“1. Criminal procedures concerning more severe interrogations by the Stapo will be dealt with centrally by Chief Prosecutor Klemm. They are to be sent to the competent co-worker Prosecutor Winkler.
“2. As far as reports concerning executions when escaping from concentration camps, etc., suicides in K.Z. arrive, they shall continue to be dealt with by the specialist competent for the respective subject. The general consultant for political criminal matters, however, is to be informed of the reports. They are to be submitted to him once.”
The practice of more severe interrogations, according to the testimony of Lautz, caused much worry to those concerned with the administration of justice. By the term “more severe interrogations” is meant “third degree” methods which Hitler authorized the police to use in cases considered important for the safety of the State.
From July 1940 to March 1941, while Klemm was in Holland, he had charge of both civil and penal law. The penal section in Holland was for German citizens not in the army and Dutch who infringed on German interests. He was also liaison officer between the commissioner general for the administration of justice and secretary of the Dutch Ministry of Justice at The Hague.
During this period there were published in the official gazette for the occupied Dutch territories, in the year 1944,[667] decrees of the Reich Commissioner of Occupied Dutch Territories, Seyss-Inquart, pertaining to the registry of Jewish property, the confiscation of same under certain circumstances, and for the transfer of Jewish property to an official in the nature of an administrator. During this time a letter was written by Tenkink, Secretary General of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, to the Reich Commissioner of Holland, which shows the defendant’s signature, informing the commissioner of excesses committed against Jews in Holland.
During this period letters dated 24 and 30 September 1940, marked “Secret,” and signed by the defendant, to the department for legislation, Lange Vijverberg, with opinions and recommendations as to the registration and confiscation of Jewish property in Holland, were transmitted.
A letter dated 24 September 1940 contains the following statement:
“In my view it must be achieved with other means to eliminate Jewish influence from such corporations. In the Reich, too, it needed months of careful work to gradually extract Jewish capital without disturbing the economy or to eliminate Jewish influence altogether.”
The defendant Klemm was in the office of the deputy of the Fuehrer and Party Chancellery from March 1941 to January 1944. The Party Chancellery had to approve the drafts of decrees in connection with national laws and ordinances and also was charged with the responsibility for the approval of high official appointments. The Party Chancellery was formed from what had originally been the office of the deputy of the Fuehrer under Hess. It was the instrument of the Party in matters of State and soon became virtually the instrument of Bormann.
In the Party Chancellery Klemm was Chief of Group III-C. This group had the following functions, as stated by the defendant: