. NMT03-T1043
Volume III · Page 1043
"Exclusive jurisdiction of the Special Courts over NN cases is to some extent to be replaced by the People's Court of justice." |
| A letter dated 14 October 1942 to Minister of Justice Thierack from Freisler, then president of the People's Court, states that he understood that a conference held on 14 October 1942 extended the jurisdiction of the People's Court over NN cases. Freisler states that he conducted the preliminary proceedings with Ministerial Director Lehmann of the OKW with regard to the Ministry of Justice taking over the Night and Fog proceedings. He explains that the Night and Fog proceedings were top secret and no file or records were made in order to be quite sure that under no circumstances should any information be obtained by the outside world with regard to the fate of the alien prisoners. He also emphasizes the fact that under no circumstances could any other sentence than the one proposed by the public prosecutor be passed and to make sure of this in the technical routine it was decided that — |
"1. The prosecutor should be entitled to withdraw the charges until the pronouncement of the sentence. "2. The court was to be instructed to give the prosecutor another chance to give his point of view, in case their view should diverge from his." |
| Freisler further states: |
"In fulfillment of my promise I deemed it necessary to inform you of this, dear sir, as these facts were not permitted to be recorded in the files and are probably unknown in the department." |
| By his supplemental directive of 28 October
1942, Thierack made note of the fact that the "jurisdiction of the People's
Court (No. 1, 1 and 2 of the additional circular directives of 14 October
1942)" had been extended to NN cases. Thierack's letter, dated 25 October 1942 to defendant Lautz, copy to von Ammon, established and expanded jurisdiction of the People's Court over NN cases. Thereafter the People's Court handled many Night and Fog cases, convicting the accused in secret sessions with no records whatsoever made of any evidence adduced and no record was made of the sentence pronounced. The defendant von Ammon testified that about one-half of the Night and Fog prisoners tried by the People's Court were executed. Later NN cases were sent to German Special Courts at Breslau and Katowice, Poland, and to Silesia and other places as will be shown herein. |
