[495] This letter was written before the promulgation of the Decree concerning the administration of penal justice against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories of 4 December 1941, reproduced as a part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 632. The first four sections of the decree also applied to Poles domiciled or residing in Poland on 1 September 1939 “and who committed punishable acts in any part of the German Reich other than the Incorporated Eastern Territories.” (Sec. XIV.)
[496] GewVVO, abbreviation for “Verordnung gegen Gewaltverbrecher”—Decree against Violent Criminals—dated 5 December 1939. Article 1 of this decree makes the death penalty mandatory for acts of “armed violence” as defined therein. The decree is reproduced as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 193.
[497] VVO, abbreviation for “Verordnung gegen Volksschaedlinge”—Decree against Public Enemies—dated 5 September 1939. Article 4 of this decree makes the death sentence possible but not mandatory. The decree is reproduced as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 188.
[498] Reference is made to the articles of the Reich Penal Code defining treason. The provisions of this code concerning “high treason” and “treason” were amended early in the Hitler regime by the law of 24 April 1934, “amending provisions of criminal law and criminal procedure.” This same law established the People’s Court with competence in treason cases. Provisions of this law defining treason are reproduced on page 169 as a part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, and the provisions establishing the People’s Court are reproduced on page 23, as part of the same document. Article 91 of the Reich Penal Code, as amended by the law of 24 April 1934 reads, “(1) Whoever established contact with a foreign government or a person acting for a foreign government with the intention of causing a war or forcible measures against the Reich or other serious disadvantages to the Reich, will be punished by death. (2) Whoever established contact of the kind described in paragraph (1) with the intention of causing serious disadvantages for a national of the Reich, will be punished with hard labor for life or for not less than 5 years.”
[499] Article 2 of the Reich Penal Code, as amended by the “Law Amending the Penal Code” of 28 June 1935, introduced the principle of “creation of law by analogous application of penal laws,” and declared punishable any act “which deserves punishment according to the fundamental idea of a penal law or the sound sentiment of the people.” Extracts from this amending law are reproduced on page 176, as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112. Article 91, paragraph 2, of the Reich Criminal (Penal) Code, as amended, established the principle that intentional causing of “serious disadvantages for a national of the Reich” in connection with a foreign government was treasonable. This provision, however, did not go so far as to declare that acts against “ethnic Germans of foreign nationality” could constitute treason against Germany. Hence, the discussion of Article 2 of the Reich Penal Code as amended with its provision for punishment “according to the fundamental idea of a penal law or the sound sentiment of the people” and the “creation of law by analogous application of penal law.”
[500] This decree of 4 December 1941 is reproduced as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 632.
[501] Concerning the “nullity plea,” see section V C 1 b.
[502] The decree of 5 September 1939 is reproduced as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 188.
[503] The relevant provisions of this law are reproduced on page 231 as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112.
[504] The various articles of the Reich Penal Code mentioned in this sentence are all contained in the law of 24 April 1934, amending provisions of criminal law and criminal procedure. This law amended numerous articles of the Reich Penal Code. It is reproduced as part of Document NG-715, Prosecution Exhibit 112, on page 169.