REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
Business Office a-3
Subject: Cooperation of the justice authorities with the Security Service of the Reich Leader SS.
IV a 2745.43 g-sheet No. 1
[Stamp] Secret
Copy of an extract from the report regarding the situation by the general public prosecutor in Jena of 30 September 1943
[Handwritten] 4606/1-a-4, 1512/42
The reciprocity contained in the executive order of the Reich Ministry of Justice concerning the cooperation of the justice authorities with the SD (Security Service) of the Reich Leader SS [Himmler] of 3 August 1942—[published in] German Justice, page 521—is only very conditional. The [Ministry of] Justice works openly, and the Security Service secretly. So, as a general rule the [Ministry of] Justice is not at all informed of the work which is being carried out by the Security Service and is therefore also not in the position to request information. It is usually accidentally informed about such investigations. So it was in the case of Greiz, which was submitted to the Minister and during which an inspector of justice was asked about the attitude in the judicial circles regarding the judges’ letters. I furthermore remember a case of Sonneberg from which the conclusion could be drawn that the Security Service made investigations regarding the protection of war marriages through the courts.