. NMT06-T0481
Volume VI · Page 481
| b. if Jews participate
decisively by capital or vote. A decisive participation by capital is given if
more than one-fourth of the capital belongs to Jews; a decisive participation
by vote is given if the Jewish votes exceed half of the total votes.
According to Article 3 of this decree a business must also be considered Jewish if it is actually under the dominating influence of Jews. It is in the interest of the enterprise itself, of its employees, and of its stockholders — outside of the Petschek group — and especially, in their interest within the national-economic frame that the transfer of the Jewish property to Aryans be required, against the will of the present owners, if necessary. The material which I could gather concerning the laws existing in foreign countries for the nationalization of the rights held by companies to acquire real estate and exploit mineral deposits may be taken from my letters to Director Steinbrinck dated 17 March 1938, and 28 March 1938, attached as enclosures 1 and 2.¹ Enclosure 3 contains the tabular excerpt from my letters of 17 March and 28 March 1938, made upon his request. Like any survey of this kind it presents only the outline of the foreign laws concerned. These enclosures were sent to Amtsgerichtsrat Herbig of the Reich Ministry of Justice on 31 March — enclosure 3, on 4 May 1938 — with the reference that p. 24 ff., of the attached letter of 17 March 1938, also contains my proposals for a German law aiming at the nationalization of the land or the exploitation thereof. According to German laws, there is as yet no legal provision which permits the sale of an enterprise or holdings in Jewish hands against the will of the Jewish owner, not even in the case of the most essential enterprises. However, according to Article 7 of the decree, [decree of 26 April 1938 concerning the registration of Jewish-owned property] section b, the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan has been authorized to take all measures necessary to guarantee the utilization of (Jewish) property subject to registration in accordance with the requirements of German economy. In this connection one should, according to the "V.B." [Voelkischer Beobachter]² of 28 April 1938, referring to the purpose of the decree, keep in mind the fact that "the Jews must be prevented from harvesting the |
¹ The enclosures referred to were not a part of the document introduced in evidence.
² Official newspaper of the Nazi Party.
