1941 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 759-761
ORGANIZATION OF CRIMINAL JURISDICTION Decree concerning the Organization of Criminal Jurisdiction against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories,
4th December 1941
The Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich herewith decrees:
1. CRIMINAL LAW I
(1) Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories are to conduct themselves in conformity with the German laws and with the regulations introduced for them by the German authorities. They are to abstain from any conduct liable to prejudice the sovereignty of the German Reich or the prestige of the German people.
(2) The death penalty shall be imposed on any Pole or Jew if he commits an act of violence against a German on account of his being of German blood.
(3) A Pole or Jew shall be sentenced to death, or in less serious
cases to imprisonment, if he manifests anti-German sentiments by malicious activities or incitement, particularly by making anti-German authorities or offices, or if he, by his conduct, lowers or prejudices the prestige or the well-being of the German Reich or the German people. .
(4) The death penalty or, in less serious cases, imprisonment shall be imposed on any Pole or Jew:
1. If he commits any act of violence against a member of the German armed forces or associated services, of the German police force or its auxiliaries, of the Reich labor service, of any German authority or office or of a section of the N.S.D.A.P.;
2. If he purposely damages installations of the German authorities or offices, objects used by them in performance of their duties or objects of public utility;
3. If he urges or incites to disobedience to any decree or regulation issued by the German authorities; „
4. If he conspires to commit an act punishable under subsections (2), (3) or (4), paragraphs 1 to 3, or if he seriously contemplates the carrying out of such an act, or if he offers himself to commit such an act, or accepts such an offer, or if he obtains credible information of such act, or of the intention of committing it, and fails to notify the authorities or any person threatened thereby at a time when danger can still be averted;
2746-PS
5. If he is in unlawful possession of firearms, hand-grenades or any weapon for stabbing or hitting, of explosives, ammunition or other implements of war, or if he has credible information that a Pole or a Jew is in unlawful possession of such object, and fails to notify the authorities forthwith.
II
Punishment shall also be imposed on Poles or Jews if they act contrary to German criminal law or commit any act for which they deserve punishment in accordance with the fundamental principles of German criminal law and in view of the interests of the state in the Incorporated Eastern Territories.
III '
(1) Penalties provided for Poles and Jews are: imprisonment, fine or confiscation of property. The term of imprisonment is to be not less than three months and not more than ten years in a penal camp; for more serious offenses from two to fifteen years in a penal camp in which a more severe regimen is enforced.
(2) The death sentence shall be imposed in all cases where it is prescribed' by the law. Moreover, in those cases where the law does not provide for the death sentence, it shall be imposed if the offense points to particularly objectionable motives or is particularly grave for other reasons; the death sentence may also be passed upon juvenile offenders.
(3) The minimum penalty or a fixed penalty prescribed by the German criminal law cannot be reduced unless the criminal act is directed against the offender's own people exclusively.
(4) If a fine cannot be recovered, imprisonment in a penal camp from one week to one year shall be imposed in lieu.
2. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
IV
The state prosecutor shall prosecute a Pole or a Jew if he considers that punishment is in the public interest.
V
(1) Poles and Jews shall be tried by a special court or by the district judge.
(2) The state prosecutor may institute proceedings before a special court in all cases. Proceedings may be instituted by him before a district judge if the punishment to be imposed is not likely to be heavier than five years in a penal camp,' or three years in a more rigorous penal camp.
(3) The jurisdiction of the people's court remains unaffected.
2746-PS
VI .
(1) Every sentence will be enforced without delay. The state prosecutor may, however, appeal from the sentence of a district judge to the court of appeal. The appeal has to be lodged within two weeks.
(2) The right to lodge complaints which are to be heard by the court of appeals is reserved exclusively to the state prosecutor. The appeal is decided by the Gberlandesgericht.
VII
Poles and Jews cannot challenge a German judge on account of alleged partiality.
VIII
(1) Arrest and temporary detention are allowed whenever
there are good grounds to suspect that an offense has been committed. »'
(2) During the preliminary inquiry, the state prosecutor may order the arrest and any other coercive measures permissible.
. IX
Poles and Jews are not sworn in as witnesses in criminal proceedings. If the unsworn deposition jnade by them before the court is found false, the provisions as prescribed for perjury and false depositions on oath shall be applied, accordingly.
X
(1) Only the state prosecutor may apply for the reopening of a case. In a case tried before a special court, the decision concerning an application for the reopening of the proceedings rests with this court.
(2) The right to lodge a plea of nullity rests with the state prosecutor general. The decision on the plea rests with the court of appeal.
XI
Poles and Jews are not entitled to act as prosecutors either in a principal or a subsidiary capacity.
XII
The court and the state prosecutor shall conduct proceedings within their discretion and according to the principles of the German law of procedure. They may, however, dispense with the provisions of the German law on the organization of courts and on criminal procedure, whenever this may appear to them advisable for the rapid and more efficient conduct of proceedings.
388
2746-PS
3. MARTIAL LAW
XIII
(1) Subject to the consent of the Reich Minister of the Interior and the Reich Minister of Justice, the Reich governor [Oberpraesident] may, until further notice, enforce martial law in the Incorporated Eastern Territories, either in the whole area under his jurisdiction or in parts thereof, against Poles and Jews guilty of grave excesses against the Germans or of other offenses which seriously endanger the German work of reconstruction.
(2) The courts established under martial law impose the death sentence. They may, however, dispense with punishment and refer the case to the secret state police.
(3) Subject to the consent of the Reich Minister of the Interior, the constitution and procedure of the courts established under martial law shall be regulated by the Reich governor [Oberpraesident] .
4. EXTENT OF APPLICATION OF THIS DECREE
XIV
(1) The provisions contained in sections I-IV of this decree apply also to those Poles and Jews who on 1st September, 1939, were domiciled or had their residence within the territory of the former Polish state, and who committed criminal offences in any part of the German Reich other than the Incorporated Eastern Territories.
(2) The case may also be tried by the court within whose jurisdiction the former domicile or residence of the offender is situated. Sections V-XII apply accordingly.
(3) Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to offenses tried by the courts in the Government General.
5. SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS , XV
Within the meaning of this decree the term "Poles" means Schutzangehoerige or those who are stateless.
XVI
Article II of the decree of 6th June, 1940, concerning the introduction of German criminal law in the Incorporated Eastern Territories (Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 844) no longer applies to Poles and Jews. . .
XVII
The Reich Minister of Justice, in concurrence with the Reich
Minister of the Interior, is authorized to issue rules and admin-
2746-PS
istrative regulations concerning the execution and implementation of this decree and to decide in all cases of doubt.
XVIII
This decree shall come into force on the fourteenth day after its publication.
Berlin, 4 December 1941
The president of the ministerial , council for Reich defense
Goering, Reich Marshal The plenipotentiary for Reich administration
Frick
The Reich minister and chief of the Reich Chancellery
' Dr. Lammers
Decree establishing criminal jurisdiction over Jews and Poles in the incorporated territories, including penalties for acts against Germans or the Reich, expedited court procedures, limits on legal rights, and the use of martial law
Authors
Hermann Goering (Reich Marshal; Commander in Chief, Luftwaffe; Commissioner for Four-Year Plan)
Hermann Göring
German Nazi politician, military leader and convicted war criminal (1893–1946)
- Born: 1893-01-12 (Rosenheim)
- Died: 1945-01-01 1946-10-15 (Nuremberg Court Prison Nuremberg) (reason for deprecated rank: error in referenced source or sources; reason for preferred rank: most precise value)
- Country of citizenship: German Empire; Nazi Germany
- Occupation: aircraft pilot; art collector; politician; war criminal
- Member of political party: Nazi Party (period: 1922-11-01 through 1923-11-23, 1928-04-01 through 1945-04-29)
- Member of: Sturmabteilung
- Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch; Nazi plunder; genocide; war crime
- Significant person: Alma Hedin (role: friend)
Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior; chief of Nazi delegation, Reichstag; admin. Plenipotentiary)
Wilhelm Frick
German Nazi official (1877-1946)
- Born: 1877-03-12 (Alsenz)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: diplomat; lawyer; politician
- Member of political party: German Völkisch Freedom Party; National Socialist Freedom Movement; Nazi Party
- Member of: AGV München; Thule Society
- Participant in: Aryanization; Beer Hall Putsch; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
- Position held: Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (period: 1943-08-24 through 1945-05-04; replaces: Konstantin von Neurath); Reichsminister des Innern (period: 1933-01-30 through 1943-08-20; replaced by: Heinrich Himmler; replaces: Franz Bracht); member of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany; member of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic
Hans H. Lammers (Dr., Chief of Reich Chancellery)
Hans H. Lammers
German jurist, Nazi politician, and Head of the Reich Chancellery (1879-1962)
- Born: 1879-05-27 (Lubliniec)
- Died: 1962-01-04 (Düsseldorf)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: judge; jurist; lawyer; politician
- Member of political party: German National People's Party (until: 1932-01-01); Nazi Party
- Member of: Schutzstaffel
- Participant in: Ministries Trial (role: defendant); Nuremberg Medical Trial (role: affiant, witness)
- Significant person: Adolf Hitler (role: superior); Karl Brandt (role: colleague)
Council of Ministers [or Cabinet Council] for the Defense of the Reich
Date: 04 December 1941
Literal Title: Organisation of Criminal Jurisdiction[.] Decree concerning the Organisation of Criminal Jurisdiction against Poles and Jews in the Incorporated Eastern Territories, 4th December 1941.
Defendants: Wilhelm Frick, Hermann Wilhelm Goering
Total Pages: 4
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-2746
HLSL Item No.: 451276
Notes:This document was not offered as evidence in the trial.
Trial Issues
Criminal organizations (Gestapo, Leadership Corps, Cabinet, SS, SD, OKW) (… Persecution of political, religious, and ethnic ("racial") groups (IMT, NM…
Document Summary
PS-2746: Decree of 4 December 1941 (RGBl, 1941, I, p.759) signed by the defendant LAMMERS. This decree sets forth the penal measures against Jews and Poles in the Occupied Eastern Territories among its provisions were: