CIRCULAR LETTER FROM DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER TO PRESIDENTS OF DISTRICT COURTS OF APPEAL, 15 DECEMBER 1941, QUOTING FROM A SPEECH BY HITLER AND STATING THAT JUDGES AND PUBLIC PROSECUTORS MUST KEEP HITLER’S WORDS IN MIND
The Acting Reich Minister of Justice
33/2-IIa2 3024/41
- Berlin W 8, 15 December 1941
- Wilhelmstrasse 65
- Tel. 11 00 44
- Long distance: 11 65 16
To: The Presidents of the District Courts of Appeal and the Attorneys General
An important factor in keeping up the morale of the German people on the home front is the prompt and purposeful administration of penal justice.
The Fuehrer was referring to this when, in his speech before the German Reichstag on 11 December 1941, he said:
“The memory of those who died for the existence and greatness of the German people even before our time makes us realize the extent of our duties.
“He who tries to escape this duty, however, has no right to live among us as a member of the German national community.
“We shall be equally unrelenting in our fight for the preservation of our people as we were in our fight for power.