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Authors: Diemut Majer

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12.
See H. von Krannhals,
Die Tätigkeit der Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei
, 1.9.31.10.1939 (manuscript, BA R 58/1082); Wrzosek, “Deutsche Polizei in Oberschlesien” (1967); Datner, Gumbowski, and Leszczy
ski, “Der Einsatzgruppenprozeß (Urteil und Begründung)” (1962).

13.
See
Doc. Occ.
5:40 ff. n. 9.

14.
Thus, the Security Police Command, Subcommand, Schroda, in its situation report of October 9, 1939, to Detachment 14/VI in Posen, requested “to apply for a court-martial execution … in the local marketplace for the criminals Tomaszewski and Stachowiak, … since a deterrent example needed to be established again for Schroda” (State Archive Pozna
,
Sicherheitsdienst
Posen 2, Bl. 57). Regarding the “national-political” situation in the Schroda district, see the situation report of October 1, 1939, by the Security Police Command, Subcommand, Schroda, which says: “
Senatspräsident
Greiser told Pg. Körner (Bürgermeister), that three hundred executions were still not enough” (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). There is a list of execution sites in the Annexed Eastern Territories in
Przegl
d Zachodni
nos. 1–2 (1955): 298–394. Broszat,
Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik,
48.

15.
See the letter of February 16, 1942, from the head of the Security Police and the Security Service to the Reich Ministry of Justice (BA R 22/309), in which Heydrich requests presumption of “missing on account of the war” in cases for which a public report could be dispensed with (Decree on Amendment of the Law on Missing Persons, etc., of January 17, 1942,
RGBl.
I 31); in its letter of February 24, 1942, the Reich Ministry of Justice answered that this decree could hardly be applied here but that the courts should be instructed not to publish, in accordance with sec. 20, par. 3, of the Missing Persons Law, whereby no report was to be issued if serious circumstances went against the public order (BA R 22/309, Bl. 57a).

16.
According to the report by a public prosecutor from Posen, the court-martial in Lissa (Leszno) had tried 53 prisoners on October 21, 1939, dealing a death sentence in 20 of them. The trial lasted twenty minutes (!), and one witness was heard (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc I-857). Cf. one of the records, dated November 25, 1939 (4 names are marked with an X, doubtless signifying the death sentence) (Posen University library).

17.
See the record of the October 2, 1939, sitting of the Security Police Detachment 14/VI court-martial (“the court-martial has ruled that the following Poles are to be shot”) (District Commission for the Investigation of Hitlerian Crimes in Poland, Posen, Akt. II/4/21, K 73).

18.
See, for example, the notification of November 2, 1939, by the
Landrat
of Plozk (Płock) (administrative district Zichenau), on the court-martial executions of several Poles on account of theft, dealing in stolen goods, “denigration of Germandom,” etc. (
Kreisblatt Płock
of March 28 and May 5, 1940, Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-706).

19.
Letter of April 22, 1940, from the commander of the gendarmerie with the district president of Zichenau, to the commander of the regular uniformed police in Soldau (Dziadowo) (Tgb. Nr. A 666/400, Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).

20.
See the report of April 21, 1940, by the senior public prosecutor at the Zichenau District Court to the Reich Ministry of Justice (BA R 22/848). Regarding the conditions in the administrative district of Zichenau, in which the police authorities were instructed by the higher SS and police leader not to pass on investigation proceedings to the public prosecutor, and the Gauleiter and
Oberpräsident
of East Prussia, E. Koch, had forbidden the judiciary all activity, see the record of a discussion between the presiding judge of the Königsberg Court of Appeal, the district president of Zichenau, and the higher SS and police leader of Königsberg on May 27, 1940 (BA R 22/1082).

21.
See the letter of November 6, 1939, from the gendarmerie station of Wiesenthal (Fabianowo) to the
Gendarmeriekreis
Posen: “On November 2, 1939, the owner Adam Schneider of E. was acquitted of the charge of breach of a mortgage contract in the proceedings before the municipal court of Posen…. The court’s decision is incomprehensible to me…. This acquittal does nothing to improve the standing of the gendarmerie in the public eye…. As a result of this case, the congress Poles, who in any case are reluctant to bow to the present administration, have the upper hand again and are encouraged … to resist future instructions by the German administration.” Letter of November 8, 1939, from the
Landrat
of Posen to the Posen senior public prosecutor: “Since Schneider has been found guilty of a breach of mortgage contract, his acquittal is incomprehensible…. In the state interest, I therefore consider it essential that Schneider be condemned … request that the case be taken up again and an appeal lodged against the decision.” The municipal court sent the files the very same day to the senior public prosecutor; further documents are lacking (State Archive Pozna
,
Landgericht
Posen 11, Bl. 5–6).

22.
Decree on the Possession of Weapons of September 12, 1939,
VOBl. Polen
8 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
5:45 f.). Secs. 1 and 2 of the decree of September 21, 1939,
VOBl. Polen
9 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
5:47).

23.
See the letter of September 20, 1939, from the head of the Security Police and the Security Service to all Stapo headquarters, in which these “principles” are explained in more detail; it was expressly forbidden to pass on the decree of September 3, 1939, to the district and local police authorities (quoted in Broszat, “Zur Perversion der Strafjustiz” [1958]: 390 ff. [405, doc. 1]; also as Nuremberg doc. NO-2263); the decree of September 3, 1939, itself has not been preserved. See also the minutes of a discussion of Gestapo advisers in Berlin on September 26, 1939, dealing with the division of jurisdiction between the police and the judiciary (Nuremberg doc. NO-905).

24.
This emerges from a memorandum by Gürtner dated September 28, 1939, on a discussion with police representatives (reproduced in Broszat, “Zur Perversion der Strafjustiz,” 408, doc. 3; Nuremberg doc. NG-190).

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