Berlin W 8

Wilhelmstr. 65

[Stamp]

Immediately after I was recalled from the war, I realized that things were not as I had expected when plans for the People’s Court were worked out. It was overloaded with trials and this because it had to handle cases which it had certainly not been intended to judge. This happened especially in cases which arose in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia because as yet there was no possibility of transferring the cases to the courts of appeal. But even among cases which are ready for such a transfer there are some which should not be dealt with by the courts of appeal for various reasons.

However right it is to exterminate harshly and uproot all the seeds of insurrection, as for example we see them in Bohemia and Moravia, it is wrong for every follower [Mitlaeufer], even the smallest, to be given the honor of appearing for trial and being judged for high treason before a People’s Court or, failing that, before a court of appeal. In order to deal with these small cases and even with the smallest, the culprits should surely be shown that German sovereignty will not put up with their behavior and that it will take action accordingly. But that can also be done in a different manner, and I think in a more advantageous one, than through the tedious and also very expensive and ponderous channels of court procedure.

I have therefore no objection whatsoever if all the small and smallest followers who are somehow connected with the high treason plans which have been woven and plotted by others are brought to their senses by being transferred to a concentration camp for some time. This would have the further advantage that dispositions would be taken quickly and that they would be doubly effective because of that, and that these dispositions could be rapidly modified if by the measures taken the culprit were brought to a better attitude.

One can think, in addition to this, of the many cases of article 90c of the Criminal (Penal) Code, in which, by inconsiderately exploiting the strong position of the foreign state, persons who had to cross the border for some reason or other (work, or visiting relatives) were used to find out something about the neighboring state. This occurred particularly frequently in the border areas which were at that time Polish or Czech.

In any case, I consider it to be an absolutely essential prerequisite that all these cases should be submitted first of all to the Chief Reich Public Prosecutor of the People’s Court for penal prosecution. If he considers that article 153, Code of Penal Procedure can be made to apply, then the People’s Court will be able to give its consent to this in nearly all cases. Then the accused would be put at the disposal of the Security Police with the injunction that he be placed in a concentration camp for a certain period of time.