NMT Case 3

Summary

In the Justice Case, the United States prosecuted sixteen officials of the German Ministry of Justice, senior prosecutors, and judges for war crimes, crimes against humanity, conspiracy, and membership in criminal organizations. The specific crimes charged included the imprisonment or murder of political opponents of the Nazi regime and members of persecuted ethnic and religious groups, the sterilization of “racially impure” or disabled persons, the euthanizing of those unable to work, deportation and enslavement of workers, the plundering of private property, and torture. These crimes were committed through the regular state courts, which had been systematically converted into instruments of Nazi policy, and also through “special courts” and “people’s courts” that handled political cases and executed summary judgments and punishments. Seven defendants were charged with membership in the Nazi Leadership Corps, the SS (Himmler’s security agencies), or the SD (the Security Service), all of which had been ruled criminal organizations by the International Military Tribunal.

The trial lasted eleven months, and the evidence included more than 600 prosecution exhibits, 1400 defense exhibits, and the testimony of more than 100 witnesses. Of the sixteen defendants, one committed suicide, one mistrial was declared due to illness, four were acquitted, and ten received prison sentences.

Chronology Overview

Persons Involved

Tribunal

Carrington T. Marshall, presiding judge
James T. Brand, judge
Mallory B. Blair, judge
Justin W. Harding, alternate
(Marshall retired due to illness in June; Brand became presiding judge and Harding became member judge)

Defendants

Josef Altstoetter, chief of civil law and procedure division, Ministry of Justice; SS
Wilhelm von Ammon, counsellor of criminal legislation and administration division, Ministry of Justice
Paul Barnickel, senior public prosecutor, People’s Court; SA
Hermann Cuhorst, chief justice of special court and criminal senate, Stuttgart; SS
Karl Engert, chief of penal administration division, Ministry of Justice; SS
Guenther Joel, legal adviser to Minister of Justice; chief prosecutor, Westphalia; SS and SD
Herbert Klemm, state secretary, Ministry of Justice; SA
Ernst Lautz, chief public prosecutor, People’s Court
Wolfgang Mettgenberg, representative, criminal legislation and administration division, Ministry of Justice
Guenther Nebelung, chief justice of fourth senate, People’s Court; SA
Rudolf Oeschey, judge and chief justice of Special Court, Nuremberg (after Rothaug)
Hans Petersen, lay judge of first senate and special senate, People’s Court; SA
Oswald Rothaug, senior public prosecutor, People’s Court; chief justice, Special Court
Curt Rothenberger, state secretary, Ministry of Justice
Franz Schlegelberger, state secretary, acting Minister of Justice
Carl Westphal, counsellor, criminal legislation and administration, Ministry of Justice (committed suicide
before trial began)

Prosecution

Telford Taylor, chief of counsel
Charles M. LaFollette, deputy chief
Robert D. King, associate
Alfred M. Wooleyhan, associate
Sadie B. Arbuthnot, assistant
Defense counsel:
Rudolf Aschenauer, for Petersen
Richard Brieger, for Cuhorst
Karl Doetzer, for Nebelung
Heinrich Grube, for Lautz
Carl Haensel, for Joel
Rudolf Koessl, for Rothaug
Egon Kubuschok, for Von Ammon and Schlegelberger
Heinrich Link, for Engert (from July 31, 1947)
Hanns Marx, for Engert (to July 31, 1947)
Hermann Orth, for Altstoetter
Alfred Schilf, for Klemm and Mettenberg
Werner Schubert, for Oeschey
Edmund Tipp, for Barnickel
Erich Wandschneider, for Rothenberger

Indictments

1. Common Design and Conspiracy: all defendants, from January 1933 to April 1945, to commit
2. war crimes and crimes against humanity

1. War Crimes, from September 1939 to April 1945, against persons under German military control, including:
2. Use of irregular courts to suppress opposition (all defendants)
3. Special Court actions against targeted nationalities (von Ammon, Engert, Klemm, Schlegelberger,
4. Mettgenberg, Rothenberger, Westphal)
5. Imposition of German law to oppress occupied populations (Barnickel, Cuhorst, Klemm, Lautz,
6. Mettgenberg, Nebelung, Oeschey, Petersen, Rothaug, Rothenberger, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
7. Annexation of occupied territories (Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
8. Enforcement of Night and Fog decree (Altstoetter, von Ammon, Engert, Joel, Klemm,
9. Mettgenberg, Schlegelberger)
10. Execution of prisoners (Engert, Joel, Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Rothenberger, Westphal)
11. Sterilization and euthanasia (Lautz, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
12. Discriminatory prosecutions (von Ammon, Joel, Klemm, Rothenberger, Schlegelberger)
13. Actions against Jews in Bohemia and Moravia (Altstoetter and Schlegelberger)
14. Incitement of murder of Allied airmen (Klemm and Lautz)

1. Use of irregular courts to suppress opposition (all defendants)
2. Special Courts used against targeted nationalities (von Ammon, Engert, Klemm, Schlegelberger, Mettenberg, Rothenberger, Westphal)
3. Use of German criminal laws against targeted nationalities (Barnickel, Cuhorst, Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Nebelung, Oeschey, Petersen, Rothaug, Rothenberger, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
4. Annexation of occupied territories (Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
5. Enforcement of Nigth and Fog decree (Altstoetter, von Ammon, Engert, Joel, Klemm, Mettenberg, Schlegelberger)
6. Abuse and murder of prisoners (Engert, Joel, Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Rothenberger, Westphal)
7. Sterilization and euthanasia (Lautz, Schlegelberger, Westphal)
8. Discriminatory prosecutions (von Ammon, Joel, Klemm, Mettgenberg, Rothenberger, Schlegelberger)
9. Abuse of family and property, and citizenship laws against Jews and Poles (Altstoetter and Schlegelberger)
10. Incitement of murder of Allied airmen (Klemm and Lautz)

1. Altstoetter, Cuhorst, Engert, and Joel for membership in the SS
2. Cuhorst, Oeschey, Nebelung, and Rothaug for membership in the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party
3. Joel for membership in the SD

1. Acquitted: Barnickel, Cuhorst, Nebelung, and Petersen
2. Convicted: Altstoetter, von Ammon, Joel, Klemm, Lautz, Mettgenberg, Oeschey, Rothaug, Rothenberger, and Schlegelberger all were given prison sentences
3. Mistrial, due to illness: Engert
4. Westphal was indicted but not tried because he committed suicide before the trial began

Detailed Chronology