Schlegelberger Conference

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Schlegelberger Conference is the name of the conference called by Franz Schlegelberger for April 23 and 24, 1941 in the "House of Aviators" in Berlin, the aim of which was to inform the top judiciary about the gas murders that had been taking place since January 1940 called " Aktion T4 ". The officers were instructed not to process reports and petitions related to the "euthanasia" murders.

Lack of legal basis

The Reich Ministry of Justice had not been informed of Action T4 and was only informed of the ongoing proceedings in July 1940 through reports from subordinate agencies or even directly through letters. The guardianship judge Lothar Kreyssig turned to the Minister of Justice on July 8, 1940, because the mentally ill would be put to death without the guarantee of an orderly legal process and without a legal basis. Hans Heinrich Lammers informed Franz Gürtner on July 23, 1940 that Hitler had previously rejected a legal regulation of euthanasia. Gürtner expressed the conviction that the secret killing of the mentally ill would then have to be stopped immediately. However, Gürtner gave up his resistance when, on August 27, 1940, he was shown Hitler's letter of authorization to Philipp Bouhler and Brandt , dated September 1, 1939 . Those involved in Aktion T4 also endeavored to obtain a law that would reliably protect them from possible criminal prosecution. Bouhler finally submitted a draft law in the autumn of 1940, which, however, was rejected by Hitler.

The practice of the judiciary was disrupted in two main areas, namely voluntary jurisdiction and criminal justice. Guardianship courts had to be informed about the residence and fate of the mentally ill ward in order to be able to deal with property matters of the guardians and guardians. The reputation of these courts suffered from being unable to respond to inquiries. In the criminal justice system, some of the proceedings that had been initiated could not be concluded because perpetrators or witnesses admitted to a sanatorium could not be found or were killed by transfer. According to the principle of legality, the public prosecutor was actually obliged to intervene in relation to all acts that were criminal and prosecutable; she found herself in need of explanation when advertisements were not followed up.

Conference of April 23 and 24, 1941

The assembly building at that time was the seat of the People's Court in 1934 and 1935. Thereafter, the building at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 5 was used for festivities by the Reichsaeroklub founded by Hermann Göring and is now used as the Berlin House of Representatives on Niederkirchnerstrasse .

Among the more than 90 participants were all 34 higher regional court presidents as well as the 34 attorneys general, State Secretary Roland Freisler , Reichsgerichtspräsident Erwin Bumke and the President of the People's Court Otto Thierack . On the agenda for the first morning were “Lectures on a question of particular importance to the judiciary”.

Schlegelberger introduced this part, who made the audience “familiar with all of the Fiihrer's resolutions” that were important for their administration. Otherwise it is inevitable that "judges and prosecutors, to the detriment of the judiciary and the state, turn against measures which they in good faith but mistakenly consider to be illegal, and innocently contradict the will of the Führer." Received expert speakers Viktor Brack and Werner Heyde , who described and justified the killing program. A copy of the “Fuehrer's order” was passed around.

The participants accepted the information without contradiction, as did the written circular that such "matters in which the question of the annihilation of life unworthy of life could have a meaning" should not be dealt with any further, but forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior. Relevant matters should be declared a "lecture matter" in order to evade them from lower instances. After the session, all cases of homicide were put down; new investigations were no longer initiated.

The stenographically recorded part of the "euthanasia" was removed from the overall protocol and is now lost; This item on the agenda is not mentioned in the conference report published in the German Justice in 1941. However, notes from a participant, the President of the Cologne Higher Regional Court, Alexander Bergmann, have been preserved .

Interpretations

The historian Lothar Gruchmann admits that the judiciary could not have prevented the euthanasia murders in specific individual cases by persecuting the perpetrators. She would have had to openly oppose the order of the sole holder of state authority, "an undertaking that was hopeless in the situation at the time and only threatened her own existence." The judiciary, however, "through the constant references to the disturbance of their normatively regulated activity by the euthanasia measures", namely the forwarding of the complaints about Lammers to the "Führer", contributed to the fact that the euthanasia was contained.

Helmut Kramer judges that even according to National Socialist constitutional law doctrine, such a “Führer order”, which was not announced in the Reichsgesetzblatt, could not provide a legal basis for the so-called T4 campaign . The secrecy is an unmistakable indicator of the illegality of the action. By accepting the standstill instruction without contradiction, aiding and abetting murder had been provided.

Wolfram Wette describes the conference as an "extraordinary example of the destruction of justice in the judiciary". The higher regional court presidents and attorneys general had agreed to suspend the criminal guarantee of the right to life and to put down lawsuits. The judicial elite have become accomplices in the unlawful killing of more than 70,000 people.

literature

  • Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 30 (1972), issue 3, pp. 236–279.
  • Ernst Klee: Documents on 'Euthanasia' , Frankfurt / M. 1985, ISBN 3-596-24327-0 .
  • Helmut Kramer: Higher Regional Court presidents and attorneys general as assistants in Nazi "euthanasia". In: Kritische Justiz, Heft 1, 1984, pp. 25–43 on the Internet .
  • Christoph Schneider: Servant of law and destruction. The proceedings against those attending the 1941 conference . Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-593-50689-0 (not viewed)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 245.
  2. ^ Letter printed in: Ernst Klee: Documents on 'Euthanasia' , Frankfurt / M. 1985, ISBN 3-596-24327-0 , pp. 201-204.
  3. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: VfZ 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 248.
  4. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: VfZ 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 254.
  5. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: VfZ 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 250.
  6. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: VfZ 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 256.
  7. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich . In: VfZ 30 (1972), Heft 3, pp. 258-261.
  8. ↑ Helmut Kramer: Presidents of the Higher Regional Court and Attorneys General as assistants in Nazi »euthanasia«. In: Kritische Justiz , 17 (1984), Heft 1, p. 29.
  9. ^ Ernst Klee: Documents on 'Euthanasia' , Frankfurt / M. 1985, ISBN 3-596-24327-0 , quotation p. 218.
  10. ↑ Ernst Klee: 'Euthanasia' in the Third Reich , completely revised. New edition Frankfurt / M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-18674-7 , p. 253 / Ingo Müller: Terrible Jurists . Munich 1987, ISBN 3-463-40038-3 , p. 135.
  11. ↑ Ernst Klee: 'Euthanasia' in the Third Reich , completely revised, new edition Frankfurt / M. 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-18674-7 , p. 255.
  12. ↑ Helmut Kramer: Presidents of the Higher Regional Court and Attorneys General as assistants in Nazi »euthanasia«. In: Kritische Justiz , 17 (1984), Heft 1, p. 29 with note 36.
  13. ↑ Printed in: Ernst Klee: Documents on 'Euthanasia' , Frankfurt / M. 1985, ISBN 3-596-24327-0 , pp. 219-220.
  14. ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: Euthanasia and Justice in the Third Reich. In: VfZ 30 (1972), issue 3, p. 278.
  15. ↑ Helmut Kramer: Presidents of the Higher Regional Court and Attorneys General as assistants in Nazi »euthanasia«. In: Kritische Justiz , 17 (1984), Heft 1, p. 27.
  16. ↑ Helmut Kramer: Presidents of the Higher Regional Court and Attorneys General as assistants in Nazi »euthanasia«. In: Kritische Justiz , 17 (1984), Heft 1, p. 38.
  17. ↑ Wolfram Bet; Joachim Perels: "With a clean conscience" - Military power judges in the Federal Republic and their victims Berlin Aufbau Digital 2011, ISBN 9783841203632 , Introduction III with note 17.