“That the courts could not stand up to the special requirements of the war, and that therefore these transfers would have to continue.”
The only net result of the protest was that “from that time on in every individual case when such a transfer had been ordered, the Ministry of Justice was informed about that.”
The witness, Dr. Lammers, former Chief of the Reich Chancellery, whose hostility toward the prosecution and evasiveness were obvious, conceded that the practice was continued under Schlegelberger, though Lammers stated that Schlegelberger never agreed to it.
By reference to case histories we will illustrate three different methods by which Hitler, through the Ministry of Justice, imposed his will in disregard of judicial proceedings. One, Schlitt, had been sentenced to a prison term, as a result of which Schlegelberger received a telephone call from Hitler protesting the sentence. In response the defendant Schlegelberger on 24 March 1942 wrote in part as follows (NG-152, Pros. Ex. 63):
“I entirely agree with your demand, my Fuehrer, for very severe punishment for crime, and I assure you that the judges honestly wish to comply with your demand. Constant instructions in order to strengthen them in this intention and the increase of threats of legal punishment have resulted in a considerable decrease of the number of sentences to which objections have been made from this point of view, out of a total annual number of more than 300,000.
“I shall continue to try to reduce this number still more, and if necessary, I shall not shrink from personal measures, as before.
“In the criminal case against the building technician, Ewald Schlitt, from Wilhelmshaven, I have applied through the public prosecutor for an extraordinary plea for nullification against the sentence, at the special senate of the Reich Court. I will inform you of the verdict of the special senate immediately it has been given.”
On 6 May 1942, Schlegelberger informed Hitler (NG-102, Pros. Ex. 75) that the 10-year sentence against Schlitt was “quashed within 10 days;” and that “Schlitt was sentenced to death and executed at once.”
In the case against Anton Scharff, the sentence of 10 years’ penal servitude had been imposed. Thereupon, on 25 May 1941, Bormann wrote to Dr. Lammers (NG-611, Pros. Ex. 64): “The Fuehrer believes this sentence entirely incomprehensible * * *. The Fuehrer requests that you inform State Secretary Schlegelberger again of his point of view.”
On 28 June 1941, defendant Schlegelberger wrote Dr. Lammers (NG-611, Pros. Ex. 64): “I am very obliged to the Fuehrer for informing me, on my request, of his conception of atonements of black-out crimes in reference to the sentence of the Munich Special Court against Anton Scharff.