In a number of proceedings for the checking of descent, the District Court Vienna requested information about the whereabouts of Jews, in some cases it requested this information from the central office for the regulation of the Jewish problem in Bohemia and Moravia at Prague, and in some cases directly from here. These Jews were at some time either evacuated to the East or were sent to Theresienstadt. Although my local office drew the attention of the District Court Vienna several times to the fact that such requests, as well as applications for the admission of such Jews as witnesses before courts or for hereditary biological examinations cannot be granted on account of reasons stated by the Security Police, the District Court Vienna renews its applications continuously.
Besides the fact that the Jews for years had time and opportunity to clarify their position with regard to descent, the proceedings for the checking of the descent demanded by the Jews or their families are according to experience in general made only in order to conceal their descent so that they would not be subject to the measures of the Security Police intended for them, or to those which have already been carried out. For this reason and in the interest of urgent dispatch of work important to the war effort the granting of applications of this kind has to be refused for the time being.
Therefore, I request to direct the District Court Vienna not to submit any such applications in future. I would be grateful to be informed about the steps taken from there.
As deputy:
[illegible signature]
The Reich Minister of Justice
Berlin, 3 June 1944
VIb 2 1124/44
Dispatched 14 June 1944, [initial] B