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Volume III · Page 553
| supposed to be called to account personally,
or were measures supposed to be taken against them? DEFENDANT KLEMM: That was not supposed to be done in any case. It would have been neither in accordance with the intentions of the Ministry nor was it the meaning of such a guidance. The president of the district court of appeals in Hamburg, who was requested at the end of the guidance letter to speak to the judges in the appropriate manner, that was what it says literally in the letter, could handle it directly. As the official superior, he did not use this letter at all; but within the framework of a community of work within the NS lawyers league, that is, on a purely comradeship basis and not as a superior, he spoke about these matters. Even less could the president of the district court of appeals in Stuttgart issue measures to the individual judges personally, or reproach them, because this letter was expressly addressed to him. At the end it says that "you, Mr. president of the district court of appeal should call direct and special attention to these problems." There is also a circular letter by the Ministry of Justice which is known and which emphasizes again and again that the independence of the judges should not be touched. Q. But in the Stuttgart case the names of the participating judges were listed. What was the purpose of that? A. Of the twelve sentences which are mentioned in the Stuttgart letter, nine had been pronounced when different members were sitting in the court. For that very reason the names were listed to show that the issue was not the failure of one individual judge, but that the general jurisdiction of the district court of appeals of Stuttgart in matters of undermining military efficiency was not in accordance with the wishes of the Reich level and the needs of the time. Q. In that connection the name of the codefendant Cuhorst is mentioned. Did you know at the time the then President Cuhorst? A. No, his name did not mean anything to me. Q. Did you know that the then Senate President Cuhorst was also president of the Special Court of Stuttgart; and, were the guidance letters supposed to criticize the jurisdiction of the Special Court at Stuttgart? A. I did not know the jurisdiction of the Special Court of Stuttgart at all. That the same person was presiding ,judge of the Special Court and president of the senate of the district court of appeal was not known to me at the time. |
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