current year according to chart 2. These figures include 930 Poles and Jews sentenced under the crimes ordinance for Poles. The total number of penal servitude sentences, imposed for limited periods of time, against Protectorate Nationals and Jews by race amounts to 2,237 and the jail sentences amount to 7,321. By virtue of the criminal ordinance for Poles the sentence of penal camp for hard labor was imposed in 2,017 cases and that of regular penal camp in 43,180 cases.

The total fines imposed, amount to 20,694.

85 defendants had their property confiscated.

*******

Chart 2 Punishments meted out in the year 1942 on account of crimes and offenses against Reich laws

Sentences Punishments[366] meted out to--

German Nationals (and Foreigners Total of this total to juveniles Inhabitants of the Protectorate Poles[367] and Jews Racial Jews

Death sentences 1,061 18 186 930 22

Penal servitude sentences:

For life

For a certain length of time, in toto 15,850 56 2,112 125

For less than 3 years 9,307 18 1,294 56

For 3 years and more 6,543 38 818 69

Total of jail sentences 143,885 9,695 6,875 646

Of them--

For less than 3 months 59,736 2,520 2,595 348

For 3 months up to 1 year 88,012 5,315 3,020 218

For one year and more 14,881 504 1,051 80

For an undetermined length of time 1,256 1,256 9

Severe penal camp total of sentences imposed 2,017

Of them--

For less than 5 years 1,257

For 5 years or more 760

Ordinary penal camp total of sentences imposed 43,180

Of them--

For less than 1 year 32,540

For 1 year or more 10,640

Confiscation of property 4 78 3

Fines 141,464 2,021 3,037 16,939 718

Confinement in a fortress

Arrest 378 31 54 4

Arrest of juveniles in toto 37,717 37,717 134

namely: for a certain period in toto 25,562 25,562

of this, for more than 2 weeks 13,165 13,165

Total of weekend imprisonments 12,155 12,155

Of this, [those with] 3 and 4 pass privileges 2,866 2,866

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-715

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 112

THIRTEENTH REGULATION UNDER THE REICH CITIZENSHIP LAW, 1 JULY 1943[368]

1943 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 372

Under article 3 of the Reich Citizenship Law of 15 September 1935 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1146), the following is ordered:

Article 1

1. Criminal acts committed by Jews shall be punished by the police.

2. The decree concerning penal law for Poles [Polenstrafrechtsverordnung] of 4 December 1941[369] (Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 759) shall no longer apply to Jews.

Article 2

1. The property of a Jew shall be confiscated by the Reich after his death.

2. The Reich may, however, grant compensation to the non-Jewish legal heirs and persons entitled to sustenance who have their domicile in Germany.

3. This compensation may be granted in the form of a lump sum, not to exceed the ceiling price of the property which has passed into possession of the German Reich.

4. Compensation may be granted by the transfer of titles and assets from the confiscated property. No costs shall be imposed for the legal processes necessary for such transfer.

Article 3

The Reich Minister of the Interior with the concurrence of the participating supreme authorities of the Reich shall issue the legal and administrative provisions for the administration and enforcement of this regulation. In doing so he shall determine to what extent the provisions shall apply to Jewish nationals of foreign countries.

Article 4

This regulation shall take effect on the seventh day of its promulgation. In the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia it shall apply where German administration and German courts have jurisdiction; article 2 shall also apply to Jews who are citizens of the Protectorate.

Berlin, 1 July 1943

The Reich Minister of the Interior

Frick

Chief of the Party Chancellery

M. Bormann

Reich Minister of Finance

Count Schwerin von Krosigk>

Reich Minister of Justice

Dr. Thierack

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-151

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 204

SELECTIONS FROM CORRESPONDENCE PRECEDING ISSUANCE OF THIRTEENTH REGULATION UNDER REICH CITIZENSHIP LAW, 3 AUGUST 1942–21 APRIL 1943, INVOLVING LIMITATIONS UPON LEGAL RIGHTS OF JEWS, THEIR PUNISHMENT BY POLICE, AND RELATED MATTERS[370]

1. Letter from the Reich Ministry of Justice to several leading Reich authorities, 3 August 1942

Direct Reich Chancery 10939 B

Reich Minister of Justice

III a-2 1637 42 1506/5

Carbon Copy

Berlin W 8, 3 August 1942

Urgent Letter

To the

a. Reich Minister of the Interior

b. Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police

c. Reich Minister for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda

d. Foreign Office

e. Chief of the Party Chancellery, Munich

f. Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia

Subject: Restriction of legal rights [Rechtsmittel][371] for Jews in criminal cases

1 Enclosure

Enclosed I submit the draft for an ordinance concerning the restriction of legal rights for Jews in criminal cases with the request to state your opinion in regard to it.

I have emphasized the importance in war of this ordinance, because it indirectly serves national defense. The dissatisfaction which is apparent in wide circles of the German population with regard to the fact that legal rights in criminal cases are still afforded to Jews and that they are still given the right to appeal to the courts in cases of sentences inflicted by the police is liable to weaken the determination of the German people to defend itself in this contest which has been imposed on it.

As Deputy:

[typed] signed: Dr. Freisler

2. Draft enclosed with the letter of the Reich Ministry of Justice of 3 August 1942

Copy

[Handwritten] 1508/05

Ordinance concerning the restriction of legal rights for Jews in criminal cases

Of....................1942

The Ministerial Council for the defense of the Reich decrees with force of law:

Article 1

Jews are not entitled to make use of the right of appeal, revision (appeal for nullification pursuant to the former Austrian law which has remained in force), and complaint against decisions in criminal cases.

Jews cannot appeal to courts for a decision against sentences inflicted by the police.

In cases where an appeal for legal rights has been filed already or a decision by a court proposed at the time this ordinance is being enforced, those are considered as cancelled.

Berlin,....................1942

The President of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich,

[Handwritten] GFM [General-Feldmarshall]

Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

To IIIa-2 1637.42

344528

3. Letter from the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the Reich Ministry of Justice, 13 August 1942

Reich Chancery 11452B 15 August 1942 [Initial] Fi [Ficker]

Reich Minister of the Interior

Berlin, 13 August 1942

NW 7, Unter den Linden 72

Telephone: 12 00 34

12 00 37

Ib 1200/42 1508/06

7035

Use this reference in your reply.

Reference 15/8

Urgent Letter

S.Ang. of 21/8

To the Reich Minister of Justice

Subject: Restriction of legal rights for Jews

Referring to your letter of 3 August 1942 RK. 11405 B im Gg. 1b-III-2 1637.42

The same considerations which have prompted your suggestion to deny legal rights to Jews in criminal cases also apply to administrative matters. I would like to ask you, therefore, to extend the draft of an ordinance concerning the restriction of legal rights for Jews in criminal cases at the same time also to administrative matters, giving it about the following tenor:

Ordinance concerning the restriction of legal rights for Jews

Of....................1942.

The Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich decrees with force of law:

Article 1

Jews are not entitled to make use of the right of appeal in criminal or administrative cases.

They cannot appeal, as is otherwise admissible, to the courts for a decision against a decision taken.

Nor can they enter a protest which otherwise might be admissible.

Article 2

In cases where an appeal for legal rights or a protest has been filed already they are considered as canceled.

Article 3

This ordinance is enforced 7 days after its announcement. It is valid also in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Incorporated Eastern Territories.

Berlin,....................1942

The President of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich

Delegate General for the Reich Administration

Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

Copies to the supreme Reich authorities, except the Reich Minister of Justice with the request to state their opinion by 21 August 1942, in case of difference of opinion. Otherwise agreement will be assumed.

As deputy:

[signed] Dr. Stuckart

4. Letter from the Reich Ministry of Justice, signed by the defendant Schlegelberger, to the Reich Ministry for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda, 13 August 1942

The Acting Reich Minister of Justice

Copy

III a 2 1706.42

Berlin, 13 August 1942

[Handwritten] 1508/06

Urgent Letter

To the Reich Minister for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda

Berlin

Subject: Restriction of legal rights for Jews

Referring to urgent letter of 12 August 1942[372] R 1400/23.7.42/122/1.9.

I. I thought of meeting at first the most urgent need within the compass of my sphere of activity, viz, that of adjusting the administration of justice from a legal point of view, and moreover I had prepared a corresponding draft for the other administration of justice belonging to my sphere of activity. However, I did not want to take the initiative to make suggestions concerning matters which are beyond the sphere of my department.

The draft enclosed in your urgent letter includes all supreme authorities of the Reich, especially that of the Reich Minister and all ministers whose sphere of work is connected with matters of administrative law. While, as far as the sphere of activity of these ministers is concerned I still adhere to the opinion that I should refrain from making suggestions on my part, I declare that I have no objections against an extension of my draft to matters of administrative law and to decisions by administrative authorities.

II. 34529 114058

II. On the assumption that an extensive regulation of the situation of the Jews with regard to legal and administrative decisions is desired, it seems necessary to me that the question of the admissibility for a Jew to testify on oath be legally regulated too, and this regulation had best be included in the same decree.

Therefore, I furthermore suggest that the decree should provide that the Jew is not admissible to testify on oath. Thereby the taking of an oath or the furnishing of an affidavit by Jews is in general impossible.

In my opinion, however, the fact that the Jew is not permitted to take an oath should not make the Jew have a better legal position than the person who is authorized to take an oath. Therefore, I further suggest to include a regulation according to which the testimony of a Jew which could have been made under oath—if it had been given by a person who is permitted to take an oath—should be treated like testimony given under oath as far as criminal cases are concerned. My idea in this connection is that the chiefs of the supreme authorities of the Reich should order administratively that it should be pointed out to the Jew that he could be legally prosecuted if he commits an offense against his duty to give true testimony, but I do not propose to make this a prerequisite of being liable to punishment.

In my opinion, comprehensive settlement of the problem requires furthermore the exclusion, for reasons of foreign policy, of all Jews from the regulations of this decree who are citizens of a foreign nation.

Therefore, under the assumption that the persons participating in the comprehensive solution of the problem and those supreme authorities of the Reich which are in charge of specialized sectors agree, I would suggest to give the following wording to the decree:

Decree concerning the restriction of legal rights for Jews and their inadmissibility to take an oath.

dated....................1942

The Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich orders the following to be enforced as a law:

Article 1

Jews are not entitled to lodge a plea for appeal, revision, and complaint (nullity plea and appeal under the still valid parts of Austrian law) against the decisions of the courts.

Jews cannot apply for a judicial decision against penal measures inflicted by the police.

Article 2

Jews cannot make use of the legal rights provided against decisions made by the administrative authorities.

Article 3

Insofar as legal right has already been exercised or an application for legal decision has been requested when this law comes into effect, they are considered to be withdrawn.

Article 4

Jews are not entitled to take an oath.

Article 5

The regulation concerning perjury and false oath applies to untrue statements of Jews not made under oath, if a person entitled to take an oath could have been sworn to this statement. In the same manner the regulations concerning the making of a false declaration in lieu of oath are to be applied to the untrue declaration of a Jew, if the declaration was the substitute for a declaration in lieu of oath or a statement with reference to such a declaration.

Article 6

The regulations do not apply to Jews who are citizens of a foreign nation.

Article 7

The supreme authorities of the Reich are authorized to issue regulations for the execution within their jurisdiction.

[Typed] signed: Dr. Schlegelberger

344531

5. Letter from Reich Leader SS to Lammers, 25 August 1942

13/9 RK. 12020 B 27 August 1942

[Initial] Fi [Ficker]

The Reich Leader SS

and

Chief of the German Police

in the Reich Ministry of the Interior

20/9

S IV B 4 b—Ref. No. 1268/42

Please quote above reference and date in reply.

[Handwritten] Submitted last to RM 11853 tz 1b

Berlin SW 11, 25 August 1942

Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8

Tel. 12 00 40

1508/7

Urgent Letter

To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

Berlin

[Initial] L [Lammers] 30 August

Subject: Limitation of legal rights for Jews

Reference: Urgent letter of the Reich Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda sent to you on 21 August 1942—R 1400/13 August 1942, 122—1,9.

Considering the fact that up to now, the competent authorities disagree and that moreover a number of further questions must be regarded as not clarified, I consider the suggestions which have been made up to now as not yet arrived at a stage when they could be submitted to the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich, and for this reason I have asked the Reich Minister of Justice to arrange for a discussion for the clarification of these essential questions.

By order:

[Typed] Signed: Suhr

Certified:

[Illegible signature]

Employee of the Chancery

Resubmitted because of RM 11850 (marked red), Office 13/19

[Stamp]

The Reich Leader SS

and Chief of the German Police

[Initial] F [Frick] Sept. 12

6. Letter from Martin Bormann to the Reich Ministry of Justice, 9 September 1942

National Socialist German Labor Party

Party Chancellery

The Chief of the Party Chancellery

Fuehrer Headquarters

9 September 1942.

III C-Do. 2425/0/1

Copy

To the Minister of Justice

Berlin W 8

Wilhelmstr. 65

Subject: Limitation of legal appeal for Jews. RM 11405 B

Reference: Your letter of 13 August 1942—III a 2 1706.42—.

The limitation for legal appeal for Jews proposed by you extends in the sphere of court decisions only to the legal appeal in a limited sense—that is to say to appeal, revision, and complaint. This regulation does not represent a comprehensive solution of the problem, since the Jews will still be given the possibility of making use of legal aids [Rechtsbehelfen] in a wider sense.

The considerations which are decisive for your draft also apply to almost all cases of “legal aids.” In criminal cases this applies above all to objections against penal rulings and to pleas for resumption of proceedings. In the sphere of civil law it would apply, e.g., to reminders of cost and execution matters, objections to execution orders and judgments by default, as well as to nullity and restitutions suits.

Also, a limitation of the admissibility of suits protesting against executions and suits filed by a third party will have to be taken into consideration, as in these cases, too, the result will be a legal aid against a judicial decision. I think it necessary to include all those cases too into the regulation.

I further request you to include into the draft a regulation declaring inadmissible the declining of a judge by a Jew.

I have no objections against the provisions of the draft relative to the disqualification of Jews to take an oath.

Heil Hitler!

[Typed] Signed: M. Bormann

Certified copy:

[Signed] Doser

7. Letter from the General Plenipotentiary for the Administration of the Reich to a number of leading Reich authorities, 29 September 1942

Copy

RK. 136 2 B 29 Sept. 1942

[Initial] Fi [Ficker]

The General Plenipotentiary

for the Administration of the Reich

GBV. 788/42

2425

[Handwritten] Last submitted RK 12853 B

Berlin, 29 September 1942

[Stamp] See document of 8.10.

Urgent Letter

To the:

Head of the Party Chancellery

The Reich Minister of Justice

The Reich Minister for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda

The Foreign Office

The Reich Minister of Finance

[Handwritten] Submitted with RK 442 B. attached October 2

Subject: Ordinance concerning legal restrictions to be imposed on Jews

On the basis of a discussion of 25 September 1942 between the officials in charge, a new draft of an ordinance concerning the restrictions imposed on Jews in the proceedings before the administrative agencies or courts has been drawn up under the title, “Ordinance concerning Legal Restrictions to be Imposed on Jews.” Please let me know as soon as possible your opinion about the enclosed new formulation.

If no reply has been received by 14 October, your consent will be taken for granted.

This copy is forwarded for your information and with the request that you take a decision by 14 October.

As deputy:

[Signed] Stuckart

Justice 1

To the other supreme Reich authorities

8. Draft of proposed decree enclosed with the letter of the General Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration of 25 September 1942

Appendix to GBV 788/42—2425

25 September 1942

Draft of an Ordinance concerning Legal Restrictions to be imposed on Jews of..............1942.

The Council of the Ministers for Reich Defense ordains with the force of law:

Article 1

(1) Jews will have no right of appeal [Rechtsmittel] from the decisions of administrative agencies and courts, nor other legal means [Rechtsbehelfen] to attack the same. Should, at the time when the present ordinance takes effect, an appeal already be lodged, it will be treated as withdrawn.

(2) Other applications from Jews to the administrative agencies or courts are admissible only insofar as the administrative agency or court would be of the opinion that the consideration of the application would be in the common interest.

Article 2

Jews cannot testify under oath.

Article 3

(1) The regulations concerning perjury apply to the untrue, unsworn testimony of a Jew when the testimony could have been sworn to if it had been made by a person capable of taking an oath.

(2) Similarly, the provisions concerning false assurances in lieu of affidavits apply to a statement made by a Jew, if such a statement was intended to replace an assurance in lieu of affidavit, or a deposition made with reference to such an assurance.

(3) The Jew shall be warned that any such untrue deposition or false statement will be punished according to those provisions.

Article 4

Statements of a Jewish party to the proceedings with respect to the question whether a witness or expert should be put on oath, will be disregarded.

Article 5

In the sentencing of Jews the provisions concerning the deprivation of civil rights will not apply.

Article 6

Jews cannot challenge German judges on grounds of partiality.

Article 7

At the death of a Jew his fortune escheats to the Reich.

Article 8

The Reich Minister of the Interior in agreement with the supreme Reich authorities in interest will issue the necessary legal and administrative provisions for the implementation and amendment of the present ordinance. He will hereby determine how far this ordinance is to apply to Jews of foreign nationality.

Article 9

This ordinance will take effect on the seventh day after its promulgation. It also will apply in the Incorporated Eastern Territories. In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it will apply within the limits of the German administration and the German jurisdiction.

Berlin

The President of the Council of Ministers for Reich Defense

The Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

9. Letter from the General Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration to the Reich Chancellery, 3 April 1943

The General Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration

GBV 262/43 1508/10

2425

[Handwritten notes] RK 4482 E

RK 13672B 52 M

2 Enclosures

Berlin, 3 April 1943

To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery for Under Secretary Kritzinger

Subject: Ordinance concerning legal restrictions to be imposed on Jews

With reference to today’s conference between Under Secretary Kritzinger and Under Secretary Dr. Stuckart, I am forwarding herewith in duplicate—

(1) the draft of the ordinance concerning the legal restrictions to be imposed on the Jews.

(2) the copy of the letter of the Chief of the Security Police and SD of 8 March 1943 (II A 2 No. 22 III/43 176—).[373]

By order:

[Signature illegible]

Justice 1

344545

10. Letter from Kaltenbrunner, Chief of the Security Police and the SD, to Frick, 8 March 1943

The Chief of the Security Police and the SD

Copy

II A 2 No. 22 III/43-176

Berlin SW 11, 8 March 1943

Prinz Albrecht-Strasse 8

Urgent letter

To the Reich Minister of the Interior, Party member Dr. Frick

Berlin NW 7

Unter den Linden 72

My dear Reich Minister:

Upon request I have been informed by Department I that you have stopped the passing of the ordinance concerning the legal restrictions to be imposed on Jews, as in view of the development of the Jewish question, you no longer consider this ordinance necessary.[374] May I therefore point out the following views taken by the Security Police, which are in favor of an immediate passing of the ordinance:

1. Previous evacuations of Jews have been restricted to Jews who were not married to non-Jews. In consequence, the numbers of Jews who have remained in the interior is quite considerable. As the ordinance would also include these Jews as well, the measures it plans are not objectless.

2. The provision of article 7 of the ordinance according to which at the death of a Jew his fortune escheats in its entirety to the Reich results in the accumulation of considerably less work for the State Police. At the present time the procedure used by the State Police in handling the confiscation of such Jewish inheritances must frequently be modified to suit each special case. If the decree were decided on these separate procedures would no longer need to be carried out. The ordinance would therefore bring about an effective reduction in present administrative activity.

3. The provision according to which the application of criminal law against Jews is transferred from the judicial authorities to the police, is based on an agreement between the Reich Leader SS and the Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Thierack. This agreement has been approved by the Fuehrer. For if it is to be put into practice it must be embodied in the form of a law, as the present competence of justice, which is based on criminal procedure, can only be modified by a legal provision.

If the ordinance which is planned does not come into force, this provision as it is planned must then be set down in an independent law which, however, is undesirable.

I beg you to consider the above-mentioned views and to examine whether in spite of them an immediate passing of the ordinance does not seem indicated.

Heil Hitler!

Yours obediently,

[Typed] signed: Dr. Kaltenbrunner

344547

11. Note of the Reich Chancellery, 6 April 1943, 1508/11

(14./4.) To RK. 13672 B, 4482 E

Fuehrer Headquarters

6 April 1943

[Handwritten] 1508/11

1. Note—Under Secretary Stuckart asked me over the telephone to obtain the opinion of the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery as to the draft of the ordinance which had been sent him with the accompanying letter of 3 April. As Under Secretary Stuckart informed me, the Reich Minister of the Interior himself has his doubts as to whether the ordinance is still necessary. When Stuckart approached the Party Chancellery on the question, Reichsleiter Bormann suggested that he should obtain the opinion of the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery.

On 5 April I discussed the affair with Under Secretary Klopfer. The latter is of the same opinion as myself, that with the exception perhaps of articles 6 and 7 of the draft, the ordinance can be dispensed with. As regards article 7 of the draft, Under Secretary Klopfer took my point of view that the possibility must be considered of directing the heritage of deceased Jews either in part or in its totality to their non-Jewish relatives.

The Reich Minister, to whom I reported on 6 April, is of the opinion that we should decline as far as possible from a settlement of the matter by an ordinance.

In order to help on the affair I came to an agreement with Under Secretary Klopfer and suggested to Under Secretary Stuckart that the question of the further consideration of the draft should be raised at a discussion in which, in addition to myself and him, Under Secretary Klopfer and Under Secretary Rothenberger and the Chief of the Security Police Kaltenbrunner should take part. Under Secretary Stuckart agreed to this and suggested that the conference should take place on Wednesday, 14 April, 11 o’clock.

2. RKabR. Dr. Ficker with the request for his consideration.

3. Resubmit 14 April (in Berlin).

[Initial] F [Ficker]

8 April

[Initial] Kr [Kritzinger]

344549

12. Note of the Reich Chancellery, 21 April 1943

Reich Chancellery 4611 E

for files Rk. 4748 E

[Handwritten] 1508/12

Berlin, 21 April 1943

1. Note—The Under Secretary conference, suggested by us, about the draft on a decree concerning the limitation of the legal right of Jews, which was at that time completed in the Reich Ministry of the Interior took place today at the office of Under Secretary Stuckart. Under Secretary Rothenberger, Under Secretary Klopfer, SS Gruppenfuehrer Kaltenbrunner, and I were present as well as Under Secretary Stuckart.

The discussion showed that only articles 6 and 7 of the provisions of the draft of the order are considered necessary in which connection article 7 is to be supplemented by a regulation which makes possible, in the case of a confiscation of property, a settlement in favor of non-Jewish heirs and legal dependents.

It was furthermore considered suitable to have the regulation issued as a supplementary ordinance to the Reich citizens’ law.

The regulation accordingly would approximately take the form as shown in appendix II.

[Enclosure] Appendix II.

2. To the Reich Minister with request for consideration.

[Initial] L [Lammers] 28 April

3. RK ab R. Dr. Ficker, respectfully.

[Initial] Kr [Kritzinger]

Justice 1

s.Rk 5761

344550

13. Draft of a decree concerning the Reich Citizenship Law, enclosed with the note of the Reich Chancellery of 21 April 1943

[Handwritten] Supplement to the Reich Citizenship Law and Appendix II

Decree Concerning the Limitation of the Legal Rights of the Jews

[Handwritten] 1508/13

dated................1943

(Abbreviated Form)

Article 1

1. Punishable offenses of Jews will be punished by the police.

2. The decree concerning the administration of penal justice against Poles and Jews of 4 December 1941 (Reich Legal Gazette I, p. 759) no longer applies to Jews.

Article 2

On the death of a Jew, his property is forfeited to the Reich.

[Handwritten] Hardship clause in favor of non-Jewish heirs and legal dependents.

Article 4

The Reich Minister of the Interior, in agreement with the top Reich authorities concerned, issues the legal and administrative regulations which are necessary for the execution and supplementing of this ordinance. In this case he determines how far this order applies to Jews of foreign nationality.

Article 5

This ordinance will come into force on the seventh day after its promulgation. It will also apply to the Incorporated Eastern Territories. In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it will apply to the sphere of German administration and German jurisdiction.

Article 2 also applies to Jews who are subjects of the Protectorate.

Berlin,............1943

344551

The President of the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich

The Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-1656

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 535

DRAFT OF PROPOSED MEMORANDUM TO HITLER FROM MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, APRIL 1943, INITIALED BY DEFENDANT ROTHENBERGER AND MINISTERIAL DIRECTOR VOLLMER, CONCERNING IMMINENT PROSECUTION OF A JEWESS FOR SELLING HER MOTHER MILK TO A GERMAN PEDIATRICIAN

The Reich Minister of Justice

Information for the Fuehrer

(1943 No.)

After the birth of her child, a full-blooded Jewess sold her mother milk [Muttermilch] to a pediatrician and concealed that she was a Jewess. With this milk babies of German blood were fed in a nursing home for children. The accused will be charged with deception [Betrug]. The buyers of the milk have suffered damage, for mother’s milk from a Jewess cannot be regarded as food for German children. The impudent behavior of the accused is an insult as well. Relevant charges, however, have not been applied for, so that the parents, who are unaware of the true facts, need not subsequently be worried.

I shall discuss with the Reich health leader the racial hygienic aspect of the case.

Berlin,..............April 1943

(Referent: Ministerialrat Dr. Malzan)

To the Under Secretary

[Initial] R [Rothenberger]

[Initial] V [Vollmer] 19 April

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-351

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 132

SECRET JUDGMENT OF FIRST SENATE OF PEOPLE’S COURT CONCERNING TWO POLES, 21 MAY 1943, AND DIRECTIVE OF MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TO DEFENDANT LAUTZ CONCERNING THE MANNER OF CARRYING OUT THE EXECUTION OF ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS

9 J 190/420

Copy

1 H 110/43

SECRET!

In the Name of the German People

In the case against—

1. the porter Paul Stefanowicz, from Berlin, born 5 January 1922 in Olyka (District of Rovno),

2. the laborer Franz Lenczewski, from Berlin, born 1 August 1924 in Sandec (Government General), Poland, at present in custody pending trial for treasonable intent, et cetera, the People’s Court, First Senate, on the basis of the session of 21 May 1943, in which the following participated as judges:

People’s Court Senior Judge Laemmle, President

District Court President Dr. Schlemann,

SA Gruppenfuehrer Haas,

SA Brigadefuehrer Hohm,

SA Gruppenfuehrer Koeglmaier,

as representative of the Chief Reich Prosecutor [the defendant Lautz]:

Local Court Judge Dr. Pilz,

found:

As Poles, the defendants harmed the interests of the Reich by leaving their places of work in Berlin in August 1942 and going to the Reich border, with the intention of remaining in Switzerland until the end of the war.

The defendant Stefanowicz is therefore condemned to death.

The defendant Lenczewski, since he acted under the influence of Stefanowicz, who is mentally greatly superior to him, will receive a sentence of 8 years in a penal camp, and the period of custody for investigation will be included in this term.

Findings

Both defendants are ethnic Poles, were formerly Polish citizens, and on 1 September 1939 resided in the former Republic of Poland.

Both defendants reported for work and were assigned to work in Berlin; Lenczewski in April 1941 in a chocolate factory, Stefanowicz in January 1942 at the Neukoelln hospital.

Of the two defendants, Stefanowicz makes a much more intelligent and bold impression. He belongs to the Polish intelligentsia, which is the stronghold of the Polish spirit of resistance. Consequently in March 1942 shortly after he began his work, he left his place of work and attempted to flee to Denmark. He was arrested in Flensburg, however, and after 2 months in a labor reformatory camp he was returned to his place of work in Berlin. There he was noted for his anti-German attitude. According to his own statement, the nurses threatened that his attitude would bring him into the concentration camp one of these days. It was Stefanowicz who persuaded the codefendant Lenczewski, who is nearly 2 years younger and was at the time the deed was committed barely 18 years old, to leave his place of work and escape with him to Switzerland in order to live a more comfortable life there. They agreed to escape on 2 August 1942.

On that day they left Berlin and went via Augsburg and Innsbruck to Landeck/Tyrol. From there they went on foot toward the Swiss border, with the intention of crossing the border secretly. In the mountains, however, they suffered from bad weather, and on 6 August 1942 they were arrested by a customs patrol in See (Tyrol), very close to the Reich border.

The prosecution assumes that the defendants had the intention of joining the Polish Legion. Both defendants, however, have denied this from the beginning and maintain that they merely wanted to get better working conditions in Switzerland. The assumption of the prosecution is doubtless supported by the fact that members of the former Polish State who wanted to join the legion have frequently been arrested at the border under similar circumstances. On the other hand, no evidence has been presented that the defendants were in contact with such circles. As for their personality, neither of them gives an impression of a fighter but rather an effeminate one, and the fact that they merely wanted to go to Switzerland in order to live a better life there, could not be disproved.

Nevertheless, as Poles, both of them have harmed the interests of the German Reich by their conduct. For they were assigned to work in the Reich, and in total warfare any loss in this regard harms the interests of the Reich. They were aware of this fact, especially since they intended to remain in Switzerland permanently and thus to deprive the Reich of their work for the entire duration of the war (crime under art. 1, par. 3 of the Regulation on Administration of the Penal Law against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories of 4 December 1941 (Reichsgesetzblatt 1, p. 759)).

The law provides the death penalty for this offense, as a rule. Only in less severe cases can a prison sentence be imposed. The case of the defendant Stefanowicz is not a less severe case. As already emphasized, he belongs to the Polish intelligentsia, which is the stronghold of the spirit of resistance. From the very beginning he failed to adapt himself to the order prevailing in the Reich and once before made an unsuccessful attempt to escape to Denmark. He is also responsible for the fate of his codefendant Lenczewski, to whom he is mentally far superior. He was therefore given the death sentence. On the other hand, in the case of the defendant Lenczewski, who did not make a very independent impression during the trial, who was very young at the time the deed was committed, and who succumbed to the influence of his mentally superior friend, a sentence of 8 years in a penal camp was considered sufficient. The period of custody for investigation was included in this term.

Under the law, the defendants have to bear the costs of the trial, since they have been convicted.

[Signed] Laemmle

[Signed] Dr. Schlemann

25 May 1943

Carbon copy

The Reich Minister of Justice

Berlin, 7 August 1943

IV g 10a 4910 c/43 g

Urgent—Secret

The Chief Reich Prosecutor with the People’s Court,

Berlin

personally or to his deputy in office

Reference GJ 190/42g 30 July 1943

Enclosures:

1 volume

1 folder

1 decree of 5 August 1943 (fair copy)

1 certified copy of the decree

Referring to the proceedings against Paul Stefanowicz who was sentenced to death on 21 May 1943 by the People’s Court, I send you a fair copy and certified copy of the decree of 5 August 1943[375] with the request to take the necessary steps with the greatest possible speed. The executioner Reichhart is to be entrusted with the carrying out of the execution. As to the delivery of the body to an institute according to article 39 of the Reich Ordinance of 19 February 1939, the Anatomical Institute of Munich University is to be taken into consideration.

Please refrain from publicity, either through the press or through posters.

By order

[Typed] Dr. Vollmer[376]

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-457

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 201

OPINION AND SENTENCE OF THE NUERNBERG SPECIAL COURT, WITH DEFENDANT OESCHEY AS PRESIDING JUDGE, 29 OCTOBER 1943, BY WHICH TWO FOREIGN WORKERS WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH[377]

Beg. f. H.V. Sg No. 256/1943

[Stamp]

The sentence is effective and must be executed.

Nuernberg, 3 November 1943

The Chief Registrar

of the Office of the District Court

Criminal Division

[Signed] Ramsenthaler

Chief Court Clerk

Sentence

In the Name of the German People

The Special Court

for the area of the Nuernberg District Court of Appeal at the Nuernberg-Fuerth District Court in the criminal case against Kaminska, Sofie, farm laborer in Uffenheim and 1 other person charged with a crime under part I, section 4 No. 1 of the Penal Ordinance for Poles and Jews, at a public session on 29 October 1943 attended by—

Presiding judge—District Court President Oeschey;

Associate judges—Local Court Judge Dr. Pfaff and

District Court Judge Dr. Gros;

Public Prosecutor for the Special Court;

Public Prosecutor Markl, and as registrar of the office.

Court Clerk Kastner rules as follows:

Kaminska, Sofie; nee Uba, born on 1 September 1907 at Czenstocice, widow, Polish farm laborer,

Wdowen Wasyl, born on 20 February 1923 at Zatwanica, single, Ukrainian farm laborer,

both last residing in Uffenheim, both under arrest pending trial are guilty: Kaminska slapped a German soldier, threatened him with a hoe, and threw a stone after him; furthermore offered resistance to a policeman when she was being arrested. Wdowen tried by force to prevent Kaminska’s arrest.

They are therefore sentenced to death; Kaminska under articles II, III, and XIV of the Penal Ordinance for Poles; Wdowen is sentenced as a public enemy.

Findings

The defendant Kaminska, who belongs to the Polish ethnic group and who on 1 September 1939 was residing in the territory of the former Polish State, attended elementary school and after having finished school worked as a laborer on several farms in Poland. She was married in 1929 and since then had three children. Her husband was killed in action during the Polish campaign in October 1939. At the middle of December 1939 she came to Germany being committed to work there. She was first employed for over a year by a farmer in Weidenheim, then for a year by the farmer Landshuter at Unternzenn, and since 15 March 1942 she has been employed by the farmer Gundel at Uffenheim. Leo Gundel is 60 years old and fragile; his daughter manages the farm. At Weidenheim the defendant Kaminska met the codefendant Wdowen who belongs to the Ukrainian ethnic group. Wdowen never attended school, he can neither read nor write, nor had he learned a trade. Until he came to Germany in March 1940 for labor commitment he worked as a farm laborer for his parents and for other farmers in the territory of the former Polish state. In Germany he was first employed by a farmer in Weidenheim, and in March 1942 he was transferred to Gundel together with Kaminska. Wdowen started a love affair with the defendant Kaminska in Weidenheim. The child born in June 1942 is a result of that relationship. The defendant took the child to her mother in Wussiowa in March 1943.

On 1 July 1942 the two defendants entered Gundel’s home and demanded money from the daughter, Marie, for the journey which the defendant Kaminska had made to Poland to take her child to her mother. When the daughter refused the request, they turned to old Gundel who was also present in the room. When he, too, refused to pay any money to Kaminska both defendants became more and more insistent; the defendant Wdowen even gave the farmer a push. In his distress, Gundel called for the help of the army private Anton Wanner, who used to work on the farm as a laborer and who happened to be spending his leave there. Wanner was in uniform. He came into the living room and told the defendants to leave immediately. The defendant Kaminska at once attacked the soldier, slapping his face once. Thereupon, Wanner slapped her face. Now a fight resulted during which his infantry assault badge fell to the ground. Wanner, feeling himself threatened, drew his bayonet and yelled at Wdowen, “Get out, you bully.” The defendant Kaminska by this time ran out of the room and took a hoe which was leaning near the staircase. She did not get a chance of attacking him as the soldier quickly closed the door.

Shortly afterward Wanner was riding on his bicycle along the road to Uffenheim to go to the police station. When he was passing the two defendants who were walking in the same direction, the defendant Kaminska threw a stone weighing half a pound after the soldier without, however, hitting him.

The next day police sergeant Dirmann went to Gundel’s farm, but the defendant Kaminska was working in the fields. There, the police official told her to follow him. The defendant Kaminska followed him unwillingly and hesitatingly. The codefendant Wdowen ran after the police official, although the latter had forbidden him to follow them. On the way Dirmann twice slapped Wdowen’s face to force him to turn back. Despite this he followed the two to the prison cell. When Dirmann wanted to put Kaminska in the cell she began screaming. Wdowen rushed up to them and embraced Kaminska with both hands so that the police official was prevented from arresting Kaminska. Only after several other people who were called in by the police official came to his aid, he succeeded in overpowering the two defendants and putting Kaminska in the cell.

The defendant Kaminska states that she learned before 1 July 1942 at the employment office that the farmer Gundel had to pay her travel expenses both ways. On 1 July 1942, she made only these demands. Besides, she only slapped the soldier after he had slapped her face. She had not purposely torn off his infantry assault medal. It was true she had fetched the hoe but she had not raised it to assault the soldier but only to intimidate him.

The defendant further admits having picked up a stone on the way to Uffenheim and having thrown it after the soldier; she merely mentioned as an excuse that she had been so angry that she had picked up a stone and thrown it at Wanner.

Regarding her arrest by police sergeant Dirmann, the defendant says she had offered resistance because she had been afraid that the police official would throw her into a cellar; she had not known before what the official really wanted from her.

The defendant Wdowen denies having struck or attacked the old man Gundel and the soldier in the living room. He had only received a blow on the nose from Wanner when Wanner had said something to him and to Kaminska which he could not understand. He had not seized or held him.

Concerning the arrest of Kaminska, Wdowen states that he had “already thought” that Kaminska was to be arrested by the police official; he had also kept “running after them,” although he had been forbidden to do so, and he did not let himself be intimidated by the slappings. Outside the cell he had intended to tear Kaminska away from the police official because he had felt sorry for her. The excuses which the defendants have put forward are irrelevant; for the rest, the afore-mentioned facts have been confirmed by the witnesses Gundel and Wurm. The soldier Wanner has been reported missing since the fighting in Tunisia. The witness, police sergeant Wurm testified, however, that Wanner had made definite and clear statements. The court is therefore convinced that the defendant Kaminska hit the soldier first; she was not authorized to do so in any way. When the witness Miss Gundel had told her that she would first make inquiries at the employment office as to whether the demands for payment of travel expenses were justified, the defendant Kaminska should have been satisfied. If despite that she continued to insist on her imagined demand and together with Wdowen behaved insolently towards Miss Gundel and her father, it was absolutely understandable that old Gundel called the soldier Wanner for help. The defendant Kaminska should have complied immediately with Wanner’s demand to leave the room. She cannot claim that she did not understand his demand. If instead of immediately leaving the farmer’s living room, she slapped the soldier’s face then this constituted a bodily maltreatment and thereby an assault and battery.

As the codefendant Wdowen, too, according to the credible statements which the soldier Wanner had made to the police sergeant Wurm, either gripped the soldier or at any rate took sides with Kaminska, so that Wanner had to fear a joint attack, it was understandable that he drew his bayonet in his defense. If the defendant Kaminska had to run out of the house to get a hoe and with it had walked towards the front door where the soldier was standing, Wanner had to fear the possibility of an attack on his life, although it was not established at the trial whether the defendant had already lifted the hoe to hit him. This behavior must be regarded as a threat within the meaning of article 241 of the Criminal (Penal) Code.

The defendant admits that after the incident in Gundel’s room, “some time later” on the way to Uffenheim she, in her anger, picked up a stone weighing a half pound and threw it after the soldier Wanner who was sitting on a bicycle, however, without hitting him.

The facts thus established prove that the defendant has committed a crime within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 1 of the Law against Violent Criminals of 5 December 1939. For this the death sentence is imposed on a person who, among other things, when committing a serious act of violence uses cutting or thrusting weapons or with such a weapon threatens the body or life of another person.

An act of violence within the meaning of that provision is constituted by a violent attack on a person which, according to design or execution or in view of the consequences for the person who is being attacked, endangers the security afforded by law to a high degree, and which therefore is particularly rejected and detested by the national community which is engaged in a fight for its right of existence, according to the verdict of the Reich Supreme Court of 26 January 1942, Second Criminal Senate, January 1942.

In the present case, the basic punishable deed is a threat within the meaning of article 241 of the Criminal (Penal) Code.

The defendant by throwing, in her anger, such a heavy stone after the soldier did not merely make a purposeless gesture. The court is convinced that it is evident from the over-all attitude of the defendant Kaminska, which she had previously displayed toward the soldier, that she meant to hit Wanner. A stone weighing half a pound when being thrown by someone in a condition which the defendant herself described as anger may kill a human being. Thus, a stone of that weight must be considered equal to a cutting or thrusting weapon; it must be considered as an object equal to a weapon within the meaning of the law against violent criminals. The defendant dared attack a German soldier, she took up an offensive position which would have caused grave injury if the soldier had not evaded the stone which was thrown at him. The defendant was about to endanger gravely the life and health of a German national. The German nation which is engaged in a grim defensive struggle rightly expects the most severe methods to be taken against such alien elements. The crime of the defendant, by design, and execution, as well as a considerable violation of the security afforded by law, constitutes a serious crime of violence within the meaning of the law against violent criminals. The fact that the criminal is a Pole is of particular significance.

From the name of the law it is concluded that it can only be applied against persons who are to be regarded as violent criminals. The defendant had not been provoked to the violent action. After she had failed to hit him with the hoe, she tried to hit the soldier on the road. The over-all behavior of the Polish woman, also toward the farmer, proves that the crime is not alien to her nature. She thereby characterizes herself as a Polish violent criminal. The defendant cannot dispute that she resisted with all her strength when a police official wanted to put her in a cell. Her excuse that she had not known what the official wanted from her cannot be believed. She knew in what manner she had acted toward the Germans on the previous day. She therefore had to expect the police official who moreover was in uniform to try and arrest her. The court has no doubt that she, as well as Wdowen who admitted having assumed that Kaminska was to be “picked up” because of her behavior on the day before, knew that she would now be arrested. By her violent resistance outside the cell, she therefore violated article 113 of the Criminal (Penal) Code.

According to the opinion of the medical expert, which the Court shares, the defendant shows no symptoms which could justify doubts as to her responsibility for the crime.

As the defendant on 1 September 1939 was a resident in the territory of the former Polish State, she had to be found guilty in application of articles II, III, and XIV of the Penal Ordinance for Poles, of a crime of assault and battery in conjunction with a crime of threat, a crime under article 1, paragraph 1 of the Law against Violent Criminals, and of a crime of offering resistance to the police.

The defendant was further charged with intentionally having torn off the infantry assault badge of the soldier Wanner. That could not be proved during the trial. The witness, Miss Gundel, testifies that after the defendant Kaminska had slapped the soldier’s face, a fight ensued and that afterward the soldier’s infantry assault medal was missing. In view of this evidence there is, at any rate, a possibility that the badge might have loosened in the course of the fight. A particular acquittal was not necessary, however, as the attitude of the defendants must be regarded as one action.

Although the old feeble farmer Gundel was not physically injured by the thrust of the defendant Wdowen, he did rightly feel the action of the Ukrainian to be an offense to his honor as a German. The defendant Wdowen, by holding Kaminska with both hands when the Polish woman was about to be put into a cell so that the police official was unable to do so for the moment, and by allowing himself to be removed only after the intervention of other persons, offered forceful resistance to an official who was lawfully doing his duty.

By his action, he also tried to free the codefendant Kaminska from the hold of the official in whose custody she was.

His act, therefore, constitutes an attempt to free a prisoner in conjunction with resistance to the police under articles 120, 43, 113, 73 of the Penal Code.

That, however, does not exhaust the entire unlawful character of his deed.

The defendant Wdowen knows very well that the German economy, on account of wartime conditions, is dependent on foreign labor, in particular on labor from the eastern territories. He speculated that his offenses would be overlooked in order not to lose him as a worker. The defendant also knew that because of the drafts into the armed forces the security organs in the Reich have been reduced and that Germany is deprived of the population fit for military service so that the rural population is largely helpless against the insolent and obstinate behavior and against attacks, which occur more and more on the part of such elements from the East. The defendant Wdowen, therefore, committed the offense taking advantage of the extraordinary wartime conditions. His action is therefore particularly despicable and demands that the ordinary limit of punishment be exceeded.

The defendant therefore had to be sentenced for a crime under article 4 of the Decree against Public Enemies in conjunction with resistance toward the police and an attempt to free a prisoner.