Whatever man can do to forestall dangers, I have done and shall continue to do in future.
- PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-102
- PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 75
FOUR COMMUNICATIONS, MAY-JUNE 1942, CONCERNING THE AUTHORITY FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF SENTENCES[247]
1. A Letter from Schlegelberger to Hitler, Enclosing a Proposed Decree for Hitler’s Signature
The Acting Reich Minister of Justice
Berlin, 6 May 1942
My Fuehrer!
Repeatedly, and finally in the session of the Greater German Reichstag on the 26 April of this year, you expressed that the front and the homeland require the unrelenting punishment of criminals, and that the judgments of the courts which do not meet these requirements cannot be tolerated.[248]
In order to accelerate the setting aside of such decisions, you, my Fuehrer, created the extraordinary objection to the Reich Supreme Court.[249] With the help of this legal resource the judgment against Schlitt, which you mentioned in the session of the Reichstag, was quashed within 10 days by sentence of the Reich Supreme Court. Schlitt was sentenced to death and executed at once. I believe, however, that the desired aim could be achieved even better and quicker if the Reich Minister of Justice, by means of an authority of confirmation, were given decisive influence on the award of punishment.
If you, my Fuehrer, could decide, by signing the attached draft of a decree, to transfer to the Reich Minister of Justice this right of confirmation for cases in which you do not want to decide yourself, the following would be achieved thereby: