In view of the necessity of turning over proceedings, even in which the offense can be called a serious one without question, I have generally informed the chief public prosecutors concerned in advance of the altered way in which I am going to handle my right to turn matters over to another authority. In addition to this they will in each single case be especially informed about my conception of the case and will be requested within the limits of my right of turning cases over to them, not to consider taking on less serious cases but to strive for the highest possible penalty if the state of the investigations at the moment the case is handed over gives a sufficiently clear picture of the case in this respect. In comparison with the previous report, no essential new experiences were gained regarding the nature of the offenses and the personality of the offenders. Especially could it not be determined that the number of punishable offenses increased, particularly in those territories subject to a special air terror of the enemy. It is rather characteristic that the manifold rumors about alleged riots among the population in the cities damaged by air raids often arose in regions not at all or only slightly affected by the air terror. This leads, on the one hand, to certain conclusions as to the intentions of the propagators of these rumors. On the other hand, however, it can be taken as a pleasing sign for the truly disciplined attitude of the population that suffers most from the enemy’s air terror.
II. Special Proceedings.
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[Typed] signed: Lautz
EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER[517]
DIRECT EXAMINATION
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Dr. Kubuschok (counsel for defendant Schlegelberger): According to the document I have before me, Document NG-412, Prosecution Exhibit 77,[518] the Ministry of Justice made a suggestion to increase the severity of penal provisions concerning the preparation of treason. Would you explain this?
Defendant Schlegelberger: The situation with regard to the law was the following: Preparation for treason [Landesverrat] could not be punished by death. Treason, that is to say the betrayal of the native country in my opinion, is the most severe and most serious political crime, and the danger inherent in that crime reveals itself already in its preparation. As can be seen from the document, the question had come before the public and had been discussed in public on the occasion of the Sklarek case, and had become the subject of a heated discussion. It was known to me that Hitler once before in a cabinet meeting had taken the position that preparation for treason should be punished by death. It was quite obvious for me that as a consequence of the Sklarek case and, on that, Hitler’s point of view was also known to other people, a new storm would come up; in fact it was the expressed purpose to force matters upon the administration of justice so that afterward one could make use of these matters, by saying that the administration of justice itself was not strong enough to find the right position, or in order to institute and justify proceedings outside the administration of justice. I considered it appropriate, therefore, to bring this question into the stage of a legal regulation as quickly as possible. In the draft the death penalty was provided for very serious cases, cases of aggravating circumstances, and that provided the guaranty at least for the fact that in ordinary court proceedings it would have to be examined whether that really was a severe case. The danger was quite acute that unless in time such a law would be promulgated, other elements, namely, the police, would have seen to it and would have taken care of it wholesale without examining individual cases. Since the cases in question were cases of the past, retroactive measures had to be permitted. That is well within all legal guaranties.
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