. NMT03-T0231
Volume III · Page 231
| should be prosecuted before the penal court and not before the Special Court. Only political and really important cases arousing public excitement should be reserved for the Special Courts. | |
| b. Hitherto the possibility of letting the president (one single judge) take decisions in the Special Court has not been sufficiently made use of. In simple typical cases it is not necessary to call in assessors and to mobilize the whole apparatus of the Special Courts. | |
| Kindly let me have your opinion
of these arguments before 1 August 1943. Will you kindly especially express
your opinion as regards the advantages and the expediency of the three
possibilities--criminal chamber system, central Special Court with several
deputy presidents, and separate regional Special Courts, as well as about the
question of the restriction of competence. |
|
| [Seal of Ministry of Justice] | DR. THIERACK |
| Certified
[Illegible stamped signature] Clerk |
|
| 4. PEOPLE'S COURT¹ | |
| PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-715 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 112 |
|
| EXTRACT FROM LAW
OF 24 APRIL 1934 AMENDING REGULATIONS OF PENAL LAW AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 1934 |
|
| REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 341 | |
| * * * * * * * * * * | |
| CHAPTER III. PEOPLE'S COURT² | |
| Article 1 | |
| (1) For the trial of cases of high treason and treason the People's Court is established. . | |
¹A number of the contemporaneous documents reproduced later in this volume deal with trials held before senates of the People's Court. Among the specific cases treated here are the Stenfanowiez-Lenezewski case (Doc. NG-351, Pros. Ex. 132), reproduced below in section V D 2; the Bratek case (Doc. NG-595, Pros. Ex. 136), reproduced in part below in section V E; the Beck case (Doc. NG 381, Pros. Ex. 159), reproduced in part below in section V E: and the Paschen case (Doc. NG-546, Pros. Ex. 141), reproduced below in section VE.
² The law of 24 April 1934 consists of three chapters or parts (each divided into several articles and sections). Chapter I broadened and redefined the concepts of high treason and treason, according to National Socialist principles by amended articles 80 93 of the Reich criminal Code. Chapter I is reproduced in part above in section B. Selected Laws and Decrees. Chapter III of the law, reproduced here, established a special judicial machinery to deal with high treason and treason as newly defined in chapters I and II. Materials on the application and interpretation of these provisions on treason and high treason are reproduced below in section V E
