“I discussed with him the proposition that the cases which the military courts in France would not keep should be taken over and dealt with by and tried by the civilian justice administration. I can only say that Freisler told me that first he had to think it over; and secondly, he had to discuss it with Under Secretary Schlegelberger who was at that time in charge of the Ministry. * * * Freisler told me that he had to ask the man who was in charge of the Ministry, the acting minister * * * for permission and authority on behalf of the Ministry of Justice to try the Nacht und Nebel cases. * * * As I was informed about the routine in the Ministry, Schlegelberger, who was then acting Minister of Justice, was in my opinion the only person who could consent to take over these Nacht und Nebel cases by the Ministry of Justice.”
Lehmann further testified:
“I have stated that * * * the plan had to be rejected for manifold reasons—for reasons of international law, for reasons of justice, and policy of justice, and primarily, because I said the administration of justice should never do anything secretly. I put to him, ‘What kind of suspicion would have to arise against our administration of justice if these people, inhabitants of other countries, brought to Germany, would disappear without a trace’? In my mind, and in the minds of all others concerned, everything revolted against this particular part of the plan, which seemed to us to have much more grave consequence than the question of who should, in the end, deal with it. That was also the opinion of the leading jurists of the armed forces * * *.”
Defendant Mettgenberg held the position of Ministerialdirigent in Departments III and IV of the Reich Ministry of Justice. In Department III, for penal legislation, he dealt with international law, formulating secret, general, and circular directives. He handled Night and Fog cases and knew the purpose and procedure used in such cases, and that the decree was based upon the Fuehrer’s order of 7 December 1941 to the OKW. In his affidavit Mettgenberg states (NG-696, Pros. Ex. 336):
“The ‘Night and Fog’ section within my subdivision, was headed by Ministerial Counsellor von Ammon. This matter was added to my subdivision because of its international character. I know, of course, that a Fuehrer decree to the OKW was the basis for this ‘Night and Fog’ procedure and that an agreement had been reached between the OKW and the Gestapo, that the OKW had also established relations with the Minister of Justice and that the handling of this matter was regulated accordingly.
“I was not present at the original discussion with Freisler, in which the ‘Night and Fog’ matters were first discussed on the basis of the Fuehrer decree. If I had been present at this discussion, and if I had had an occasion to present my opinion, I would, at any rate, have spoken against the taking over of the ‘Night and Fog’ matters by the justice administration. It went against my training as a public servant to have the administration of justice misused for things which were bound to be incompatible with its basic principles.
“Whenever Mr. von Ammon had doubts concerning the handling of individual cases, we talked these questions over together, and when they had major importance, referred them to higher officials for decision. When he had no doubts, he could decide all matters himself. We got these cases originally from the Wehrmacht and later from the Gestapo. The distribution of these cases to the competent Special Courts or to the People’s Court, von Ammon decided independently. Von Ammon also had to review the indictments and sentences and to obtain the minister’s decision concerning the execution of death sentences. The question posed by the exclusion of foreign means of evidence was a legal problem of the first order. Since it had been prescribed from above, the Ministry of Justice had no freedom of disposition in this matter. This is another one of the reasons why we should not have taken over these things.”
Defendant von Ammon was ministerial councillor in Mettgenberg’s subdivision in charge of the Night and Fog matters. The two acted together on doubtful matters and referred difficult questions to competent officials in the Reich Ministry of Justice and the Party Chancellery, since both of these offices had to give their “agreement” in cases of malicious attacks upon the Reich or Nazi Party, or in Night and Fog cases, which came originally from the Wehrmacht, and later from the Gestapo, and jurisdiction of which were assigned to Special Courts at several places in Germany and to the People’s Court at Berlin by defendant von Ammon. In his affidavit he states (NG-486, Pros. Ex. 337):
“The decree of 7 February 1942, signed by Schlegelberger, contained, among others, the following provisions: Foreign witnesses could be heard in these special cases only with the approval of the public prosecutor, since it was to be avoided that the fate of NN prisoners became known outside of Germany.
“The presiding judges of the courts concerned had to notify the public prosecutor if they intended to deviate from their notion for a sentence. Freisler noted in this connection that this constituted the utmost limit of what could be asked of the courts. The special nature of this procedure made it necessary to make such provisions.