Q. Can you tell us whether you are familiar with the decree against Poles and Jews promulgated in 1941?[216]
A. Yes, that is a concept for me.
Q. You are in general familiar with the provisions of this decree, are you not?
A. Well, in detail—of course today I couldn’t say—but in general, yes.
Q. What was Rothaug’s attitude toward Poles and Jews prior to the time that this decree was promulgated so far as you know from the conversations that you had with him and from the reports that you passed on from him?
A. I believe that it was clear to Rothaug that here, if I may say so, there was a gap in the law; that that gap should be bridged; but that a judge with the right political attitude should be in a position, in spite of this gap, to sentence accordingly. He found the juridical way to pronounce the sentences which he considered appropriate.
Q. In other words, would you say that Rothaug achieved, without a decree, and prior to the time that it was promulgated, the same legal effect that later could be achieved under it?
A. That is correct, beyond doubt. As a Special Court judge in Nuernberg, he achieved the same success. I should only think that perhaps measured by conditions all throughout the Reich, he thought that a formulation of these principles was needed.
Q. Is it your feeling that Rothaug’s outspoken comments on the need for such a decree, as was later formulated, was influential in the final promulgation of that decree?
A. Well, as far as the various things are concerned that finally led to the decree, I am not well informed about that; but that Rothaug’s information may have contributed, that I believe.