There is substantial evidence to the effect that the witness Ostermeier, who was a judge on the Special Court in Nuernberg, was removed from his office because of his lenient attitude in criminal cases.
In a letter addressed to the Chief of the Reich Chancellery and to the head of the Party Chancellery on 20 October 1942, Thierack discussed the necessity of the removal or the transfer of officials in the Ministry of Justice who are “not suited for the new tasks” and adds that it may become necessary “in some particular cases to transfer or retire such judges as cannot be kept in their present positions.” He therefore asked approval “so that in urgent cases judges and officials of the Reich administration of justice may be transferred by me to other positions * * * or may be retired by me.”
On 3 March 1942 Bormann gave his approval in general terms to Thierack’s proposal. A like approval was given by Dr. Lammers on 13 November 1942.
In connection with the discussion of removals, we find a list of proposed staff reductions in which seventy-five judges and prosecutors are named. Among the reasons stated for reduction we find the following: persons of Jewish ancestry, 4; persons having a Jewish wife, 4; lack of cooperation with Party, 4; religious grounds, 1; not a Party member, 20; pro-Jewish or pro-Pole, 4.
The conception of the national leadership of the Reich concerning the function of the law under the influence of the Party ideology must also be briefly noted.
On 22 July 1942 Reich Minister Dr. Goebbels addressed the members of the People’s Court. The speech was reported in part as follows (NG-417, Pros. Ex. 23):
“While making his decisions the judge had to proceed less from the law than from the basic idea that the offender was to be eliminated from the community. During a war it was not so much a matter of whether a judgment was just or unjust but only whether the decision was expedient. The State must ward off its internal foes in the most efficient way and wipe them out entirely. The idea that the judge must be convinced of the defendant’s guilt must be discarded completely. The purpose of the administration of the law was not in the first place retaliation or even improvement but maintenance of the State. One must not proceed from the law but from the resolution that the man must be wiped out.”
On 14 September 1935 Hans Frank, Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and president of the Academy of German law, said (NG-777, Pros. Ex. 19):
“By means of the law of 18 June 1935, the liberalist foundation of the old penal code ‘no penalty without a law’ was definitely abandoned and replaced by the postulate, ‘no crime without punishment’, which corresponds to our conception of the law.
“In the future, criminal behavior, even if it does not fall under formal penal precepts, will receive the deserved punishment if such behavior is considered punishable according to the healthy feelings of the people.”