Chapter LXIII: Section 60: , Penal Code. Costs: Section 465, Code of Criminal Procedure (9)

As proved by the defendant’s behavior as a whole, he took advantage of the circumstances caused by the war also in the crime under discussion. Being a Pole who had been given the opportunity to earn a fair wage in the Reich, he acted in the basest conceivable way. His crime as well as all the rest of his impudent behavior classify him as a public enemy. The German population which today is especially sensitive toward such attacks and needs--according to the sound public sentiment--an increased protection against such foreign elements by sentences beyond the customary penal code.

Accordingly, the defendant was to be sentenced in connection with personal assault also a crime under section 4 of the decree against public enemies of 5 September 1939.

IV

The defendant is a Polish national in the meaning of the Ordinance on Legal Procedure against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories of 4 December 1941. On 1 September 1939 he was living on former Polish territory; therefore punishment has to be pronounced according to article III of the ordinance mentioned above, of articles II and XIV in other instances.

The action of the defendant means a considerable violation of the peace to the persons immediately concerned by his base actions. The rural population is right in expecting most severe measures against such terrorization by foreign elements. But beyond disregarding the honor of farmer Schwenzl’s wife, the attack of the defendant is directed against the purity of the German blood. Looked at from this point of view, the defendant showed such a great deal of insubordination living in the German domestic sphere that his action has to be considered especially grave. Anyone who is acting like the defendant commits an outrage against the defensive power of the German people in the emergency of war. Wartime demands an essentially increased protection of the home country against the dangers of war.

Accordingly, as outlined in article III, paragraph 2, second sentence of the ordinance concerning Poles and Jews, the crime of the defendant which, compared with his other conduct, shows a climax of unspeakable impudence, has to be considered as especially serious. Thus, the death sentence had to be passed as the only just punishment which is also necessary in the interest of the Reich security to deter Poles with a similar attitude.

Decision as to the costs--article 465 Criminal Code of Procedure.

[Typed] signed DR. FERBER

[Typed] signed ROTHAUG

[Amtsgerichtsrat] AGR. Dr. Pfaff was not in town on account of official business.

[Typed] signed ROTHAUG

Certified.
Nuernberg, 29 October 1942

The registrar of the Office of the Special Court for the District of the Nuernberg Court of Appeal at the Nuernberg-Fuerth District Court.

[Signature illegible]
Clerk

[Stamp] District Court Nuernberg-Fuerth

[Refusal of pardon by the Reich Minister of Justice]

Certified true copy

In the criminal case against Jan Lopata, sentenced to death by the Special Court with the Nuernberg-Fuerth District Court on 26 October 1942 as a public enemy according to the ordinance concerning penal law applying to Poles, I decided after having been authorized by the Fuehrer not to make use of the right of pardon, but to let justice take its free course.

Berlin, 19 November 1942

The Reich Minister of Justice
(Seal) [Typed] signed: DR. THIERACK

[Stamp] Reich Ministry of Justice Ministerial Chancellery

This is to testify that the text corresponds with the original.

Berlin, 22 November 1942

[Signed] PETERSEN
Senior Secretary of the Ministerial Chancellery

IV g-11-2417.42

[Petition for Clemency]

[Handwritten marginal note] Special Court Nuernberg. Sentence: 26 November 1942.

[Handwritten] Translation from the Polish language of a petition for clemency.

Stanislaus Bieniasz

Jan Lopata, born on 24 June 1916 in Kajscowka, district of Myslenice.

Petition for Clemency

In 1940, I stayed in Germany as an agricultural worker with the farmer Josef Schwenzl at Bodenhof, where I had my residence together with Angelike Murzyn until 1942. Later on, on Sunday 7 February, I went to another farmer whose name was Josef, I do not know his surname, but I know where he lives. He urged me continuously to come to him, and I went to see him on Sunday 7 February. On Monday 8 February, I went to the regional labor office together with the farmer’s wife and from there the policeman took me along to prison, for what reasons, I do not know. Maybe on the grounds that for 2 years I worked hard and well at the farmer’s; the Lord can see that from heaven how they treated me and such things. The Polish woman is my very best witness, because she has been working together with me and she knows everything, how the farmer beat me in the beginning, and how he did not want to pay me. The testimony given by the farmer’s wife during the proceedings is not absolutely true. She has not told what they had hidden in the corn on the second floor of the barn. Neither did she tell that they slaughtered a pig for New Year’s day. At that time they chased us out of the house, and we were supposed to go to Peihof? [sic] and have a glass of beer together with the Polish woman. I immediately refused to do that, and that is the reason why they urged us and said that they would also go and have a glass of beer and that we should not return home too early at least not before 8 o’clock. They themselves would not return so early either, at any rate not before late in the evening. When we then came back later--the sun had already set--they were already at home. I was just about to enter the room in order to cut a few slices of bread for myself, as I always did. When I came home Sunday night, and at that time cut bread for New Year’s Eve, the farmer was already at home and was doing something in the other room. He called to his wife to bring him some salt. She went upstairs to get the salt. When she came down with the salt she tried to hide it in a way that the Polish woman should not see it. The pig had been delivered only shortly before the New Year. On New Year’s day, in the morning, the pig was still there and on the other day, Friday morning, that pig was not there any longer. At the time mentioned in the evening, we were urged to go to bed and later on, they turned on the light and arranged something in the other room at night. The windows were screened. I do not know why. Because I was angry I left them. The farmer’s wife said that I did not want to get up in the morning, and that I did not want to work. All that was seen by the Polish woman. Now I would be deeply obliged if the death penalty could be commuted into a prison term. I beg you very much to do that, I forward my petition to the lawyer so that he may try to bring it about. If I had enough money, I would pay him, but what can I do, if I have not got any? Perhaps I might beg the defense counsel to do so without pay, and I beg him most humbly to have this petition carried through as soon as possible.

Munich, 22 November 1942

Signed: JAN LOPATA

For the correctness of the translation:
Munich, 26 November 1942

[Signed] STANISLAUS BIENIASZ

[Report of execution of Lopata]
Sg 433/42 V.R. Sg. II 371/42

Nuernberg, 3 December 1942

The Chief Public Prosecutor

I. Report: To the Attorney General--personally or to his
official representative in Nuernberg

Subject: Execution of the death sentence against the Polish farm
worker Jan Lopata, single, last residence: Bodenhof

In addition to the ordinance of the Reich Minister of Justice, IV g-11-2417 b/42 issued 19 November 1942

Enclosure: Original of the decree IV g-11-2417.42 of the Reich
Minister of Justice, dated 19 November 1942

The death sentence was carried out on 30 November 1942

The execution took 1 minute 10 seconds altogether. From the defendant’s being handed over to the executioner until the falling of the axe, 7 seconds elapsed.

The execution took place without any incidents.

Please find in the enclosure the original of the decree of the Reich Minister of Justice, dated 19 November 1942.

II. To Public Prosecutor Dr. Dorfmueller for due information and
further orders (carrying out of the sentence).

III. Information to the Chief Public Prosecutor, Munich,
according to Reich Ordinance of 21 May 1942, 4417--VIII
a-10-1003 Article 2b (2).

[Signed] HOLLMANN
Senior Public Prosecutor

[Handwritten marginal notes] I. duly noted.
II. To Attorney at law, Dorfmueller.

3 December 1942

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-412
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 77

REQUEST BY UNDER SECRETARY FREISLER FOR A “DRAFT ON THE RETROACTIVE EFFECT OF THE MORE SEVERE NATIONAL SOCIALIST REGULATIONS” FOR TREASON, 18 MAY 1942; AN INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM THEREON, AND A CIRCULAR LETTER FROM DEFENDANT SCHLEGELBERGER TO VARIOUS REICH AUTHORITIES ATTACHING A DRAFT OF A PROPOSED LAW AND REQUESTING APPROVAL

[Handwritten] Reich Chief Prosecutor Lautz will return from official trip on 22 May.

To Ministerialdirektor Schaefer

I ask you to submit as soon as possible a draft on the retroactive effect of the more severe National Socialist regulations for cases of treason upon the earlier period. You can perhaps discuss the cause with the Chief Reich Prosecutor on the telephone.

18 May 1942

[Initial] FR (Freisler)

[Handwritten Notes] Urgent Herr Rietzsch:

Please discuss this with me.

[Initial] SCH [Schaefer]

19 May

Settled.

[Initial] R [Rietzsch] 20 May

_Note_--Reich Chief Prosecutor Lautz, who could be reached only after his return from a journey, states that _one_ case has been discovered where a German subject from the Memel district had betrayed to Lithuania prior to 1933 important State secrets on the organization of the supporting operation set up by the Reich for the Memel district.

In view of the extent and importance of the State secrets which were revealed, and betrayal was deserving of death. The disclosure of further severe cases of treason from the time prior to the seizure of power is to be expected.

[Signed] RIETZSCH 26 May

BY ORDER OF UNDER SECRETARY DR. FREISLER:

Berlin, 27 May 1942

The Reich Minister of Justice III a 454.42 g Official in charge: Ministerialrat Rietzsch

_Secret_
[Handwritten Notes] III a 891/42 g.
Immediately!

To:

1. The Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, III a
683/42 g.

2. The Reich Air Minister and Commander in Chief of the Air
Force.

3. Reich Marshal Goering, Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan,
III a 608/42 g.

4. The Reich Minister of the Interior.

5. The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, III a
454/42 g.

6. The Chief of the Party Chancellery, III a 609/42 g.

7. The Foreign Office, III a 537/42 g.

[Stamp]
To the office 30
May 1942, finished
and dispatched
June

Draft of a Law to Supplement the Regulations against Treason

Dispatched: 2 June 1942

1 Enclosure [Handwritten] to be mimeographed

I. The trial of the emigrated Jew Leo Israel Sklarek before the People’s Court has proved anew that, in severe cases of preparation for treason (art. 92 Reich Penal Code), there is need of instituting the death penalty which so far is not provided for in article 92 of the Reich Penal Code. When deliberating on the draft of the Penal Code, the Fuehrer, during a cabinet session, had personally emphasized the necessity of threatening even with the death penalty in cases of preparation of treason. I, therefore, propose to supplement article 92 of the Reich Penal Code accordingly.

II. Inquiries that could be opened on the grounds of discoveries in the occupied eastern towns have disclosed a case of treason in the time prior to the seizure of power, when a German subject betrayed important military secrets. The act of treason of that German subject deserves death but cannot be punished with the death penalty according to the hitherto valid regulations since a retroactive effect of the law altering regulations of the Penal Code, dated 24 April 1934,[503] Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 341, which reformed at the time, the regulations against treason, is not provided for as yet. The disclosure of further severe cases of treason may be expected. It is, therefore, recommended that in the individual case, the section chiefs concerned be authorized to order the retroactive effect of the regulations against treason in order to arrive at the imperative severe punishment in particularly serious cases of more remote date.

Enclosed please find the draft of a law containing the two regulations discussed above with the request for approval.

The Acting Minister,
[Initial] SCH (Schlegelberger) 27 May

[Initial] FR (Freisler) 26 May

2. Copy to Ministerialrat Rietzsch.

3. To Ministerialdirector Schaefer after his return with the request to note.

4. 1 month.

Dispatched: 2 June 1942

[Handwritten] Enclosure to III a 454.42 g.

Law for supplementing the regulations against treason of 1942.

The Reich Cabinet has enacted the following law which is herewith promulgated:

Article I

Paragraph 1

Article 92 of the Reich Penal Code is supplemented by the following concluding paragraph:

In particularly serious cases the death penalty has to be passed.

Paragraph 2

The regulation of paragraph 1 is also valid in cases of criminal acts which were committed prior to the date this law came into effect.

Article II

The Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, the Reich Air Minister and Supreme Commander of the Air Force, as well as the Reich Minister of Justice may each order within their jurisdiction that the penal regulations against treason (articles 88 to 93a of the Reich Penal Code in the version of the third part of the law dated 16 September 1939, Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1841) should be applied also to criminal acts which were committed prior to the date the law dated 24 April 1934, Reichsgesetzblatt I, page 341, came into effect.

Article III

The law is also valid in the Incorporated Eastern Territories. Fuehrer Headquarters,..............1942

The Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor The Chairman of the Ministerial Council for Reich Defense The Reich Marshal The Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces The Reich Minister of the Interior The Acting Reich Minister of Justice The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery

[Handwritten] to III a 454/42 g.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-595
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 136

THE BRATEK CASE, 10 DECEMBER 1942–20 JULY 1943. EXTRACTS FROM THE OFFICIAL FILES, INCLUDING GESTAPO REPORT OF 10 DECEMBER 1942; JUDGMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S COURT AFTER TRIAL OF 20 MAY 1943; AND NOTE OF 20 JULY 1943 ON THE EXECUTION OF THE DEATH SENTENCE

Secret State Police Office Innsbruck File No. III B-3240/42 g.

Innsbruck, 10 December 1942
Herrengasse 1
Telephone: 1230, 1231, 2107
Long Distance: 2159

Imprisonment!

To Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People’s Court or deputy in office Berlin W 9 Bellevuestrasse 15

[Stamp]
SECRET!

[Stamp]
The Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People’s Court
Received: 14 December 1942

Subject: Case against the Pole, Stanislaw Bratek born on 3
January 1920 in Wolbrom

Incident: Your file No. 9 J 195/42 g.

Enclosures: None

The Secret State Police Office Breslau informed me additionally about the following details concerning the accused:

“From January 1940 to 6 September 1942 Bratek was employed as
a farm hand in Roggendorf at the State-owned farm Buchenhang.
On 13 October 1941 and on 6 September 1942, he left this place
of work without permission. In the first case, he was arrested
at the police border in Kosten on 13 October 1941, district of
Kreuzburg (Upper Silesia), and after having been warned, was
taken back to his place of work. After the second breach of
his working contract he was arrested at the station in Munich
on 8 September 1942. When being arrested B. illegally wore the
Hitler Youth badge, and was in possession of _2_ tobacco
ration cards, bearing his name, and stated that he wanted to
escape to his aunt, Stefanie Truempler, Zuerich 4, Zwinglistr.
24 (Switzerland). On 8 September 1942 he was sent to the
reformatory labor camp Munich-Moosach by the Secret State Police
Office Munich--Document No. 27311/42 II E 3/Hoe--from which he
escaped on 10 September 1942. B. has not been involved in any
activity of a criminal, political or counter-espionage nature.”

BY ORDER:

[Signed] SCHMID
SS Obersturmfuehrer

File after acknowledgment.
15 December 1942

9 J 195/42 g 1 H 90/43

In the name of the German people

In the case against the shoemaker Stanislaw Bratek of Buchenhang (Lower Silesia), born at Wolbrom (Government General) on 3 January 1920, a Pole, at present held in custody during judicial proceedings, charged with preparation for high treason and other crimes, the People’s Court, First Senate, as result of the trial, held 20 May 1943, in which took part as judges--

People’s Court Judge Laemmle, president

District Court Judge Dr. Schlemann

S.A. Gruppenfuehrer [Major General] Haas

S.A. Gruppenfuehrer Hohm

S.A. Gruppenfuehrer Koeglmaier, as representative of the Reich
chief prosecutor

Local Court Judge Dr. Pilz

duly pronounces--

The defendant, as a Pole, ventured to aid the enemy of the Reich by leaving his job in Lower Silesia, on 6 September 1942, to go to Switzerland and to get in contact with the Polish Legion there. After having been arrested first in Munich, he succeeded in escaping from an internment camp with two other Poles and in proceeding toward the Swiss frontier. On his way, he was arrested at Lochau (Vorarlberg).

He therefore is sentenced to _death_

The defendant, who is an ethnic Pole and who, as a former Polish subject, had on 1 September 1939 his residence within the territory of the former Polish republic, in November 1939 volunteered for employment on a farm in Germany which he obtained at Metschlau (Lower Silesia). His conduct, however, was by no means in accordance with his voluntary enlistment. Already a few weeks later he left his working place without permission. He was picked up and allocated for work to a farmer in Buchenhang (district of Glogau, Lower Silesia). In October 1941, although his living was provided for by free board and lodging and monthly wages of 30 reichsmarks, he left that job, too, without authority. Again he was arrested and brought back to his Buchenhang working place after having served a prison term of 3 months, pronounced on charges of breach of the working contract, in January 1942. Instead of, as a Pole, taking his sentence as a serious warning, the defendant after having received certain pieces of information on Switzerland from Poles when on leave to his home town, gradually made up his mind to deprive Germany permanently of his capability to work, to escape to Switzerland, and to apply there with the Polish or English consular office for enlistment in the Polish Legion. On 6 September 1942, he began to carry out his plan. Secretly he left Buchenhang and took a train running toward the Swiss frontier, taking with him his savings of 100 Reichsmarks and a Hitler Youth badge as camouflage. He was, however, arrested in Munich on 8 September and brought to the labor reformatory camp Moosach. On 10 September 1942, he escaped from the camp together with two other Poles who also wanted to go to Switzerland and continued his trip to Switzerland by going to Lindau. From there he tried to get to the Swiss border on foot and in order would have had to cross it illegally. On his way there he then was arrested by a customs official in Lochau (Vorarlberg) on 12 September 1942.

The defendant admits the facts with the one proviso that his sole motive had been to look for a job in Switzerland and that he wanted to get in touch with some Polish people who, as he knew, lived in Switzerland, and whose addresses he had got in his home town as being able to get him work.

This defense cannot be given credit. The defendant held a job in Germany and got, as a Pole, such fair wages that he was able to save 100 RM within a comparatively short period. There was therefore no good reason why he should have given up his place of work in Germany, in order to look for work in a foreign country, especially considering the illegal frontier crossing which in wartime is particularly dangerous. How little, after all, he really _did_ care for serious work is shown clearly by the fact that he repeatedly and without authorization left his place of work.

It must therefore have been for _other_ reasons that the defendant considered the idea of going to Switzerland. Based upon the experience gained by the senate in similar cases, the way which was chosen by the defendant, in order to reach the Swiss frontier, was taken by many other Poles escaping from their employment in Germany for the purpose of enlisting in the Polish Legion in Switzerland. On account of the hostile propaganda from abroad, carried on everywhere among the Poles, it was generally known to the latter that in Switzerland, through the Polish Consul of the Polish puppet government, or through the British Consul, there existed an opportunity of joining the Polish Legion, whose aim, as the court knows, is to bring about the restoration of an independent Polish state including forced separation of the Incorporated Eastern Territories from the Greater German Reich, by rendering military service on the enemy side. According to the view taken by the senate, the defendant became informed about these circumstances while on leave in his home town. All the more so, as he expressly admits having acquired the idea of escaping into Switzerland from there. Furthermore, it should be added that the defendant is a young and sturdy Pole, who was absolutely fit for military service in the Polish Legion. Besides this, his general anti-German attitude which is shown by his breaches of contracts is compatible with his enlistment in the Polish Legion, hostile to Germany. Finally he makes the same statement for his defense as has always been made by other Poles trying to join the legion, who are arrested in the neighborhood of the Swiss frontier. Apparently, this was recommended as a pretense by the Polish propaganda machinery from the very beginning in cases in which escape should fail. Taking into consideration all these circumstances, the defendant’s escape to Switzerland leads to the only possible conclusion that he wanted to join the Polish Legion intending to fight as a member of the latter against the armed forces of the German Reich and to help bring about the success of the treasonable purposes of the Legion, which in spite of his denial and according to the view of the senate, were known to him. He therefore may be considered as convicted of preparation of high treason according to article 80, paragraph 1; article 83, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Penal Code and of undertaking to aid the enemy from inside our country according to the provisions of article 91b of the Penal Code.[504]

At the same time he has made himself guilty of a crime according to article I, paragraph 3, last sentence, of the Penal Decree for Poles of 4 December 1941.[505] Because, being a Pole, he has intentionally inflicted damage to the interests of the German people by malevolently leaving his important agricultural job, above all, during harvest time in September 1942, and by escaping abroad, thus trying to rob forever the German people of his own labor. In view of the lack of farm workers, each single farm hand is decisive for maintaining the food supply of the German people, and in consequence, for its staying power in the fight for freedom. Every deduction of manpower whatever is detrimental to the German interests in a total war. This was absolutely clear to the defendant who admits it, too.

According to article 73, Penal Code, the penalty can be drawn from the penal decree concerning Poles which _loc. cit._ demands exclusively the death penalty as a rule, this being taken from the most severe penal law applicable here.

The senate, considering the defendant’s character, could see no reason for deviating from this threatened basic punishment, and for treating it as a less serious case. By serving a 3 months’ prison term imposed previously on account of breaches of contracts, the defendant had been given sufficient warning. He was offered a last chance finally to come to his senses and to reason by his internment in the labor reformatory camp Moosach. All that, however, could not make the least impression on him. On the contrary, although as a Pole he was held to excellent conduct and unrestricted labor service in view of the blood guilt of which the Poles before and at the outbreak had made themselves guilty against the German people, he stubbornly stuck to his hatred against Germany. Furthermore, beyond the fact that he deprived us of his services, he stubbornly and without disregarding the opposing difficulties, continued to pursue his aim of fighting against Germany on the enemy side, and of accomplishing his attempt at high treason. The death penalty therefore represents the only adequate measure which does justice to the criminal action committed by the defendant, who is dominated by his fanatical hatred against Germany, and to the security requirements of the German people. This appears absolutely necessary in order to create a deterrent. It has been for these very reasons that the People’s Court passed the death sentence on the defendant.

As a condemned person, the defendant has to bear all costs of the proceedings.

[Signed] DR. SCHLEMANN

LAEMMLE

Munich, 20 July 1943

File number: AR. VII 442/43 The Chief Reich Prosecutor Munich I To the Reich Minister of Justice Berlin

SECRET

through the Chief Reich Prosecutor at the People’s Court, c/o the Local Court Judge Dr. Pilz or his representative in office

Berlin W. 9 Bellevuestrasse 15

Subject: The case against Stanislaw Bratek. Concerning decree of
1 July 1943--IV g 10a 1098/43 g--

Official in charge: Senior Prosecutor Roemer

In 2 copies--With one attachment for the Reich Minister of
Justice and 2 further enclosures for the Chief Reich Prosecutor

Concerning 9 J 195/42 g.

The execution of the death sentence against the person named took place on 19 July 1943 at the Munich-Stadelheim prison. 1 minute, 10 seconds elapsed between his leaving the cell and final execution, and from the moment he was handed over to the executioner to the fall of the axe, 10 seconds. There are no accidents or other happenings to be reported.

[Typed] signed KUMMER
Certified: [Signature illegible]
Clerk

[Stamp]
The Chief Prosecutor
Munich

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-381
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 159

THE BECK CASE, 5 APRIL-21 SEPTEMBER 1943. EXTRACTS FROM THE OFFICIAL FILES INCLUDING REPORT OF LOCAL NAZI OFFICIAL, 5 APRIL 1943; REPORT TO THE GESTAPO IN VIENNA, 4 JUNE 1943; LETTER FROM DEFENDANT BARNICKEL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S COURT, 30 JULY 1943, ENCLOSING INDICTMENT SIGNED BY BARNICKEL; AND JUDGMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S COURT AFTER TRIAL OF 20 SEPTEMBER 1943

Ortsgruppe Vienna, 5 April 1943 Rembrandtstrasse NSDAP Gau Vienna 2., Obere Donaustrasse 35 Kreis II Telephone: A 43-0-72 The Kreisleiter

[Stamp]
NSDAP Kreisleitung II
12 April 1943

S/Jo.

Subject: Oskar Beck, of mixed race, Vienna, 2., Obere
Donaustrasse 12

I enclose a report from the competent block leader on Oskar Beck. Beck is of mixed race, 1st degree, but he behaves like a 100 percent Jew and is a malicious enemy of Party and State, who unfortunately could not be caught up to now. I had already raised objections against the man when, at approximately 11 o’clock at night, he removed wireless sets from his shop to install them in his flat. I reported to you personally on this matter at the time, but there was then no means of initiating proceedings against him.

The present report may make it possible to apprehend Beck.

Heil Hitler!

The Ortsgruppenleiter
[Illegible Signature]

[Stamp]
National Socialist German Workers Party
Ortsgruppenleitung Rembrandtstrasse

To the NSDAP, Gauleitung Vienna Gau Personnel Office Main Office for Assessing Political Reliability Vienna, I, Gau Building

Assessment to be sent to:
(Exact designation and address
of office to which reply is to
be sent).

To the Secret State Police, State Police Office Vienna, Vienna, I Morzinplatz No. 4

Reference of inquiring office:
IV A 3--853/43
Vienna, 4 June 1943

[Handwritten] 285981

Political assessment requested for: Name: Beck Date of birth: 21 July 1899 Occupation: Radio dealer Place of residence: Vienna II Other addresses from 1932 until now: First name: Oskar Place of birth: Vienna Where employed: Independent business man Street: Obere Donaustrasse 15/9 Of mixed race: 1st degree.

Purpose of inquiry: State Police proceedings

[Handwritten] 10 June 1943

Confidential! Answer from Personnel Office

Vienna, 29 June 1943
P.B. 285.981/hei/bu

The above-mentioned was a member of the Social Democratic Party, and while it was banned he was a voluntary member of the Fatherland Front.[506] He was at that time an adversary of the [National Socialist] movement.

There has been no change in his opinion up to the present. He does not belong to any of the affiliated associations of the NSDAP and gives very small sums to collections.

On political grounds exception must be taken to Beck, who is of mixed race, 1st degree.

Heil Hitler!

[Signed] VOLKMER

HEIDE

Berlin W 9, 30 July 1943
Bellevuestr. 15
telephone: 21 83 41

The Reich Chief Prosecutor at the People’s Court

Reference: 9 J 617/43

Please quote in your answer

[Handwritten] E 19/8
R.

To the President of the People’s Court Here

Subject: Criminal case against
radio engineer and dealer, Oskar Beck
from Vienna for undermining military efficiency

Enclosure: 1 volume of files
9 copies of the indictment

I enclose the indictment together with enclosures, with reference to my submissions contained in the latter part of it.

If Attorney Dr. Jerabek obtains admittance as defense counsel, no counsel need be appointed (pages 14 and 15 of the indictment).

Prosecution under article 2 of the law of 20 December 1934[507] has been ordered as a precaution (page 17 of the indictment).

As deputy:
[Signed] DR. BARNICKEL
Berlin, 30 July 1943

Chief Public Prosecutor at the People’s Court 9 J 617/43

_Arrest!_

Indictment

The radio engineer and radio dealer Oskar Beck, born on 21 July 1899 in Vienna, from Vienna II, Obere Donaustrasse 15; bachelor, no previous convictions, provisionally arrested on 3 June 1943, from that day on under detention pending judicial investigation in virtue of the warrant issued by the examining magistrate at the Court of Appeal in Vienna on 17 June 1943--2 S Js 1750/43--at detention prison I in Vienna, so far without defense counsel, is charged by me, in Vienna in March or April 1943 to have undermined the defensive strength by malicious incitement against war work for women.

Crime according to article 5, paragraph I, number 1 of the Extraordinary War Penal Ordinance.[508]

_Main result of investigations_

The accused attended the elementary school and a 4-year high school course in Vienna, and for 5 years attended a trade school for electro-technicians, was employed until 1924 in a number of places; and since then has had a shop of his own with a net income of 200 reichsmarks per month. He is of mixed race, first degree; his mother was a Jewess. From 1919 until March 1922 he was a member of the Social Democrat Party. He is now a malicious adversary of the National Socialist State.

In March or April 1943, he repaired the wireless set of Theresia Draxler, retired post office secretary. When leaving her apartment, he saw an application form for joining the total war effort on the kitchen table. He asked the witness Draxler whether she had already filled in the form and added:

“Do you know that every woman who goes to work, sends one
soldier to his death”?

The witness Draxler did not answer him. Then the accused left the apartment.

He denies, but has been convicted by, the trustworthy statement of the witness.

The remark of the accused aims at preventing a person from fulfilling the duty of registering for the total war effort. This attempt to burden the conscience of a woman who is willing to work by seeking to make her responsible for the heroic death of soldiers jeopardizes the devotion of women for work, and has a damaging effect on the nation’s fighting morale and its will of self-preservation in total war. The accused could not count on Mrs. Draxler keeping his remark to herself, but had to reckon with the fact that she would speak of the incident to other people and that his utterance would become known to wider circles.

Evidence

I. Statements of the accused.

II. Witness: Post office secretary, retired, Theresia Draxler in
Vienna II, Scholzgasse Nr. 2.

I request that trial shall be ordered, detention pending investigation be maintained, and defense counsel be appointed for the accused.

As deputy:
[Signed] DR. BARNICKEL

Received: 21 September 1943

9 J 617/43 4 L 150/43

In the Name of the German People

In the case against the radio engineer and radio dealer Oskar Beck, born 21 July 1899 in Vienna, resident in Vienna, at present under detention pending judicial investigation for undermining the military efficiency, the People’s Court, 4th Senate has decreed that, following the trial held on 20 September 1943, at which the following were present, as judges:

People’s Court Counsellor Mueller, president

District Court President Mittendorff

Kreisleiter Reinecke

City Councillor Ahmels

City Councillor Vahlberg, as representative of the Reich Chief
Prosecutor

Senior Prosecutor Jaeger

The defendant is sentenced to death and to the loss of civil rights for undermining the military efficiency.

He bears the cost of the proceedings.

Findings[509]

The 44-year old defendant has had German citizenship since the “Anschluss.” His deceased mother was a Jewess. After passing through primary school and a 4-year high school course, he was trained as an electrician at a trade school in Vienna which he attended for 5 years, and then held several jobs until 1924. Next, he worked independently as a radio engineer and radio dealer in Vienna. He claims to have earned about 300 RM a month lately. From 1919 to 1922 he was a member of the Social Democratic Party. _Later on he belonged to the “Fatherland Front.”_

The Draxler couple were among his customers in Vienna to whom he had sold a radio several years ago. At Mrs. Draxler’s request he had repaired it several times. In March 1943 Mrs. Draxler called him in again to overhaul the radio. As he left the apartment, he happened to see lying on the kitchen table an application form for employment in the total war effort. Believing this to be Mr. Draxler’s form, he asked Mrs. Draxler whether she too had filled in such a form. When she informed him that she had got the form for herself, he said: “You realize, of course, that every woman who goes out to work, sends a soldier to his death”? Mrs. Draxler who was very indignant about this remark refused to answer, and he left very soon afterward. Later on she spoke of this incident to some of her acquaintances, among others to the wife of a political leader in the NSDAP who reported it to the Ortsgruppe.

The senate considers these facts to be correct on account of the trustworthy statements made under oath by Mrs. Draxler. The defendant admits that he was in the apartment of the witness in the spring of 1943 to test the radio and to have left through the kitchen; he denied emphatically, however, during the preliminary proceedings as well as at the trial to have made the remarks with which he is charged or any similar remark. He maintains to have only discussed business matters with Mrs. Draxler as with his other clients. The woman might have been annoyed that the radio had been out of order several times and had therefore reported him. The witness might have heard the remark from somebody else and mixed it up. His attitude was not hostile to the Third Reich. He had advised a National Socialist, Walter Pindur, who during the Schuschnigg period had supplied him with cardboard out of which swastikas had been cut, to be careful. The Party members, senior customs inspectors Schmidt and Scerences would be in a position to testify to it that he had not been an enemy of national socialism. An inquiry at the Ortsgruppe Rembrandt would show that he had done repair work for them free of charge.

The defendant cannot have any success with this defense. The witness Draxler firmly maintained her statements in the face of all his objections and the senate, from her bearing at the trial, gained the conviction that the witness did not wrongfully accuse the defendant out of annoyance because her radio did not work. Furthermore, she denied to have been annoyed at all and pointed out quite rightly that she had not made the report. The senate is convinced that by his denials the defendant is only trying to avoid the serious consequences of his offense. To interrogate the witnesses Pindur, Schmidt, and Scerences and to obtain a statement from the Ortsgruppe Rembrandt in Vienna is superfluous in view of the facts, especially if one considers that for ulterior motives the defendant would not have disclosed his true opinion to these witnesses nor to the Ortsgruppe.

_The way in which the accused spoke calmly and deliberately, and without any apparent cause, only an enemy of the State can think and speak._

The utterance which the accused is known for certain to have made to the witness Draxler was liable to impair her as well as other people’s willingness to work for the total war effort. By this remark he attacked therefore the fighting morale and the will for self-preservation of the German people, and this he did “publicly” within the meaning of article 5, number 1 of the Extraordinary War Penal Ordinance, as he had to count on the fact _and he actually did count on it_ that the witness, whom he did not know well would spread his remarks--as actually did happen. The senate is furthermore of the opinion that the accused was fully aware of the defeatist nature of his remark and the publicity in the above sense. Thus, the conditions under article 5, paragraph 1, number 1 of the Extraordinary War Penal Ordinance of 17 August 1938 apply. The fact that the intention of the accused was without any result as regards the witness, does not affect this state of affairs--the purpose of the above ordinance is not merely to prevent any undermining of the people’s will to self-preservation, but to prevent all possibility of undermining it.

It is out of the question to assume a less serious offense because the accused acted with the intention to undermine morale and because [by the remorse combined with it][510] _the appeal to the emotions_ of a woman prepared to join the war effort represents a _well calculated_ and particularly mean _and dangerous_ attack on the German nation’s will to self-preservation. Accordingly, the death sentence, which is the only penalty provided for the crime of undermining the military efficiency, was passed on the accused.

Owing to the dishonesty of his offense, the accused forfeited his civil rights.

Costs have been awarded according to the law.

[Signed] MITTERDORF
MUELLER

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-546
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 141

DRAFT OF A NOTICE TO HITLER, INITIALED BY DEFENDANT ROTHENBERGER AND VOLLMER, NOVEMBER 1943, REPORTING A DEATH SENTENCE IMPOSED BY THE PEOPLE’S COURT UPON A FORMER GERMAN NAVAL CAPTAIN FOR REMARKS ALLEGED TO HAVE ASSISTED THE ENEMY AND UNDERMINED THE MORALE OF THE ARMY

The Reich Minister of Justice
Fuehrer Information 1943 No.

On 18 October 1943, Guenter Paschen, retired naval captain [in German navy] from Flensburg, was sentenced to death by the People’s Court for assisting the enemy and for undermining the morale of the army.

Paschen, whose family on his mother’s side comes from Denmark and who is married to an English woman, was a veteran in World War I and took part in the Skagerrak battle and later on in the Finland operation. Last, he was liaison officer with General von der Goltz. Having retired after the collapse, he was a naval training officer from 1926–1936.

Paschen, since his retirement, is a resident of Flensburg and moves in the circle of the Danish minority. He had a political discussion at the end of August 1943 with two Danes, unknown to him, who wanted to rent a furnished room in his house. He then expressed the view that he did not believe in a German victory and that he thought the secret weapons to be propaganda bluff. Furthermore, he stated that Denmark had been treated unjustly in 1864 and that the Reich must give Schleswig back to Denmark.

One of the Danes adopted these views as his own and tried to shake the confidence in victory of a woman naval auxiliary with whom he had an affair.

The sentence will be executed.

Berlin, .... November 1943

(Expert on the case: Chief Public Prosecutor Dr. Franke)

Initials] R [Rothenberger]

V [Vollmer]

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-674
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 100

CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TO LEADING JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS, 19 FEBRUARY 1944, TRANSMITTING EXCERPTS FROM REPORTS OF A CONFERENCE OF JUSTICE OFFICIALS ON CASES OF “UNDERMINING” AND “MALICIOUS POLITICAL ACTS”[511]

The Reich Minister of Justice 3131 E--I p 2 43

Berlin W 8, 19 February 1944
Wilhelmstrasse 65
Telephone: 110044
Long distance: 116516

_Confidential_

To: 1. The Presidents of the Reich Supreme Court and of the
People’s Court

2. The Reich Chief Prosecutors at the Reich Supreme Court and at
the People’s Court

3. The Presidents of the District Courts of Appeal

4. The Attorneys General at the District Court of Appeal

Subject: Meeting on 3 and 4 February 1944

Enclosures: Additional copies for the presidents of the district
courts and the chief public prosecutors

Enclosed please find a copy of excerpts from some of the reports in the field of criminal justice of the Reich Ministry of Justice made at the session on 3 and 4 February 1944. Point No. 7 was not discussed at the session, I beg you to discuss this point, too, at the meeting planned with the judges and prosecutors of your district and to see that they observe the instructions given in the copy.

[Stamp] Reich Minister of Justice Ministerial Chancellery

BY ORDER:
[Typed] DR. VOLLMER
Certified: [Signed] BLUENKE
Clerk

313 E--3 a 3376 To: The Chief Public Prosecutors, for information Munich, 7 March 1944

The Attorney General

BY ORDER:
[Typed] signed: KEIDEL
Chief Public Prosecutor

1. _Definition of cases of “Undermining” [Military Efficiency] and
cases of “Malicious Political Acts”_[512]

The relations between the law on malicious acts against State and Party, article 2, paragraph 1, and the decree concerning special penal law in wartime, has changed during the fourth and fifth year of the war. The development was speeded up by the events at Stalingrad and in Italy. This found its outward expression in the following measures: setting up a special committee for cases of undermining the morale--for serious and acute attempts at undermining morale--in the Reich Ministry of Justice, a corresponding agreement with the Reich Security Main Office, by taking steps concerning the distribution of work at the People’s Court and by a press campaign. A number of Special Court districts and also certain criminal divisions with the district courts of appeal have not yet followed the new practice. The severity of their sentences does not agree with the penalties of the sentences at the People’s Court. Conditions are to be made clear by this report and by a Judges’ Letter.[513] The temporary defensive attitude at the front means a burden for the home front. The enemy is looking for weak spots, and thinks he has found them in the will for self-assertion of the inner front, as it was 1914–1918. Since the Italian events he has been intensifying this attack. The not very numerous cases of defeatism resulting from it have led to a new line in the administration of justice in cases of undermining of military efficiency, which is to be organically followed in the treatment of cases concerning malicious political acts. The following cases dealt with by the Reich Ministry of Justice, are intended to illustrate this line.

Clear cases of serious undermining of the military efficiency

_Case Dr. Geiger_--a 52-year-old physician, Party member, no prior convictions.

_Offense_--In summer 1943, the condemned man made a remark during the treatment of the pregnant wife of a Hitler Youth Leader who was at the front at that time that she had courage in having a child now. For if things went wrong, we would be in a bad way. After the events in Italy the war was lost for us, a victory of the Russians meant our physical death, a defeat by the English and Americans was still the smaller evil. She--the patient--was too much under the influence of Nazi propaganda. To the scared question of the pregnant woman, what was going to happen to all of them, the condemned man answered that persons living such an “exposed” position (as her husband) naturally would be dealt with in the first place. Then there would be a mass Katyn.[514]

Sentence of the People’s Court--8 September 1943--death sentence. Request of the public prosecutor--death sentence. Plea for clemency was refused.

_Case Weber_--a 60-year-old dentist, Party member, no previous convictions.

_Offense_--In August 1943 the condemned man made the remark to a patient--hardly anybody still believed in victory. Medieval methods of torture were applied in our concentration camps; especially homosexuals were being too harshly dealt with; we had murdered a million Jews and therefore had incurred a grave burden of guilt. Rudolf Hess was the right man but not the Fuehrer. The condemned man went on literally: “Moreover, in 4 weeks’ time, the Fuehrer will no longer be alive. You will hear about it.”

Sentence of the People’s Court of 15 September 1943--death sentence. Request of the public prosecutor--death sentence. Plea for clemency was refused.

In cases of undermining the morale the consideration of the actual nature of the facts must not be excessive. In the fifth year of the war every German has to think about the effect of his remarks to other people. The same applies to foreigners, who are working here and enjoy German hospitality. Critical, for instance, authorized discussions of the political and the war situation are not punishable only as long as they are not calculated to shake the convictions of others.

Up until now, no need has been observed to give the prerequisite “publicly” in article 5 of Extraordinary War Penal Ordinance a more rigid interpretation than is done in cases of malicious political acts.

As such to be considered are remarks falling under article 2 of the law against insidious attacks on State and Party, which do not result in influencing other people. Two examples are the cases of Krejci and Kochzius.

_Case of Krejci_--41-year-old home worker, no previous convictions.

_Offense_--In spring 1943 the condemned woman told the following joke:

“Who is the biggest farmer in Germany”?

“Adolf Hitler, he owns a lame dog, a fat pig, and many million
sheep.”

(With the lame dog and the fat pig she meant Goebbels and
Goering.)

Sentence of the Special Court II Berlin of 5 October 1943--6 months imprisonment.

_Case of Kochzius_--a 57-year-old printer.

_Offense_--At the beginning of 1942, the condemned man answered the greeting, “Heil Hitler,” with, “Shit.”

In December 1942 when Fuehrer parcels were distributed in the plant, he made the remark that he did not want the Fuehrer and these parcels, he was no beggar.

In January 1943 the condemned man declared, that the Fuehrer was a tramp; a vagabond without a Fatherland who came from abroad where only beggars lived; he intended to make the Germans into beggars too; he was making the people ridiculous in the eyes of foreigners by the street collections. The entire government as well as the Party consisted of tramps and rascals.

To a Party member he remarked, that he had better hurry up and get out, otherwise he would be hanged from a tree later on. Sentence of the Special Court II Berlin of 28 September 1943--1 year imprisonment.

Border line cases are the cases of Graf, Kessel, Eckert, and Heinitz.

_Case of Graf_--a 65-year-old farmer, no previous convictions.

_Offense_--In spring 1943 the accused declared, “Hitler must abdicate, then the war will stop.”

In autumn 1943 he made the remark, “The war will not stop until Hitler abdicates.”

In October 1943 he remarked, “The Germans bled to death in the advance, and now they bleed to death in the street. In summer, one runs to save every little berry, and now one has to watch how everything perishes. It only depends on a few gentlemen. With the war it is just the same thing. All their throats should be cut.”

In agreement with the general public prosecutor, the Chief Public Prosecutor proposes not to order prosecution under article 2 of the statute against malicious political acts but to warn the defendant by imposing a fine. The defendant had a good reputation and was a participant of World War I, had several sons at the front, and had already backed the NSDAP before it had taken over.

The opinion of the field offices that this case was one of malicious political acts cannot be agreed to. It rather represents a case of undermining the morale, which has already been submitted to the Chief Public Prosecutor for examination.

* * * * *

_Case Eckert_--domestic servant, 50 years of age, single, no previous convictions.

_Offense_--In the afternoon of 14 September 1943, the accused, in a shop, said to the female proprietor in front of partly unknown persons, “By Christmas, the war will long be over. Germany has long since been divided up.” Obviously she alluded to a defeat in the very near future. When asked by an employee of the local health insurance office, how she thought it would be if the war were lost and we would all have to go to Russia, the accused replied, “Very well, let them send those 5 million SS men there. During the last air raid on Mannheim the SS, those bloody swines, chased the people out of the shelters with rubber truncheons for fire-fighting and clean-up work.”

The Chief Public Prosecutor with the approval of the General Public Prosecutor wants to base the charge on article 2 of the law against malicious political acts or insults to the State or Party (Heimtueckegesetz)[515] and to propose a prison term of 9 months. This is a border line case. Certainly the statements made by the accused in their second part fulfill the conditions of malicious political acts or insults to the State or Party. Regarded as a whole, however, the accused obviously had in mind to injure the listeners’ will to pull through, as can be seen from the first part of her statements. When she met with resistance in doing so, she tried to support her opinion by abusive language and by telling atrocity stories. The trend of her statements therefore was directed toward undermining [the military efficiency].[516] Therefore, the accused will, in the first place, have to be prosecuted under this provision.

* * * * * * *

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NG-671
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 220

EXTRACTS FROM THE SITUATION REPORT OF DEFENDANT LAUTZ, CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR AT THE PEOPLE’S COURT, TO THIERACK, 19 FEBRUARY 1944, CONCERNING THE UNDERMINING OF MILITARY EFFICIENCY

Copy

Berlin W 9, 19 February 1944
Bellevuestrasse 15

The Chief Public Prosecutor of the People’s Court 4206 E--2.36

[Initials] KL [Klemm]

[Stamp]

SECRET

To the Reich Minister of Justice Berlin W 6 Wilhelmstrasse 65

Decrees of 25 October 1933--IIIa 19570/35 and 29 October
1942--3130-Ia _9_ 1746-.

Enclosures: 2 copies of the report.

[Handwritten illegible marginal notes]

[Handwritten note] M.D. IV Mr. B.S.S. request to be informed in regard to p. 9.

[Signed] MARTIUS 28 February

_Situation Report_

A. _High treason and undermining of military efficiency within the
Reich territory (except for the Protectorate)_

I. _General._

* * * * * * *

In accordance with the expectation expressed already in my previous report of 8 October 1943, the number of incoming reports on investigations concerning undermining of military efficiency has again increased considerably. At present the daily average amounts to about 25 cases. Since, in addition, numerous investigations which are not handled by special proceedings and which could not yet be concluded are pending, I am forced at present due to the pressure of business in my office and the further difficulties caused by the effects of the terror raids to make more extensive use of my right to turn matters over to another office. However, in the interest of a uniform jurisdiction the indictments will principally be served before the People’s Court in all cases where--

_a._ The undermining activity involves members of the Wehrmacht.

_b._ Greater significance is ascribed to the statements of the accused because of his position in public life or in the economy.

_c._ The accused has become known as an enemy of the State on principle or a systematic instigator either according to his personality or because of the nature of his offense.

_d._ The personality of the accused in connection with the nature of his offense or the effect he strived for seems to point to special treatment.

_e._ The offender belongs to the clergy.