VERORDNUNGSBLATT DES GENERAL GOUVERNEURS, No. 6, Jan. 27, 1940, Page 23.
3. PROPERTY
Decree concerning Sequestration of Private Property in the Government General, January 24, 1940.
In pursuance of subsection 1 of Section 5 of the decree of the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor concerning the administration of the occupied Polish territories of October 12, 1939 (RGBl I, p. 2077), I hereby order as follows:
SECTION I. Purpose of the Sequestration.
Sequestrations may be ordered and carried out only in connection with the performance of tasks serving the public interest. They shall be effective only if the following provisions have been observed.
SECTION 2. Sequestration Agencies. (1) The right of sequestration shall be vested exclusively in the Governor General of the occupied Polish territories. It shall be exercised, in his name and in accordance with his directions, by the Director of
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the office of the Governor General and the district chiefs or other agencies designated by the Governor General.
(2) The right to sequestrate agricultural and forest property shall be exercised by the Director of the Trustee Administration for the Government General in agreement with the Director of the Department of Food and Agriculture or the Director of the Forestry Department.
(3) The right of the Director of the office of the Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan in the Government General to sequestrate raw materials of all kinds, and also manufactured and semi-manufactured products, shall not be affected by the provisions of the present decree.
(4) The seizure, administration, and exploitation of the sequestered property shall be entrusted to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
SECTION 3. Order of Sequestration. (1) Sequestration orders shall be issued in writing by the agency carrying out the sequestration in agreement with the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General. Sequestration shall take effect upon service of the order for sequestration.
(2) Service by poster or public announcement may be substituted for written notification to the owner of the property.
SECTION 4. Effect of Sequestration. (1) Sequestration implies a legal prohibition against alienation of the property. Legal transactions of any kind in connection with the sequestered property and changes therein shall be null and void without the previous consent of the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General or of the agency designated by him.
(2) The same shall apply to any transfers or other rights obtained by way of execution of a judgment, attachment, or injunction.
(3) Rights of third parties in the property sequestered, including those vesting title in a third party for the purpose of securing obligations owed, shall be held in abeyance.
SECTION 5. Entry of Notice of the Order of Sequestration in the Land Register. Upon sequestration of realty and other rights in realty subject to registration in the public records, notice of the sequestration shall be entered upon the records. Application for entry of such notice shall be made by the authority decreeing the sequestration; or, where a trustee has been appointed, by the trustee.
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SECTION 6. Exemptions from Sequestration. Movable objects which at the time of the entry into force of the present decree serve exclusively for the personal use of the person affected by the sequestration shall be exempt therefrom provided they are not objects of luxury and do not exceed the requirements of bare living. *
SECTION 7. Duty of Kegistration. Property liable to sequestration may be made the subject of compulsory registration by decree of the Governor General.
SECTION 8. Seizure of Abandoned Property. (1) Abandoned property shall be seized by the District Chief or Town Prefect and handed over for administration to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General. Such seizure shall be ordered in writing.
(2) The rights of third parties in the seized property, including legal title transferred or reserved for the purpose of securing the payment of obligations, shall abate upon seizure. The Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General may grant exemptions from such abatement.
SECTION 9. Appointment of Trustees. Upon the issuance of the order of sequestration or seizure of abandoned property the agency issuing the order may appoint a trustee. The appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
SECTION 10. Status of the Trustee. (1) The trustee shall be authorized to enter into any and all transactions, judicial and otherwise, which are required for the administration of the sequestered property. His authority in this connection shall be equivalent to any power of attorney required by law.
(2) The trustee shall submit to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General proposals concerning any disposal or liquidation, particularly of anti-social or financially unremunerative concerns. The decision concerning alienation or liquidation of the concern shall be made by the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
(3) The trustee shall be subject to supervision by the district officer of the field office of the Trustee Administration [Treu-hand-Aussenstelle] and to the further supervision of the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
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(4) The trustee in his conduct of affairs shall act with the care of a prudent businessman. He shall be responsible to the appointing agency for any loss arising from infraction of his duties. He shall supply to such agency any required information at any time. He shall, unless otherwise instructed, present a report of his conduct of affairs, without being called upon to do so, at the end of each month after his appointment.
(5) The trustee shall be subject to dismissal without notice.
(6) The cost of trustee administration shall be charged to the property administered.
SECTION Ü. Sequestration by Military Authorities. (1) Sequestrations already ordered or which may be ordered in the future by the Commander in Chief in the East shall not be subject to the restrictions imposed by the present decree if they are effected in the interests of Reich defense and the increase of armaments. Such sequestrations shall be certified to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
(2) The Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General shall be authorized to review orders of sequestration issued and enforced by the military authorities with a view to determining whether they are required for the purpose referred to in subsection I.
(3) Appointment of all trustees shall be subject to confirmation by the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
SECTION 12. Sequestration by the Armed S.S. and Police. (1) The Superior S.S. and Police Chief may, in exceptional cases, order sequestrations with the object of increasing the striking power of the units of the uniformed police and armed S.S. Such sequestrations shall not be subject to the limitations imposed by the present decree; notification of orders of sequestration shall be made to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
(2) Subsections 2 and 3 of Section 11 shall be made applicable to the sequestrations referred to in subsection 1.
*f* ¥ »i* ¥ iji
SECTION 14. Notice of Sequestration Orders Issued before the Effective Date of this Order. (1) Notice of sequestrations ordered and executed before the coming into force of the present decree shall be given to the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General.
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(2) Whenever a trustee has been appointed, confirmation of such appointment shall be obtained from the Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General not later than April 1, 1940. To appointments of trustees made before November 20, 1989, Section 8 of the order concerning the establishment of an Office of Trustee Administration of the Government General of November 15, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 36) shall remain applicable.
SECTION 15. Compensation. (1) Compensation may be granted for losses arising from the enforcement of the present decree; courts of law shall have no jurisdiction to entertain suits for payment of such compensation.
(2) The Director of the Trustee Administration of the Government General shall by order establish the amount of compensation after hearing the agency which has ordered the sequestration. His order shall be final.
SECTION 16. Restrictions of Property Rights heretofore Imposed. (1) Order No. 4 of the head of the Foreign Exchange Section of the office of the Governor General of November 20, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 57) shall not be affected by the provisions of this order.
(2) Debtors in respect of obligations owed to a Jew which are subject to an order of sequestration may terminate their obligation by paying the amount due into a blocked bank account of such Jewish creditor.
SECTION 17. Penalties. (1) Violations of the present decree and of the rules and regulations implementing and supplementing it shall be punishable by imprisonment and fine of unlimited amount or by either of these penalties, and in especially serious cases by hard labor.
(2) The Special Court shall have jurisdiction to try violations referred to in subsection 1.
SECTION 18. Final Provisions. (1) The order concerning housing of public authorities of November 1, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 27) shall be repealed on the effective date of this decree.
(2) The following shall not be affected by this decree:
a. The decree relating to the sequestration of the property of the former Polish State within the Government General of November 15, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 37).
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b. The decree relating to mining rights and mining shares in the Government Genera] of December 14, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 235).
c. The decree relating to the sequestration and surrender of wireless apparatus of December 15, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 225).
d. The decree relating to the sequestration of objects of art in the Government General of December 16, 1939 (VB1.GGP., p. 209).
e. The decree relating to the sequestration of installations and equipment of the mineral oil industry in the Government General of January 23, 1940 (VB1.GGP.. p. 21).
Cracow, January 24, 1940
FRANK
Governor General of the Occupied Polish Territories
Decree establishing a system for the sequestration of property in the Government General (including agricultural and forest property, raw materials, manufactured products, and abandoned property), to be administered by the Trustee Administration
Authors
Hans Frank (Chief of Legal Office, NSDAP; Governor General of Poland)
Hans Frank
German lawyer, Nazi politician, General Governor of Nazi occupied Poland and convicted war criminal (1900-1946)
- Born: 1900-05-23 (Karlsruhe)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg Nuremberg Court Prison) (reason for deprecated rank: item/value with less precision and/or accuracy; reason for preferred rank: most precise value)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: lawyer; politician
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party (since: 1919-01-01); Nazi Party
- Member of: Sturmabteilung; Thule Society
- Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch
- Significant person: John C. Woods (role: executioner)
Date: 24 January 1940
Literal Title: 3. Property[.] Decree concerning Sequestration of Private Property in the Government General, January 24, 1940.
Defendant: Hans Frank
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-2540
HLSL Item No.: 452411
Notes:This document was apparently not entered as evidence in the case against Frank.