"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (270 page)

As of the end of 1942, the General Government possessed 5 courts of appeal, 22 district courts, 239
Burg
courts and 29 public prosecutors’ offices (Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte” [1942], 14). In 1942 the “non-German judicial service” employed 4,293 officials, and 807 employees (1,700 in the Warsaw district alone); the “non-German penal service” employed 1,550 officials and employees (a total of 6,650) (progress report of November 4, 1940, by the head of the office of the Warsaw district, Justice Department, IfZ, MA-158/1, Fasz. 14, p. 2).

10.
Secs. 4, 7, 10, 11 of the decree of February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64); see also the report in the
Krakauer Zeitung
of January 7, 1943. Decree of July 23, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 222).

11.
Secs. 8 and 9 of the decree of February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64).

12.
Executive decree of August 1, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 II, 411).

13.
VBl.GG
1940 I, 68 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:121 ff.).

14.
Secs. 1–3 of the decree of February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64); see also sec. 1, par. 2, of the Decree of February 19, 1940, on Polish Jurisdiction in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64), within the terms of which transfer of criminal cases to the Polish judicial authorities was at the discretion of the German prosecuting authority.

15.
Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6.

16.
Sec. 4 of the Decree of February 19, 1940, on Transfer of Judicial Matters in the German and Polish Jurisdiction (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 68), in conjunction with sec. 4 of the Decree on Polish Jurisdiction, February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64), and sec. 19 of the Decree on German Jurisdiction in the General Government, February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57).

17.
Secs. 5, 6, 8, 9 of the Decree of February 19, 1940, on Transfer of Judicial Matters in the German and Polish Jurisdiction (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 68).

18.
Sec. 8 of the Decree of February 19, 1940, on Polish Jurisdiction (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64).

19.
Bericht über den Aufbau im Generalgouvernement
1 (1940): 55 (BA R 52 II/247).

20.
Secs. 16 and 17, par. 1, sentence 1, of the Decree of February 19, 1940, on Polish Jurisdiction in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 64).

21.
Ibid., sec. 18, par. 2.

22.
Ibid., sec. 18, par. 1. If the decision was already effective when this decree came into force, the time allowed was counted from the coming into force of the decree (sec. 17, par. 1, sentence 2).

23.
In this connection, see
Meldungen aus dem Reich
(Security Service) of June 12, 1941 (no. 193) (IfZ Ma-441/4 ff.). In the district of Warsaw, for example, only four judgments were examined by the German supervisory authority before 1942 (Gollert,
Warschau unter deutscher Herrschaft
[1942], 124).

24.
Ministerialrat
Kurt Wille was the representative of the general adviser for political crimes from April 1938 on and was responsible for questions concerning the death sentence in the Reich Ministry of Justice (Reich Ministry of Justice organization plan, BA R 22/4223). On the evidence of the Reich Ministry of Justice staff list, Wille was appointed president of the Central Department of Justice, effective March 15, 1942, and transferred to the General Government (BA R 22/4378). See also the list of political officials in the Reich Ministry of Justice for 1938 (BA R 22/1462), which includes Wille’s name.

25.
The archives of the General Government were largely destroyed or, if they were still intact at the time of writing, not fully available for scientific research. The above conclusion is corroborated by the few documents from the former Central Department of Justice of the General Government still remaining.

26.
A notable example is the circular dated July 18, 1943, issued by the Central Department of Justice (ZS, Poland 342, 204 f.) on the interpretation of the Third Decree on Residence Restrictions for Jews in the General Government of October 15, 1941 (
VBl.GG
1941, 595), which prescribed the death penalty for any who left the ghetto without permission and those who helped to hide Jews. See also the circular dated May 9, 1942, issued by the Central Department of Justice, which directed the courts to punish the departure of minors as having been set up by the parents(!), who were to be sentenced to death (ZS, Poland 342, 880), sec. 2 of the Juvenile Courts Law notwithstanding (prosecution from the age of 14 years), and the principles of accessory acts.

27.
Cf., for example, the circular of September 8, 1941, issued by the Central Department of Justice on the applicability of the Blood Protection Law in the General Government (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6); see also the circular of March 28, 1944, by the Central Department of Justice, on the applicability of the German juvenile penal law in the General Government: since the education of young Poles was not encouraged, criminal acts on their part were to be dealt with by the Polish judiciary (ibid., V/126, Bl. 8).

28.
Cf., for example, the circular of December 8, 1941, on the application of the accelerated procedure under the (Reich) Jurisdiction Decree of February 21, 1940 (
RGBl.
I 405), in penal trials (Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6).

29.
According to the
Bericht über den Aufbau im Generalgouvernement
1 (1940): 52, a total of 95 German judges and public prosecutors were working in the General Government in the year 1940; in addition there were 56 junior, middle, and senior officials and 143 employees. See H. Frank in the “Diensttagebuch,” 1940, I, January 8, 1940, 50 ff. (quoted from the copy in the IfZ).

30.
Law of September 16, 1939 (
RGBl.
I 1841). Exceptional opposition was a clear violation of the the rule prohibiting double jeopardy. The Reich attorney general had the right to intervene if he had “serious doubts” about the soundness of the decision. The “Special Senate” at the Reich Supreme Court, which was composed of particularly reliable members, decided on the objection; see Wagner, “Die Umgestaltung der Gerichtsverfassung” (1968), 269 f.

31.
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57.

32.
Files in the Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Bestand Sondergericht Kraków, no registration code. The German Superior Court had not recommended a pardon “on principle,” even though several German bodies spoke on behalf of the condemned doctor. It is possible, however, that a pardon was nevertheless granted by Governor General Frank and that the sentence was not executed. Certainly the records contain no notice of its execution.

33.
Decree by the Führer and Reich Chancellor on the Granting of the Right of Pardon in the General Government of January 30, 1940 (
RGBl.
I, 399). Frank did not want the decree to be published in the official organs under any circumstances (“Diensttagebuch,” 1940, I, March 19, 1940 [see note 29 above]).

34.
Decree of March 16, 1940, issued by the governor general (
VBl.GG
1940 I, no. 19).

35.
Second Decree by the governor general of April 6, 1940, on the Granting of the Right of Pardon (Main Commission Warsaw, Archives of the General Government, Hauptabteilung Innere Verwaltung II/384).

36.
Decree of March 16, 1940, issued by the governor general (
VBl.GG
1940 I, no. 19); see also the governor general’s “Diensttagebuch” of January 18, 1940 (text of five death sentences pronounced by the Warsaw Special Court confirmed and published by the governor general); of January 31, 1940 (confirmation of four death sentences pronounced by the Kraków Special Court); March 8, 1940 (confirmation of four death sentences pronounced by the police court-martial for unauthorized possession of weapons); and March 16, 1940 (text of death sentences pronounced by the courts-martial and special courts of Czenstochau [Cz
stochowa] and Kraków) (BA R 52 II/175, Bl. 19, 60, 188, 207).

37.
The authority entitled to grant pardons under the German jurisdiction within the terms of sec. 33 of the Decree on Pardons of February 6, 1935, in the version of September 1, 1939 (
DJ
[1939]: 96), was vested in the head of the German public prosecutor’s office at the special court, and for “non-German” jurisdiction in the governor of the district (the justice department) (governor general’s decree of March 16, 1940,
VBl.GG
1940 I, no. 19; and circular of February 8, 1940, by the Central Department of Justice, quoted in circular of February 1, 1944, by the Central Department of Justice, Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/126).

38.
“Diensttagebuch,” December 1, 1939, quoted from a copy in the IfZ.

39.
Decree of January 26, 1940, on Jurisdiction by the Wehrmacht over Civilians in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 41); secs. 2–4, 76 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Wartime of August 17, 1938 (
RGBl.
1939 I, 1457 ff.); and sec. 1 of the Decree of August 17, 1938, on the Special War Penal Code (
RGBl.
1939 I, 1455 ff.).

40.
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:107 ff.).

41.
As early as March 1940, a month before the decree of February 19, 1940, came into effect, all the German courts had begun their activities (
Krakauer Zeitung
, March 5 and 11, 1940); in the Lublin district, German courts were already operating in February 1940, with a staff of twenty officials (ibid., April 3, 1940).

42.
The German court at Zyrardów was later amalgamated with the German court in Warsaw (
Doc. Occ.
6:109 n. 18).

43.
Cf. the Decree of August 1, 1941, on the Development of the Judiciary in Galicia (
VBl.GG
1941, 445 f.), which introduced German jurisdiction into Galicia (decrees of November 15, 1939,
VBl.GG
1939, 34; and of February 19, 1940,
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57).

44.
Sec. 7 of the Decree of November 15, 1939, on Special Courts in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1939, 34).

45.
The first sitting of the Kraków Special Court took place on September 27, 1939 (
Krakauer Zeitung
, November 23, 1939, University Library, Warsaw, Sign. 05763). The court of Czenstochau functioned from September 16, 1939, on which day its first judgment was pronounced; see H. von Krannhals,
Die Tätigkeit der Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei in Polen
,
1.9.1939–31.10.1939
(1965), manuscript, 100 (BA R 58/1082). For the Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) court, see Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte.” The Warsaw Special Court ceased to function at the end of November 1939 (
Krakauer Zeitung
, June 30–July 1, 1940, University Library, Warsaw, Sign. 05763).

46.
Decree of September 5, 1939, on Special Courts in the Occupied Polish Territories, issued by the commander in chief of the army,
Verordungsblatt für die besetzten Gebiete in Polen
, 2 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
5:40 ff.).

47.
VBl.GG
1939, 34 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:104 ff.).

48.
Secs. 1, 4, 10 of the decree of November 15, 1939 (
VBl.GG
1939, 34).

49.
Du Prel,
Das Generalgouvernement
(1942), 157.

50.
Decree of August 1, 1941, on the Development of the Judiciary in Galicia (
VBl. GG
1941, 445 ff.); directives of October 13, 1941, on the establishment of special courts in the Galicia district (
VBl.GG
1941, 603); and January 23, 1942 (
VBl.GG
1942, 79).

51.
Decree of February 19, 1940, on German Jurisdiction in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57).

52.
See note 29 above.

53.
Bericht über den Aufbau im Generalgouvernement
1 (July 1, 1940): 52 (BA R 52 II/2471).

54.
Administration instruction no. 2 (Ziff. 9 and 3-B-3) of March 1, 1941, to the decree of December 1, 1940 (Weh,
Übersicht über das Recht des Generalgouvernements
[1943], A 121 b); see Wille, “Drei Jahre Aufbauarbeit in der Justiz des Generalgouvernements” (1942), 1425 ff., for more details.

55.
Secs. 1, 7, pars. 3, 17, of the Decree of December 1, 1940, on the Unified Administration (
VBl.GG
1940, 357; reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:58 ff.), in conjunction with Ziff. I B, no. 3, of administration instruction no. 1 of April 7, 1941 (Weh,
Übersicht über das Recht des Generalgouvernements
, A 122a, reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:65 ff.).