"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (272 page)

29.
See the Decree on Violent Acts in the General Government of October 31, 1939 (
VBl.GG
1939, 10); sec. 2, par. 2, of the decree by the supreme commander of the army on the special courts, September 5, 1939 (
VOBlatt für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete
, 2).

30.
Sec. 2, par. 2, of the decree by the supreme commander of the army on the special courts, September 5, 1939 (
VOBlatt für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete
, 2).

31.
VBl.GG
1939, 34.

32.
RGBl.
I 844.

33.
RGBl.
I 759.

34.
RGBl.
I 405.

35.
Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte” (1942).

36.
More details in Wille,
Das Generalgouvernement. Seine Verwaltung und Wirtschaft
(Kraków, 1943), 106.

37.
A list of all decrees can be found in Pfeiffer, Büttner, and Heubner,
Das Generalgouvernement und seine Wirtschaft
(1942), 6 (BA E 7 a [bibl.]).

38.
See Wille, “Die Rechtspflege im Generalgouvernement” (1942); Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte.”

39.
RGBl.
I 136.

40.
RGBl.
I 405. With the abrogation of the Reich decree by this decree, the latter now became the basis for proceedings in the special courts, too (cf. sec. 4 of the Decree on Special Courts in the General Government of November 15, 1939,
VBl.GG
1939, 34; also the circular of December 4, 1941, issued by the head of the Central Department of Justice, Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6).

41.
VBl.GG
1939, 34 (sec. 4).

42.
Cf. “Die Arbeit der Sondergerichte in der Kriegszeit” (1939), manuscript, papers by
Ministerialrat
Rietzsch and
Ministerialdirektor
Crohne of the Reich Ministry of Justice (BA R 22/4158).

43.
See, for example, Krieser, “Die Deutsche Gerichtsbarkeit im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren, Ausübung und Umfang” (1940); Broszat, “Tätigkeit der früheren deutschen Gerichte in der Ukraine.”

44.
Sec. 16, par. 2, of the Decree on Special Courts of March 21, 1933 (
RGBl.
I 136); and sec. 24 of the Jurisdiction Decree of February 21, 1940 (
RGBl.
I, 405). According, the case was taken up by the regular justice system on appeal by the condemned prisoner, when the circumstances “appeared to necessitate … investigating the matter by regular process.”

45.
Sec. 5 of the Decree on Special Courts in the General Government (
VBl.GG
1939, 34).

46.
Sec. 16, par. 2, of the Decree on Special Courts of March 21, 1933 (
RGBl.
I, 136).

47.
Sec. 14 of the Decree on German Jurisdiction in the General Government of February 19, 1940 (
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57); see also the same wording under clause 10, par. 1, sentence 2, of the Decree on Penal Law for Poles of December 4, 1941 (
RGBl.
I, 759); in this case, however, only the attorney, not the condemned prisoner, had the right to have the case taken up again.

48.
Circular of December 4, 1941, by the head of the Central Department of Justice (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6).

49.
Sec. 407, par. 2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in conjunction with sec. 23 of the so-called Simplification Decree of September 1, 1939 (
RGBl.
I, 1658).

50.
VBl.GG
1939, 34; in the territory of the Reich, the powers of the municipal court judges were considerably broadened by the Second Decree of August 13, 1942, on Simplification of Judicial Practice (
RGBl.
I, 508), in that sentences of up to five years’ imprisonment and written penal orders could also be imposed in the case of criminal acts. There is no evidence of formal authorization of these competences to the individual judges of the special courts in the General Government.

51.
VBl.GG
1942, 667 (
Doc. Occ.
6:123).

52.
Fourth Decree of December 13, 1944, on Simplification of Judicial Practice (
RGBl.
I, 339); in this connection see Grau, “Die 4. Verordnung zur Vereinfachung der Strafrechtspflege im Kriege von 13. 12 1944.”

53.
See the directives of the Central Department of Justice dated February 17, 1942 (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/7).

54.
VBl.GG
1939, 10.

55.
See, for example, the judgment of the Warsaw Special Court of April 15, 1943, by which a Pole was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for violation of the Law against Malicious Acts (“That fucking Hitler will come to grief soon enough”) (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Bestand Sondergericht Warschau).

56.
Sec. 1, par. 3, Decree on Penal Procedures in Wartime; this included acts to the advantage of the Soviet Union by Polish civilians committed before June 22, 1941 (the beginning of the Russian war) (see the letter of January 16, 1942, from the Armed Forces High Command to the General Government, ZS, Poland 342, 1018 f.). The Wehrmacht courts first passed on such cases to the Reich Court-Martial on the basis of an agreement with the military commander in the General Government (see letter of December 22, 1941, from the presiding judge of the Reich Court-Martial to the Armed Forces High Command [1020 f.]).

57.
Note by the head of the Central Department of Justice written in February 1942 (ibid., 1022); see, further, the discussion of June 5, 1942, between Governor General Frank and the head of the Central Department of Justice (“Diensttagebuch,” 1942).

58.
Secs. 1–3 of the Decree of January 26, 1940, on Jurisdiction by the Wehrmacht in the General Government (
VBl.GG
I, 41,
Doc. Occ
. 6:106 f.), under which the Wehrmacht courts were empowered to pass on cases to the special courts.

59.
Instruction by the Central Department of Justice, May 5, 1942 (ZS, Poland 342, Bl. 1026 f.).

60.
Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte.”

61.
VBl.GG
1940 I, 57.

62.
According to information supplied to the author by the relevant responsible official (Mag. Solski) at the Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, September 29, 1971.

63.
Wille, “Die Rechtspflege im Generalgouvernement.”

64.
Secs. 9, 25, of the decree of February 19, 1940 (
RGBl.
I, 405; also in Weh,
Übersicht über das Recht des Generalgouvernements
[1943], C 120); see also the First and Second Implementing Regulations of August 1, 1940 (ibid., C 121), and November 13, 1940 (C 122), respectively.

65.
Secs. 28 ff., Jurisdiction Decree of February 21, 1940 (
RGBl.
I, 405). Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz V/6.

66.
See Wille, “Aufbau der Sondergerichte,” and Wille, “Die Rechtspflege im Generalgouvernement,” for details.

67.
VBl.GG
1942, 667 (reproduced in
Doc. Occ.
6:123 ff.).

68.
With the coming into effect of the Thirteenth Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law of July 1, 1943 (
RGBl.
I, 372), which transferred jurisdiction over Jews to the police, Jews became “unfit to appear before the court” and could thus never take the oath; see Schwarz,
Strafprozeßordnung
(1943), 960, Ziff. 4.

69.
ZS, Poland 342, 88.

70.
By virtue of this regulation, “the public prosecutor could refrain from pursuing an offense if a punishment had already been served abroad for the same act and the expected punishment at home [was] not heavy.”

71.
VBl.GG
1939, 34; 1940 I, 57, 64.

72.
Thus, for example, in May 1944 the Warsaw Special Court sentenced two Germans to two and a half years’ and two years’ imprisonment, respectively, for severe bribery (accepting presents) (decision of May 4–5, 1944, quoted from the author’s statistics; see note 89 below), and in January 1944 an ethnic German, who as head of the finance department of the Warsaw Gas Company had illegally sold two hundred tons of coke, to imprisonment for a year and a half and a fine of 75,000 złoty for an offense against the war economy (decision of January 28, 1944, author’s statistics); the Kraków Special Court sentenced a German national by the penal order of April 10, 1943, to the extremely mild term of five months’ imprisonment, and as late as January 10, 1945, a Reich German to three months’ imprisonment for breaking a work contract (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Akten Sondergericht Kraków, no registration code); cf. the thirteen cases for “racial defilement” by the Lemberg Special Court discussed in the report of June 1943 by the commander of the Security Police, Lemberg, of which (following pressure by the police), two were sentenced to 3 years, one to 4 years, one to 5 years, and 1 to 8½(!) years’ imprisonment (ZS, Ordner 36, 49 ff.). See also note 17 above and note 34 to the excursus below.

73.
Cf. the pronouncement of the death sentence by the Stanislau (Ivano-Frankivs’k) Special Court on the
Land
commissar in Nadworna (
Kreishauptmannschaft
[prefecture] Stanislau [Stanisławów], Galicia district), Hozzel, for embezzlement of “considerable quantities” of silver and gold objects handed over by Jews, on the basis of the so-called Parasites upon the
Volk
Decree of September 5, 1939 (report of the commander of the Security Police, Radom, 1943, IfZ, MA-641, 2217–20); see also the death sentence prononouced by the Kraków Special Court (decision of July 3, 1944) on a 19-year-old ethnic German for major theft with violence (author’s statistics; see note 89 below). See further report of the commander of the Security Police, Radom (ibid.; also in ZS, Ordner 36, 49 ff.): three death sentences on account of “racial defilement” with rape and looting.

74.
“Diensttagebuch,” 1940, I, March 16, 1940, 207 (BA R 52 II/175).

75.
See the circulars issued by the Central Department of Justice on August 16, 1940 (ZS, Poland 342, 837 f.); October 8 and November 4, 1941 (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz, V/6).

76.
In a discussion on February 10, 1944, the president of the Central Department of Justice, Wille, reported to Governor General Frank on the trial of a German police official who had shot Jews in the course of an operation in the Jewish quarter, ostensibly on account of resistance, authorizing annulment of the proceedings; Frank acquiesced, but wanted it to be put on record that he disapproved “most strongly” with the fact that the annulment was not carried out “by way of the pardon process” but as a matter of mere convenience. In the same discussion, Wille reported on the case of the leader of a forestry protection commando who had killed four Poles under the influence of alcohol because his comrade had been shot down by “bandits,” requesting annulment on account of the effects of shock (sec. 5, par. 2, Penal Code); Frank refused, however: “brutalization of morality” could not be tolerated, but the penalty could be served in the Reich (“Diensttagebuch,” 1944, February 10, 1944, BA R 52 II/213).

77.
Circular dated January 15, 1941, from the head of the Central Department of Justice to the subordinate justice departments of the district (Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz, V/6).

78.
ZS, Poland, Film 58, 841 ff.

79.
Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Regierung des GG/Hauptabteilung Justiz, V/7.

80.
Statements by Higher SS and Police Leader Krüger at the meeting in the office of the governor general on January 21, 1940: imprisonment “was not working” and had “lost all character of a deterrent. Everybody wants to go to prison, where they expect to be taken care of and be out of the cold.” The death penalty should also be used in the economic sector, for example in cases of profiteering (“Diensttagebuch,” vol. I, 78, quoted from a copy in the IfZ).

81.
Decision of the Lublin Special Court, November 1941 (Main Commission Warsaw, poster collection, V/32 t/4).

82.
Decision of the Radom Special Court, March 5, 1943 (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
).

83.
Decision of the German Superior Court, Kraków, June 18, 1943 (case of Zygmunt Walczy
ski) (original documents in the Archives of the Main Commission Warsaw, Sondergericht Kraków, no registration code); the German court of first instance had pronounced a sentence of two years’ imprisonment (see part 2, section 3, A “The Function and Structure of the German Judiciary”], note 32).