. NMT03-T0838
Volume III · Page 838
| A. No, two ordinances of Departments IV and V were issued at that time, and they were issued to the chief general prosecutors concerned, to the effect that they were to transfer the prisoners to the competent authority, the Gestapo. |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| Q. You mentioned that the courts in
enforcing the Nacht and Nebel program by trying Nacht and Nebel defendants,
particularly the Special Courts, had been moderate in their sentences. Now, in
view of that, I'm wondering if that is true for the reason that after the Nacht
and Nebel program was terminated by these arrangements in 1944, you wrote a
letter to the Attorney General in Munich and you told the Attorney General in
Munich that in view of the new arrangement concerning the treatment of Nacht
and Nebel prisoners in the future, namely their transfer to the Gestapo, "There
no longer will be executions of Nacht and Nebel prisoners in any large
numbers."* Now, tell me, Dr. von Ammon, if these courts were so lenient and
gentle with these Nacht and Nebel defendants, why did you see fit to mention
that death sentences weren't going to be in any large numbers in the future?
That's the same as saying they were large in the past, isn't it? A. I stressed above all that the sentences passed by the Special Courts were moderate. It is true that the Special Courts only passed a few death sentences. I did say, however, on the contrary that the People's Court did pass a large number of death sentences and even mentioned that 50 percent of the persons indicted by the People's Court were sentenced to death. Those sentences which were intended to be executed in Munich were sentences which had been passed by the People's Court. Q. In any event, whether it was the People's Court or the Special Court, after that Nacht and Nebel program was dissolved, you were of the opinion then that large numbers of death sentences would not be passed in the future? A. No, actually I was of the opinion that no further death sentences would be passed. The only thing that could still happen was that death sentences would be executed that had been passed prior to September 1944. Q. And from your letter, it appears that up until that time, they had been large in number, does it not? A. Well, that is a relative concept — that word "large." Q. Oh, of course. A. I believe that in view of the long period of time — from 1942 |
* Document NG-1886, Prosecution Exhibit 546. reproduced above in this section.
