“Special political scruples against the immediate execution of the death sentence should not exist.”
Section III of the first directive declares that the judge in agreement with the intelligence office of the Wehrmacht decides whether the condition for a trial in occupied territories exists.
Section IV declares that the culprits who are to be taken to Germany will be subjected there to military court proceedings if the OKW or the superior commanding officer declares decisions according to section III (above) that special military reasons require the military proceedings. In such instances the culprits are to be designated “prisoners of the Wehrmacht” to the Secret Field Police. If such declaration is not made, the order that the culprit is to be taken to Germany will be treated as transferring according to the intentions of the decree.
Section V declares that “the judicial proceedings in Germany will be carried out under strictest exclusion of the public because of the danger for the State’s security. Foreign witnesses may be questioned at the main proceedings only with the permission of the Wehrmacht.”
Section VI of the first decree declares that former decrees concerning the situation in Norway and concerning Communists and rebel movements in the occupied territories are superseded by these directives and executive order.
Section VII of the secret decree declares that the directives will become effective 3 weeks after they are signed and that the directives will be applied in all occupied territories with the exception of Denmark until further notice. The orders issued for the newly occupied Eastern territories are not affected by these directives. The order was expressly made effective in Norway, Holland, France, Bohemia, Moravia, and the Ukraine occupied areas. In actual operation, Belgium and all other of the western occupied countries came within the decree.
The Hitler decree was sent to the Reich Minister of Justice on 12 December 1941 endorsed for the attention of defendant Schlegelberger. On the same day (12 December 1941) Keitel informed other ministries of Hitler’s decree, directing that all such information proceedings were to be conducted in absolute secrecy.
On 16 December 1941, officials of the Ministry of Justice (Schaefer and Grau, associates of defendant Mettgenberg in Department III) drafted a proposed order for the execution of the Hitler NN decree by the Ministry of Justice, the courts, and the Reich prosecution. This was forwarded to General Lehmann, head of the OKW legal department for his approval.
Other correspondence took place between the Reich Ministry of Justice and the OKW relating to the final draft of the Night and Fog order. This correspondence occurred between 16 December and 25 December 1941. It related to the reservation of the competency of the Ministry of Justice or Under Secretary of State Freisler in the execution of the Hitler decree. These reservations were incorporated in a circular decree dated 6 February 1942, supplementing NN regulations as follows (NG-232, Pros. Ex. 308):
“Circular Decree: