. NMT03-T1121
Volume III · Page 1121
| Germany by crossing the border into
Switzerland. These cases were prosecuted under the provisions of penal code
concerning treason and high treason. On 24 February 1942 an indictment against the Pole Ledwon was filed by Parrisius as deputy for the defendant Lautz. The indictment was marked "Secret Treason Case", and bore the stamp of the Chief Public Prosecutor at the People's Court. A letter signed by Lautz bearing the same date was addressed to the presidents of the Second Senate of the People's Court and advises them that he is sending to the court the indictment in the case Ledwon. The indictment alleges that on 28 July 1941 the accused left his place of work in Bavaria and attempted to escape by crossing the Reich border, and that he was stopped by a customs official whom he struck with his fist while evading the arrest. The indictment states that the reason given by the defendant Ledwon for his attempt to escape from Germany "does not deserve credence; it may rather be assumed that he intended to join the Polish Legion organized on the side of the hostile powers". The indictment states that the defendant knew that the aim of the Polish Legion was to restore a Polish state. On the basis of the foregoing specific allegations, the indictment charges that the defendant prepared within Germany "(1) the highly treasonable enterprise to separate from the Reich by force a territory belonging to the Reich; (2) to have aided and abetted the enemy inside Germany during a war against the Reich, and thus, as a Pole, not to have behaved according to the German laws and to the directives of the German authorities; and (3) to have committed a violent attempt on a German official. * * *." The indictment was brought under the provisions of sections 80, 83, and 91b of the penal code, and under the provisions of the law against Poles and Jews. Section 80 provides for the imposition of the death penalty upon anyone attempting by violence or threat of violence to detach from the Reich territory belonging to the Reich. Section 83 provides for the punishment of any person who solicits and incites an undertaking of high treason. Section 91b provides for imprisonment or death for any person who undertakes acts in favor of the enemy powers or causes a detriment against the armed forces of the Reich. On 10 August 1942 the case was, tried. The court found the following facts: defendant was a Pole who lived in Poland on 1 September 1939. (See: Law against Poles and Jews.) After the Polish campaign the defendant reported "voluntarily" for work in Germany and then tried to leave the country. The court states further that "the prosecution charge:: the defendant with the intention of going to Switzerland in order to join the Polish Legion there." It adds that the Polish Legion |
