Preparations for the carrying out of the decree on the part of the Wehrmacht were entrusted to Lieutenant General Lehmann[51] of the legal department of the OKW. He conferred with various members of the Ministry of Justice to determine whether the Ministry would be able and willing to assume the trials of the captured individuals shipped to Germany from the occupied countries. It is more than interesting to note from a statement signed by General Lehmann that, in his opinion, the defendant Schlegelberger was the only official in the Ministry of Justice at that time who had the authority to agree to assume the trial of these cases.
The total number of victims of Nacht und Nebel may never be known, but we do know that as of 1 November 1943 the Wehrmacht had delivered a total of more than 5,200 Nacht und Nebel prisoners for trial to the several courts throughout Germany designated by the Ministry of Justice for that purpose.
Originally there were four Special Courts assigned to handle the Nacht und Nebel cases. The Special Court at Kiel was assigned to the cases arising in Norway; Cologne to the French cases; Essen to Belgium; and Berlin for cases of a special nature. In the later stages of the Nacht und Nebel program the effectiveness of Allied bombing made it necessary to shift the location of some of these courts, principally in the transfer of the Cologne court to Breslau.
When we call the roll of the defendants before us today who acted in and were principally responsible for the large part which the Ministry of Justice played in the Nacht und Nebel program, we find there the names of Schlegelberger, von Ammon, Mettgenberg, Lautz, Engert, and Joel, in addition to others who played less conspicuous, if not less important, roles. If we were to select one of these men who above all others should have known the criminal nature of the Nacht und Nebel program, such a man might very well have been the defendant von Ammon who was the Ministry of Justice’s specialist in international law. Yet the fact is that the name, von Ammon, together with that of Mettgenberg recur again and again as the principal negotiators with the OKW in matters concerning the application of law and the administration of the Nacht und Nebel program.
The Reich Minister of Justice, in a letter to the public prosecutors charged with trying Nacht und Nebel cases, outlined in detail the measures which were to be taken to assure complete secrecy of the trials. This letter, from which we quote extensively as follows was endorsed, among others, by von Ammon (NG-269, Pros. Ex. 319):
“With regard to criminal procedures on account of punishable offenses against the Reich or against the occupying forces in the occupied territories, I request observance of the following directives, in order not to endanger the necessary top secrecy of the procedure, particularly regarding the execution of death sentences and other cases of death among prisoners:
“1. The cards used for investigations for the Reich criminal statistics need not be filled in. Likewise, notification of the penal records office will be discontinued until further notice. However, sentences will have to be registered in lists or on a card index in order to make possible an entry into the penal records in due course.
“2. In cases of death, especially in cases of execution of NN prisoners, as well as in cases of female NN prisoners giving birth to a child, the registrar must be notified as prescribed by law. However, the following remark has to be added:
“‘By order of the Reich Minister of the Interior, the entry into the death (birth) registry must bear an endorsement, saying that examination of the papers, furnishing of information and of certified copies of death or birth certificates is admissible only with the consent of the Reich Minister of Justice.’
“3. In case an NN prisoner sentenced to death desires to draw up a public will, the judge or notary public and, if necessary, other persons whose presence is required will have access to the prisoner. Only officials of the Ministry of Justice may be called as witnesses. The persons who assist the drawing up of the will are, if necessary, to be sworn to secrecy. The will has to be taken into official custody according to article 2 of the Testaments Law. The disposition receipt has to be kept by the prosecution until further notice.