b. Cooperation by Hungary: Hungary will participate in the invasion of Yugoslavia.

c. Cooperation of Rumania: Active participation of Rumania in the attack on Yugoslavia may not be expected. The Rumanians, however, will strengthen their border protection forces. The main duty of Rumania will be the protection against Russia.

d. Cooperation of Bulgaria: Should Bulgarian forces participate actively in the attack on Yugoslavia, Army High Command 12 has to make the necessary arrangements with the Bulgarian Army Command. Bulgarian forces to be deployed against Yugoslavia are to be subordinated to the German military authorities. 9. Cooperation of the Air Force:

No air raids should be made against Croat areas, unless Yugoslav forces in this area are the targets. Army High Command 12 shall cooperate with VIII Air Corps, Army High Command 2 with Air Fleet 4, High Command Air Force will send sufficient anti-aircraft protection from Graz, Klagenfurt, Villach, and Leoben, and from Vienna.

signed von Brauchitsch

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT R-96

Copy

The Reich Minister of Justice

9170 Ostgeb. 2IIa 2 996.41

Berlin, 17th April 1941

To the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery Subject: Penal law against Poles and Jews in the annexed Eastern territories.

Reference: Letter dated 28th November 1940-RK 17 428 B-. 1 enclosure (file notice) to a2-1826.41

It has been my opinion from the outset that the special conditions prevailing in the annexed Eastern territories require special measures of penal law and penal procedure against Poles and Jews. When the special courts were introduced in the Eastern territories by the ordinance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, dated 5 September 1939, I immediately endeavoured to make these courts, with their particularly swift and vigorous

procedure, a center for the fight against all Polish and Jewish criminality. Proof that I have succeeded in this is provided by the impressive statistical figures of the special courts for the first ten months of their activity in the Eastern territories. Thus, for instance, the special court at Bromberg passed death sentences on 201 defendants and sentences for hard labor for life on 11 defendants; 93 defendants were sentenced to 912 years of hard labor in all, averaging 10 years each. Only minor offences were prosecuted before the "Amtsgerichte" [ordinary lower courts]. The "Strafkammern" [Criminal High Courts] have not been employed so far as possible, because their sentences are subject to appeal [Revision] to the "Reichsgericht" [Highest court of Appeal]. I wished to avoid that any court which is not fully acquainted with the special conditions prevailing in the Eastern territories and be it the highest court of the Reich-should decide in these matters.

The aim to create a special law for Poles and Jews in the Eastern territories was pursued further according to plan by the ordinance dated 6th June 1940. By this ordinance German Penal Law, which had been used in the Eastern territories already from the outset, was formally made applicable. In the sphere of criminal procedure the obligation to prosecute no longer applies; the public prosecutor instigates prosecutions only in cases where he considers the infliction of penalty to be in the public interest. The procedure for enforcing a prosecution (Art. 172 ff. of the Code for Penal Procedure) has been abrogated. For it seems intolerable that Poles or Jews should be able to force the German public prosecutor to instigate an indictment. Poles and Jews have also been deprived of the right to prosecute in their own names or to join the public prosecutor in an action.

In addition to this special law in the sphere of law procedure some special conditions have been included in Art. II of the introductory ordinance. These provisions were established in agreement with the Reich Minister for the Interior on the basis of needs which had made themselves felt. From the beginning it was intended to augment these special conditions in case of need. This need, which had become apparent in the meantime, was to be met by an executive and supplementary order, which was added to the original ordinance and which was referred to in the letter from the Fuehrer's deputy. This letter also mentioned the ordinances concerning the introduction of the law of extradition and of the law concerning the use of arms by authorized persons in the forest and wild life protection service, which however, are

only loosely connected with the criminality of the Poles and Jews and were to serve merely the progress of general adjustment of law in the Eastern territories. As regards these two latter ordinances, as well as the executive ordinance concerning the law for the annulment of penalties and the ordinance concerning the penal register, I shall try to bring about an agreement with the deputy of the Fuehrer.

Later I was informed of the express wish of the Fuehrer that, as a matter of principle, the Poles (and I presume the Jews) are to be treated differently from the Germans within the sphere of Penal Law. After preliminary discussions with the presidents of the high courts of appeal [Oberlandesgerichte] and the presiding public prosecutors of the annexed Eastern territories, I drew up the enclosed draft concerning criminal law and procedure against Poles and Jews within the annexed Eastern territories and within the area of the former Free City of Danzig.

This draft represents an altogether special law both in the sphere of penal law and penal procedure. The suggestions of the deputy of the Fuehrer have been taken into consideration to a far reaching extent. No. 1, par. 3 contains a general crime formula on the basis of which any Pole or Jew in the Eastern territories can in future be prosecuted and any kind of punishment can be inflicted on him for any attitude or action which is considered punishable and is directed against Germandom. This provision is supplemented by No. 1, par. 2 which is already contained in the introductory ordinance, and which threatens the death sentence as the absolute punishment for any act of violence committed against a German because of his belonging to the German race. The cases under No. I, Par. 4, which are already contained in the introductory ordinance, are merely amendments, which perhaps would have been unnecessary in view of the new general crime formula. I have included them nevertheless, in order not to give rise to the erroneous opinion that the limits of criminal liability as defined in this draft are narrower than those of the law hitherto in force. Finally, No. II, makes it clear that, apart from everything a German renders himself liable to punishment. In addition, the regulation permits a far reaching application of the law (Par. 2. of the Penal Code) in tune with the requirements of the Eastern territories.

In accordance with the opinion of the deputy of the Fuehrer I started from the point of view that the Pole is less susceptible to the infliction of ordinary imprisonment. Therefore I had already taken administrative measures with the aim of keeping

Poles and Jews separate from other prisoners and to inflict punishment on them in a more severe manner. No. III goes a step further and replaces imprisonment, viz. the penal camp and the severe penal camps. Under these new kinds of punishment the prisoners are to be lodged outside prisons in camps and are to be forced to do heavy and heaviest labor. Further administrative orders are envisaged, concerning specialities in the sphere of disciplinary punishment (dark cells, transfer from penal camps to severe penal camps etc.)

The new kinds of punishment under No. III are applicable to all offences committed by Poles and Jews, even if the offence falls under a provision of the German Penal Code. On the other hand, No. III, Par. 3, makes sure that less than the minimum period of punishment and less than any obligatory punishment prescribed in any German criminal law may be inflicted if the offence was directed exclusively against the offender's own race.

The section concerning procedure contains first of all special provisions of the introductory ordinance already in force. But in future it will no longer be permissible for a Pole or a Jew, on whom sentence has been passed by a German court, to lodge an appeal against the sentence. He has no right to complain, nor may he apply for a retrial. All sentences should be open to execution at once. In future Poles and Jews may no longer challenge German judges as biased; nor may they be put under oath. The conditions under which measures of compulsion may be used against them have been eased. It is also important that according to No. X Par. 2 the local higher court decides on applications for annulment on technical grounds [Nichtigkeits Beschwerdem]; this will prevent any court not located in the Eastern territories from passing judgment in a case against Jews and Poles. For the rest No. XII gives both the court and the public prosecutor every freedom they can possibly require vis-a-vis the "Gerichtsverfassungsrecht" [law concerning the constitution of the courts] and the Reich Law of Criminal Procedure.

It is the purpose of No. XIII to ensure the applicability of the special laws for Poles and Jews and of the abrogation of prosecution enforcement even in cases, where the Polish or Jewish offender, though domiciled in the Eastern territories, has committed an offence in some other part of the Great German Reich.

A criminal law of this kind directed especially against Poles and Jews would not, in my opinion, restrict the freedom of action of the German authorities and officials; nor would the Poles and Jews take advantage of its issuance by making unjustified accusa

tions or complaints against German officials. The penal law provides threats of punishment of such increased severity that the deterent effect is assured to the strongest degree. Any hole in the law by which a Polish or Jewish criminal might escape, has been closed. As far as criminal procedure is concerned, the draft constitutes a clear expression of the political inequality of Germans on the one hand, and Poles and Jews on the other.

The introduction of corporal punishment, which the deputy of the Fuehrer has brought up for discussion, has not been included in the draft, either as a form of criminal punishment or as a disciplinary punishment. I cannot agree to this type of punishment, because its infliction does not, in my opinion, correspond to the cultural level of the German people.

The main features of the criminal procedure proposed by the draft are greatest speed together with immediate execution of sentences; thus it will not be inferior to the procedure in courts martial. Those administering criminal justice will have the opportunity of inflicting even the heaviest penalties in every suitable case, and thus be able to cooperate actively in realizing the political aims of the Fuehrer in the Eastern territories.

I intend to submit the bill for approval to the Council of Ministers for the Defence of the Reich. Before so doing, I wish, however, to discuss the matter with you, Sir, personally, and to ask you to obtain the decision of the Fuehrer as to whether he agrees to the basic principles of the bill.

signed: Dr. Schlegelberger

The Reich Minister of Justice

9170 Ostgeb/2-IIa 2-1826.41

Copy

Berlin W.8, 30th June 1941

Express Letter

To the Reich Fuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.

Subject: Administration of Criminal Justice in the annexed Eastern territories.

Reference: Letter to the Reich Minister and Chief of Reich Chancellery, dated 16th May 1941-II A 2 (new) No. 127/41 173/1 and the letter addressed to me by the Main Office of