On 26 April 1942 Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag in which he reviewed the effects of the hard winter of 1941–1942 and exhorted the German people to even greater sacrifices in order to achieve victory. In the course of this speech, Hitler made certain remarks about the German legal profession and the administration of justice which had an immediate and pronounced effect. Hitler said (NG-752, Pros. Ex. 24):

“I do expect one thing: that the nation gives me the right to intervene immediately and to take action myself wherever a person has failed to render unqualified obedience and service in the performance of the greater task which is a matter of to be or not to be. The front and the homeland, the transport system, administration, and justice must obey only one idea, that of achieving victory. In times like the present, no one can insist on his established rights, but everyone must know that today there are only duties.

“I therefore ask the German Reichstag to confirm expressly that I have the legal right to keep everybody to his duty and to cashier or remove from office or position, without regard for his person or his established rights, whoever, in my view and according to my considered opinion, has failed to do his duty.

*******

“Furthermore, I expect the German legal profession to understand that the nation is not here for them, but that they are here for the nation; that is, the world, which includes Germany, must not decline in order that formal law may live, but that Germany must live, irrespective of the contradictions of formal justice. To quote one example, I fail to understand why a criminal who married in 1937, ill-treated his wife until she became insane and finally died as a result of the last act of ill-treatment, should be sentenced to 5 years in a penitentiary at a moment when tens of thousands of honorable German men must die to save the homeland from annihilation at the hands of bolshevism.

“From now on, I shall intervene in these cases and remove from office those judges who evidently do not understand the demand of the hour.”[34]

Immediately after Hitler’s speech, the Reichstag adopted the following resolutions:

“There can be no doubt in this present state of war, when the German nation wages its fight for its very existence, that the Fuehrer must exercise the right, which he claims, to do everything which serves or helps to achieve victory. Therefore, the Fuehrer, by his authority as the leader of the nation, supreme commander of the armed forces, head of the government, and in supreme possession of all executive power, as supreme law lord, and as leader of the Party, has to be in a position to enforce, with all means which he may consider suitable, every German’s duties, whether he might be a common soldier or an officer, a subordinate or high civil servant or a judge, a leading or subordinate functionary of the Party, a worker or an employee. In case of violations of duties, he has the right to impose the proper penance, after a conscientious examination of the case. This can be done without consideration for the so-called civil service rights. In particular, he may remove anyone from his office, rank and his position, without resort to the established procedures.”[35]

This menacing blast from the Fuehrer, and the resolution of the Reichstag, wiped away the last remains of judicial independence in Germany. Furthermore, within a few months a complete reorganization of the upper levels of the Ministry of Justice took place. Schlegelberger, who had seen the storm coming and made desperate efforts to meet Hitler’s wishes, was nevertheless retired and replaced by Thierack. A special Hitler decree in August 1942 gave the new Reich Minister sweeping powers to bring the administration of justice into conformity with the needs of the regime; it read:

“A strong administration of justice is necessary for the fulfillment of the tasks of the Greater German Reich. Therefore, I commission and empower the Reich Minister of Justice to establish a National Socialist Administration of Justice, and to take all necessary measures in accordance with the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery and the Leader of the Party Chancellery. He can hereby deviate from any existing law.”[36]