Groben
- TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-770
- PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 291
CIRCULAR OF THE REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, SIGNED BY DEFENDANT ENGERT, TO THE ATTORNEYS GENERAL, 12 DECEMBER 1944, REDEFINING LIMITATIONS ON DIVINE SERVICES FOR PRISONERS[542]
The Reich Minister for Justice
- Berlin W 8, 12 December 1944
- Wilhelmstrasse 65
To the Attorneys General (except Prague)
Subject: Adjustments in the application of the execution of sentences and detention custody (administrative ordinance) of 29 September 1944 “Deutsche Justiz” [German Justice] page 270.
Copies to the independent institutions, the district court prisons and other court prisons for early distribution.
There is reason to believe that the regulation under No. 4 of the Administrative Ordinance of 29 September 1944—“Deutsche Justiz”, page 270—concerning adjustments due to the war in the application of penalties and detention custody, is being misinterpreted. The regulation that divine services for prisoners and persons in custody will no longer be held is to be interpreted from the context. As the title already indicates, the measures of the ordinance are due to the war. The preamble to the ordinance already defines the purpose of the adjustment of the application of the ordinance due to total war. This purpose also restricts the application of the regulation under No. 4. Divine services are only temporarily canceled and only then where they are incompatible with the demands of total war.
Divine services at the present time are incompatible with the demands of total war where and insofar as they necessitate time which is essential to work for the waging of total war. Nor are they compatible when and where the crowding of prisoners or detainees during divine service constitutes a danger in itself or mixing the congregation of the institution’s church or in view of the small number and the age of the supervisory staff, it represents a danger to the institution’s security and thereby continuous production.