. NMT03-T1048
Volume III · Page 1048
| be retained by the penal institution for the
time being, and that relatives are not to be informed about the death of such
prisoners, especially not of their execution. A letter dated 9 February 1943, Berlin, to the president of the People's Court, chief public prosecutor at Kiel and Cologne, and Chief Public Prosecutor at Hamm, states that for the purpose of carrying out the Night and Fog decree or directive (NG-253, Pros. Ex. 317) : |
"In trials (before the Landesgericht), in which according to the regulations, defense counsel has to be provided for the defendant, the regulation may be ignored when the president of the court can conscientiously state that the character of the accused and the nature of the charge make the presence of a defense counsel superfluous." |
| In connection with the foregoing matter, a secret note to defendant von Ammon, dated 18 January 1941, suggests that a regulation concerning counsel for NN prisoners should be drafted. A letter dated 4 January 1943 states that in accordance with the power granted under the Fuehrer's order of 7 December 1941 (NG-253, Pros. Ex. 317) : |
"Article IV, paragraph 32 of the Competence Decree of 21 February 1940 (relating to appointment of defense counsel) is cancelled. The president of the court will order defendant to be represented only if he is unable to defend himself or for any special reason it seems desirable that defendant should be represented." |
| A letter dated 21 April 1943, Berlin, by Thierack, Minister of Justice, states that (NG-256, Pros. Ex. 320) : |
"Your ordinance of 21 December 1942 decreed that in criminal cases concerning criminal actions against the Reich and the occupation authority in the occupied territories, defense counsel of one's own choice should not be approved of on principle." |
| A letter by Thierack to the president of the People's Court, Berlin, dated 13 May 1943, states that (NG-256, Pros. Ex. 320) : |
"The directives given by the Fuehrer on 7 December 1941 for the prosecution of criminal actions committed against the Reich or the occupation authorities in the occupied territories are applicable, according to their meaning and their tenor, to foreigners only, and not to German nationals or provisional Germans." |
| A draft of an extensive secret order or directives of the Reich Minister of Justice, dated 6 March 1943, covering secret NN procedure was sent to and initialed by or for heads of Ministry De- […partments] |
