2. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS PRINCIPALLY DURING THE PERIOD WHEN THE DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER WAS ACTING REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE (JANUARY 1941–AUGUST 1942)
a. The Influence of Hitler and Others upon the Administration of Justice
- PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-152
- PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 63
LETTERS FROM DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER TO HITLER AND LAMMERS, MARCH 1941 AND MARCH 1942, CONCERNING JUDICIAL SENTENCES DISPLEASING HITLER AND PROPOSING PARTICIPATION IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS BY PUBLIC PROSECUTORS
[Stamp]
Reich Chancellery 5197 B-4 April 1941
The Acting Minister for Justice
Berlin, 10 March 1941
My Fuehrer,
In continuing the work of the deceased Reich Minister Dr. Guertner, I will do my utmost to install the administration of justice with all its branches more and more firmly within the National Socialist State. In the course of the large number of verdicts pronounced daily there are still judgments which do not entirely comply with the necessary requirements. In such cases, I will take the necessary steps. In order that such judgments be dealt with rapidly you, my Fuehrer, have created the nullity plea and the extraordinary objection for criminal cases. For civil proceedings, the right of application by the Chief Reich Prosecutor at the Reich Supreme Court for the resumption of the procedure, could serve the same purpose as provided in an ordinance drafted by myself. So as to avoid all such wrong verdicts, the public prosecutor’s office is called on, in this draft, to participate in civil proceedings, and should stress the right of the national community against the individual interests of the opposing parties.