A. In the judgment, it is pointed out that the defendant looked well groomed, but he was insolent, lazy, and he had been guilty of the offense with which he was charged in a way, and I quote, “Which showed an unheard of extent of shamelessness and insolence of which only a member of the Polish nation would be capable.” However, that is a statement made by the local court at Neumarkt.
Q. Did the local court at Neumarkt have anything to do with the Special Court at Nuernberg?
A. Nothing. No.
Q. Was the judgment by the local court at Nuernberg upheld?
A. The judgment by the local court at Neumarkt was by decision of the Reich Supreme Court of 14 July 1942 annulled by way of a nullity plea, and the trial was transferred to the Special Court at Nuernberg.
Q. What was the criticism of the Supreme Reich Court in the judgment passed by the Neumarkt local court?
A. The Reich Supreme Court criticized the fact that the local court at Neumarkt, concerning certain generally known conditions which were connected with wartime conditions, although that had been obvious in the case in question, had not taken such conditions into consideration, and therefore apparently had ignored the fact that the offense with which the defendant had been charged also violated article IV of the law against public enemies. For that reason, it was necessary to refer the case to another court so that the case be examined from that point of view, and if that should be found right, so that article IV of the law against public enemies could be applied, if that were found applicable. Further reasons for the decision which are given are that the application of article IV of the law against public enemies would mean that a considerably higher penalty could be pronounced, and that for that reason the case would have to be tried again.
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Q. In its opening statement the prosecution quoted the following sentence from the judgment: “The inferiority of the defendant lies in his character, and the reason for it evidently is that he belongs to the subhuman race of the Poles.” Is that quotation correct?
A. Well, there is a typing error here which rather distorts matters because actually it says in the judgment—it doesn’t say “the subhuman race,” but it means the subhumanity of [Polnisches Untermenschentum], and that is something essentially different. We have subhumanity in Germany and we have developed our own laws against that and when we speak of Polish subhumanity we do not mean the Polish people as such; that is what we would have meant if we had spoken of the subhuman Polish race, and for that idea and opinion there is a concrete reason.