Copy For The Minister
Reich and Prussian Minister of Justice 2 F.glO 1696/34 Berlin, W.8, 18 January
Wilhelmstrasse 65
Subject: Charges against members of camp personnel of Protective custody Camp Hohnstein.
To the communication of 19 December 1934.
—ST.. S.1.2593/34—
Most honored Reich Deputy [Reichstatthalter]!
In regard to your courteous communication of 19 December 1934, I inform you respectfully that, on the basis of the decree of the Reich president relative to exercise of the right of nolle prosse of 21 March 1934 (RGB1, I, page 211) in connection with Article 2, paragraph 1 of the first law for transfer of administration of justice to the Reich of 10 February 1934 (RGB1, I, page 91) the right to nolle prosse pending criminal cases wherein the deed was committed after 20 March 1934, belongs no longer to the Reich Deputy but exclusively to the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor. Under the circumstances I consider myself not in a position to go to the extent of proposing a nolle prosse of the case to the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor.
558
783-PS
TO the Reich Deputy in Saxony in Dresden Al.
Insofar as the deeds were committed before 2 March 1984 and therefore the right of nolle prosse in the case belongs to you, most honored Reich Deputy, I allow myself to express the greatest scruples against the intended nolle prosse. The nature of the mistreatments, particularly the use of the drip-apparatus, is evidence of a coarseness and brutality in the perpetrators which is completely alien t'o German sensibility and feeling. Such atrocities, reminders of oriental sadism, can find no explanation or excuse even in the greatest bitterness of combat. Crimes of this sort must find their lawful expiation for the very sake of the cleanness and respect of the movement. In view of experiences in other cases, of similar aspect in a certain sense, I am also unable to share the fear that execution of the legal proceedings would be detrimental to the movement. This is all the more true since the main proceedings can take place with complete exclusion of the public.
Heil Hitler!
Letter to the governor of Saxony (Martin Mutschmann), opposing the proposed annulment of proceedings against staff members of the Hohnstein protective custody camp for brutality
Authors
Franz Guertner (Dr., Minister of Justice 1932-41)
Franz Guertner
Government minister of Germany (1881-1941)
- Born: 1881-08-26 (Regensburg)
- Died: 1941-01-29 (Berlin)
- Country of citizenship: German Reich
- Occupation: jurist; politician
- Member of political party: German National People's Party; Nazi Party; Q15787248
- Participant in: Aktion T4
- Position held: Baviarian Minister of Justice (member of cabinet: Q1719960, Q1719961, ..., Q1720104; period: 1922-08-04 through 1932-06-01; replaced by: Heinrich Spangenberger); Reich Minister of Justice (period: 1932-06-01 through 1941-01-29; replaced by: Franz Schlegelberger; replaces: Curt Joël)
- Educated at: Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Date: 18 January 1935
Literal Title: Subject: Criminal proceedings against members of the garrison of the camp for Protective Custody of Hohnstein.
Total Pages: 1
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-783
Citation: IMT (page 255)
HLSL Item No.: 450201
Notes:For more on the Hohnstein case, see documents PS 784-786.
Trial Issues
Concentration camp system (administration, forced labor, abuse of inmates)… Conspiracy (and Common plan, in IMT) (IMT, NMT 1, 3, 4) IMT count 1: common plan or conspiracy (IMT) Nazi regime (rise, consolidation, economic control, and militarization) (I…
Document Summary
PS-783: Letter, Minister of Justice, Guertner, to the Reich Governor of Saxony, [Illegible], regarding Suppression of Legal Proceedings
PS-783: Letter from the Reich Minister of justice to the Reichsstatthalter of Saxony, 18 January 1935, on restriction of the latter’s right to have penal proceedings quashed, with application to cases in which personnel of the concentration camp Hohnstein are indicted for cruel treatment of prisoners