This, however, does not cover the full extent of the defendant’s crime.
The drafting of men into the armed forces effected a serious labor shortage in all spheres of life at home, last but not least in agriculture. To balance this, Polish laborers, among others, had to be used to a large extent in the Reich, mainly as farm hands. These men cannot be supervised by the authorities to such an extent as their insubordinate and criminal disposition would necessitate. Since there is a lack of the necessary supervision, these Poles are becoming impudent and insubordinate. At the same time, they know that they can indulge in all manner of activities, because we have to depend on them, and because it is difficult to find replacements.
The defendant has lived in the greater German domestic sphere for a sufficient length of time to know about these circumstances caused by the war as he saw them daily with his own eyes.
From the very beginning of his employment with Schwenzl the defendant was a lazy and stubborn fellow. Frequently he refused to work; when once in the morning in the presence of the Pole, farmer Schwenzl’s wife made a casual remark to her husband to the effect that someone would have to beat her to death if she had to eat as much as the “Polak” did, the defendant at noontime refused to take his midday meal. He also induced the Polish servant maid to offer the same passive resistance. Farmer Schwenzl did not permit the defendant to act like that, he called the Pole to account in the stable. The defendant put up resistance toward his admonitions by arming himself with a pitchfork. In the hallway of the farm, farmer Schwenzl continued his admonitions. The impudence and disobedience of the defendant is shown in all its impressiveness by the fact mentioned by the witness Schwenzl, that the Pole at the threshold of the farm hallway turned against the farmer again and only let him go when the sheep dog which they kept on the farm attacked the defendant from the back.
As proved by the defendant’s behavior as a whole, he took advantage of the circumstances caused by the war also in the crime under discussion. Being a Pole who had been given the opportunity to earn a fair wage in the Reich, he acted in the basest conceivable way. His crime as well as all the rest of his impudent behavior classify him as a public enemy. The German population which today is especially sensitive toward such attacks and needs—according to the sound public sentiment—an increased protection against such foreign elements by sentences beyond the customary penal code.
Accordingly, the defendant was to be sentenced in connection with personal assault also a crime under section 4 of the decree against public enemies of 5 September 1939.
IV
The defendant is a Polish national in the meaning of the Ordinance on Legal Procedure against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories of 4 December 1941. On 1 September 1939 he was living on former Polish territory; therefore punishment has to be pronounced according to article III of the ordinance mentioned above, of articles II and XIV in other instances.
The action of the defendant means a considerable violation of the peace to the persons immediately concerned by his base actions. The rural population is right in expecting most severe measures against such terrorization by foreign elements. But beyond disregarding the honor of farmer Schwenzl’s wife, the attack of the defendant is directed against the purity of the German blood. Looked at from this point of view, the defendant showed such a great deal of insubordination living in the German domestic sphere that his action has to be considered especially grave. Anyone who is acting like the defendant commits an outrage against the defensive power of the German people in the emergency of war. Wartime demands an essentially increased protection of the home country against the dangers of war.
Accordingly, as outlined in article III, paragraph 2, second sentence of the ordinance concerning Poles and Jews, the crime of the defendant which, compared with his other conduct, shows a climax of unspeakable impudence, has to be considered as especially serious. Thus, the death sentence had to be passed as the only just punishment which is also necessary in the interest of the Reich security to deter Poles with a similar attitude.