In accordance with the instructions given by Vollmer, I then telephoned the representative of the OKW and expressed our surprise at the manner of handling this. The representative replied that this was a misunderstanding and he regretted it very much; in any case I can testify that on the part of Department IV of the Ministry of Justice, no agreement for these regulations was given, but that Department IV only through force submitted to the regulation which was made without its agreement.
Q. The meeting in the building in the Reich Military Supreme Court in the beginning of September 1944 was presided over by Dr. Werner Huelle and at that time he was supreme judge. I submit an affidavit by Dr. Huelle that was taken on 17 July 1947.[479] Following the usual introduction formula, it reads as follows:
“By order of the chief of the legal department of the Wehrmacht I presided over the discussion in the beginning of September 1944 in the building of the Reich Military Supreme Court in Berlin. In this meeting the question of the transfer of the NN prisoners was dealt with. The basis of this discussion was a Fuehrer order, which had ordered the return of the NN prisoners to the police.
“The representative of the RSHA insisted on the giving back of the prisoners who had already been sentenced, since the will of the Fuehrer referred also to those and by saying so he referred to a classification which Himmler had written about to Hitler.
“Although in view of this the discussion could have only the value of a technical discussion. I consider it absolutely possible that the referents of the Reich Ministry of Justice reserve to themselves the right of obtaining the opinion of their minister since they had not received instructions from him. More exact statements I can no longer make from memory. In what manner and by whom my office then received a statement by the Ministry of Justice, I do not know since I was not the Referent. With absolute certainty, however, I can say that only the transfer to the police for the purpose of commitment for labor for urgent armament work was considered for which the manpower of the prisoners was needed. My superior, Generaloberstabsrichter Dr. Lehmann, who himself had formerly been a member of the Ministry of Justice, always attached importance to relations without frictions with the administration of justice, and therefore, he had the questions which interested both offices discussed in common.”
Presiding Judge Brand: Will you tell me the author of that affidavit? I did not catch the name.
Dr. Kubuschok: Huelle. I submit this affidavit and ask to reserve the number, von Ammon Exhibit No. 2, for this affidavit.
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Dr. Kubuschok: From the documents submitted by the prosecution, it is apparent that keeping NN prisoners incommunicado was one of the main peculiarities of the NN procedure which was applied from the very beginning. In the opening statement by the prosecution, among others you too are being charged with having systematically carried out and approved these regulations about keeping the procedure secret. In this connection, Exhibit 319[480] is of interest. It contains a circular decree by the Reich Minister of Justice in which several directives are given as to how agencies of the Ministry of Justice are to handle NN cases in order not to endanger the cutting off of NN prisoners from the outside world. What can you say about the origin of this circular decree?
Defendant von Ammon: The circular decree was caused by reports of the Chief Public Prosecutors in Cologne and Essen, about the difficulties resulting from the strict regulations about keeping the NN prisoners incommunicado, especially when NN prisoners died, and they had made suggestions for overcoming these difficulties. The report of the Chief Public Prosecutor in Cologne is contained in Exhibit 314.[481] In this report the decisive questions are dealt with under paragraph [II and] III. The report of the Chief Public Prosecutor in Essen was not submitted in this trial here.