"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (182 page)

14.
Decree of July 31, 1940, by the Reich governor of Posen (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1218, sheet 386) regarding the obligation of the district presidents and
Landräte
to obtain authorization to issue police orders. The circular of September 25, 1940, by the district president of Posen stated the authorization requirement for police orders by the
Landrat
offices; since the authorization was an internal matter, no mention of it was allowed to be made in the title of the police order (State Archive Pozna
, Landratsamt Kosten 7, sheet 6). The obligation to submit the document, which was totally in line with the disempowerment of the district presidents and
Landräte
, applied to quite minute details. Cf. the letter of October 10, 1941, from the district president of Łód
to the district president of Posen requesting the latter’s permission to issue a police order “on the collection of forestry by-products” (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1218, sheet 161). Furthermore, police orders issued by
Landräte
had to be authorized by the district president’s office (Posen district president circulars of September 25, 1940 [State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
1218, sheet 161], and June 28, 1940 [State Archive Pozna
, Gendarmerie Schrimm 103, sheets 27–28]).

15.
Letter of March 4, 1940, from the district president of Kalisch (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
802, sheet 2); letters of March 1, 1940, from the district president of Posen to the Reich governor of Posen (sheet 18) and of June 28, 1940, to the
Landräte
and commissars of the district (State Archive Pozna
, Gendarmerie Schrimm 103, sheets 27 f.); letters of March 14, 19, and 20, 1940, from the higher SS and police chief to the Reich governor of Posen (sheets 8, 9, ll); letter of April 4, 1940, from the police president of Posen to the Reich governor of Posen (sheet 14).

16.
Führer’s decree of October 8, 1939, sec. 3 (
RGBl.
I 2042), in conjunction with the Sudetengau law of April 14, 1939, sec. 4, par. 1 (
RGBl.
I 780).

17.
Note dated December 6, 1940, from the office of the Reich governor, Referat I 7, on the important discussion of December 4, 1940, which contained the following passage: “Many points of the police authority law run contrary to the basic principle of National Socialist legislative thought, particularly since the principle of strict separation of the legal treatment of Germans and Poles can be enforced only with difficulty under it. The issue of a very brief decree establishing the right of the Reich governor to issue police orders and instructions and to transmit them to the subordinate police authorities is therefore proposed, and Dezernat I/7 charged with requesting the Reich minister of the interior for its authorization.”

18.
The draft was submitted to the Reich Ministry of the Interior by urgent memorandum on December 19, 1940. In the event that authorization was refused, the Reich governor would be “obliged to follow the route, hitherto avoided, of a decree on the corresponding application of the Prussian police authority law.” Should the Reich Ministry of the Interior have any reservations, he requested that his own order [i.e., not the Prussian police authority law—Author] be published as an Reich Ministry of the Interior order on the strength of the Führer’s decree of October 8, 1939, sec. 8 (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
802, sheets 109–10).

19.
The Posen draft apparently crossed a corresponding request by the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the Reich governor of Posen (ibid., sheet 120).

20.
Report of October 21, 1940, on a trip to Danzig by the office of the Reich governor of Posen: “In answer to my question on what basis the police order law was implemented in Danzig–West Prussia,
Regierungsrat
Löhr expressed the opinion that a formal legal basis was quite unnecessary, also for the
Reichsstatthalter
, and that police orders could be issued as sovereign administrative acts. He further advises that the subordinate services be instructed by decree to apply the Prussian police authority law as applicable, as he has done” (ibid., sheet 101).

21.
Sent with covering letter of July 1940 by the Reich governor of Posen (ibid., sheets 55 f.).

22.
Ibid., sheet 100.

23.
See (in chronological order), the urgent memorandum of January 28, 1941, from the Brown House, Munich, to the NSDAP
Gauleitungen
of the Annexed Eastern Territories (State Archive Pozna
,
Reichsstatthalter
802, sheet 117); letters from the Reich governor of Posen to the
Gau
legislation office of the NSDAP, Posen (for the attention of
Oberlandesgericht
president Froböß of February 5 [sheet 118] and of April 5, 1941 [sheet 123]). Letter of March 14, 1941, from the RFSSuChddtPol to the Reich governor of Posen (sheet 122).