As the witness Lehmann testified here, the seclusion of NN prisoners from the outside world was, so to say, the price to be paid for the possibility of greater leniency in sentencing. Under this point of view it seemed to me to be acceptable. That very strong resistance movements existed in the occupied territories, which in a certain sense could be considered as a second illegal army and influence the military situation considerably, is an historical fact.
Q. Did you have an opportunity to give up your NN section and to take over another section?
A. As I already stated in the affidavit of 17 December 1946 which I quoted repeatedly, I did not like dealing with NN cases. Whether a person likes his special professional field is, on the whole, dependent on his inner attitude. In any case, I can say about myself that the activity in a section in which of necessity, severity, and above all, death sentences appeared, was not to my liking, especially since people were concerned who as such were not criminals and who could not be denied a human understanding.
For that reason, in the summer of 1944, I made the attempt to swap my section with another section in the personnel division of the Ministry of Justice. At that time it was intended to promote Ministerial Counselor Wittland who was a member of the personnel division. In that case he would have left the Ministry of Justice. The section comprised organization of the courts and civil service law.
At that time I requested to receive this section when Wittland would leave. From August 1944 until January 1945, I used part of my time in order to get acquainted with the personnel department. However, the Party Chancellery then objected to Wittland’s promotion, and, therefore, it did not take place; and I had to remain in my former section.
Q. Did you regard the NN regulations as being within the framework of international law?
A. In answering that question, I have to make a clear distinction. The NN decree was signed by Keitel on order of Hitler. The executive regulations for the NN decree were issued, first of all, by the OKW and for the sphere of the Ministry of Justice, by the Ministry of Justice. The basic executive regulations of the Ministry of Justice in regard to the NN decree were not worked out by me as Referent nor in my department at all. Apart from the leadership of the Ministry, the penal legislation department, Department III, was competent for this. Department IV and I as Referent were in a certain sense merely executive organs in the application of the existing legal regulations.
The examination as to whether the NN decree and the basic executive regulations were in accordance with international law was therefore up to the people who were competent for the issuance of the decree and working on the drafting of the regulations. But the executive organ neither has the duty nor the right for review as has been discussed here frequently.
Of course, as a jurist, I thought about these questions and can say that crimes of that nature as were prosecuted as NN cases can be punished with the most severe penalty according to international law, and that penalties of that kind are also usually applied by all states as is obvious, I believe; that courts martial which otherwise would have tried such cases in the occupied territory, were replaced by civil courts in the home country, is also not contrary to international law.
And now, as to the limiting regulations of the NN procedure, the essential factor was that a just decision by the court was not prevented by them. In the statements I have made so far, I have pointed out that the limiting regulations of the NN procedure did not exert a negative influence for the defendant in the proceeding.