Q. What position did you hold in the beginning?
A. On 3 November 1938, the chief Reich prosecutor of the People’s Court, Parey, had had a fatal accident. His permanent deputy, at that time the only Reich prosecutor, Parisius, was in the hospital seriously injured. On 1 December 1938, three new Reich prosecutors had been approved for that office. Of those, two were from the office proper, and I was the third one. Upon instruction by the minister, I was to be in charge of the office as a deputy because according to my age I was the oldest of the three Reich prosecutors there.
Q. Witness, in this connection, I should like to discuss a document submitted by the prosecution. It is Prosecution Exhibit 347, Document NG-548. The letter has the heading “Chief Reich Prosecutor with the People’s Court” and is of 23 April 1942, and is directed to the Reich Minister of Justice. In this letter, another letter by the Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police of 13 December 1941 is quoted. The latter letter is directed to, and I quote, “The Chief Reich Prosecutor with the People’s Court, attention: Senior Reich Prosecutor Dr. Barnickel, or deputy.” You are therefore addressed as Chief Reich Prosecutor with the People’s Court, Witness. Can you please explain how it may have come to that designation?
A. I cannot answer that question with absolute certainty because I do not happen to know why the office which sent that letter did it. It is, however, certain that I was never Chief Reich Prosecutor with the People’s Court. I was only Reich prosecutor at all times, although, during the first 2 months, I deputized for the Chief Reich Prosecutor, but during the first few years of my activity I frequently received similar letters. The first few times, I actually opened them. Later, I sent them to the office for incoming mail unopened. I assumed at that time that some office of the Gestapo, by mistake, had entered my name as Chief Reich Prosecutor on their records because, in the beginning, I was in charge of the office as a deputy. But the main point seems to be the following. I can see from the letter which is addressed to me, that it is quite clear that I never had anything to do with the answer to that letter. I see that with absolute certainty from the contents of the letter.
Q. For how long after you assumed the office were you in charge of the affairs of the Chief Reich Prosecutor?
A. Until 1 February 1939.
Q. Did it happen frequently later that you had to deputize for the chief?
A. Yes, but not very frequently. The Chief Reich Prosecutor and his permanent deputy appointed by the Minister, Reich Prosecutor Parisius, of course, tried to arrange not to be absent at the same time. Only if that did happen, I, as the oldest Reich prosecutor, had to take care of affairs. I have to correct myself, that is to say, after Reich Prosecutor Parisius, I was the oldest. Since the end of 1943, I was no longer used to deputize. I was evacuated to Potsdam at that time and Reich Prosecutor Weyersberg was the deputy of the Chief Reich Prosecutor.
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Q. * * * May I ask you now to direct your attention to Prosecution Exhibit 159, which we have already mentioned? That is the Prosecution Document NG-381.[533] It appears in document book 3-G, on page 22 of the German and page 19 of the English text. The subject of these proceedings is the trial of Oscar Beck, for undermining the military efficiency.