. NMT03-T0312
Volume III · Page 312
the "protective custody" of the police (usually the Gestapo) or to the concentration camps of Himmler's SS.
The next four sections (C through F) deal with various methods whereby it was charged that perversions of law and the judicial process were employed to persecute, imprison, and execute or exterminate large numbers of persons. Section C, which contains evidence on numerous topics, has been divided into three periods of time: 1933-January 1941 when Guertner was Reich Minister of Justice; January 1941-August 1942, when the defendant Schlegelberger was acting Reich Minister of Justice; and August 1942-1945, when Thierack was Reich Minister of Justice. The next section (D) deals with large groups of persons allegedly subjected to discriminatory treatment of many kinds: Germans, Poles, Jews of several nationalities, the Night and Fog prisoner from occupied western Europe, and others. Section E deals with the growth, development, and application of such concepts as treason, undermining the defensive strength, and public enemies These concepts were applied in cases against persons who were not nationals of Germany as well as against Germans. The final section (F) deals with the handling of religious matters.
Because of the close relationship of the developments of these various topics to the crowded history of the Nazi regime, there necessarily is considerable over-lap between the several sections into which the evidence has been organized. A case where a Pole was convicted of treason against Germany (reproduced here in sec. E) cannot be divorced from the materials concerning the general treatment of Poles (included in sec. D2). The Night and Fog prisoners offer another example, since these prisoners were ordinarily kept incommunicado in concentration camps, and the evidence concerning them (D3) is closely related to the evidence dealing with protective custody and concentration camps (B). The over-lap is often quite pronounced in the extracts from the testimony of defendants. Most of the defendants were active in a number of different fields and held different official positions during the 12 years of the Nazi era. In making out his case, each defendant chose his own course in grouping together various items. In facing this unavoidable problem of over-lap, the editor have employed footnotes extensively in making cross-reference, between the materials contained in various sections, particulars in extracts from testimony where mention is made of decree and other documents reproduced in various parts of the volume.
