JUSTICE IN GERMANY
By A. G.
DICKSON rPIIE position of German justice has been obscured .I.. and overshadowed by the attention given of late to events and experiences in concentration camps. The International Penal and Penitentiary Congress, which met last week in Berlin, should have throWn considerable light on the subject, and did in fact throw some—as when ]lr. Frank, the Reich Commissar for Justice, declared {ill a ricIA's paper article) that the conception of re-educating t he (.6111in:11 was unacceptable, and thathe could only be aught I he error of his ways by " expiation."
But the best starting-point for a study of German . justice may be taken from a speech delivered last year at the Nuremberg Party Conference when a speaker declared that "The law is an instrument in the hands of the Fiihrer for the realisation of National Socialism. The task of the law is to safeguard the substantial properties of the nation, i.e., (l) The State in its unity and authority.
(2) The Party—the organism of National Socialist idea and philosophy.
(3) The honour of the German people. (4} Germany's economic life."
The most important step taken to secure the realisation of these aims was taken in May, .1934, when the so-called " People's Court '.' was set up. There are five judges, as there were formerly in the Supreme Court, but of these five only the presiding judge and one other member of the Bench are trained in the law : the remaining three, and thus the majority, are laymen. Their qualification is " special experience in combating subversive activities," and they are appointed by the Chancellor. The pre- liminary investigation, in which the police authorities and an examining magistrate. collaborate in gathering material for the indictment (the decision as to its suffi- ciency normally lies with the Public Prosecutor) may be dispensed with altogether. This court deals with charges of treason and subversiv.e propaganda... The sentence of death passed by this Court, wAen carried out, is made known to the public by scarlet announcements on th7 advertisement-kiosks in the streets.
The second great instrument has been the introduction of fresh penal offences in the Legal Code which is still under preparation. The nature of this instrument enu be appreciated by a recital of some of the new offences disparagement of German history, malicious disposal or family property, and of course the taking of over 10 raralrkti over the frontier, all constitute serious crimes. Iii thi-; connexion it may be mentioned that for a prisoner in a concentration camp to converse with a visitor, even if in answer to questions, is regarded as high .treason, and punished accordingly. The most serious crime of all is the assassination, or attempted assassination, of the Leader. The promulgation of new laws is alsO an interesting development. The dissolution of the Reichs- tag rendered the passing of a law an obsolete custolo. Apart from the additions made from time to time t(i the Legal Code and published officially, it is possible for tics to be promulgated now by wireless, and this procedure indeed often adopted. . .
The most dangerous development has .undoubtedly , ..been'the " retrocessive " character that is applired now to new laws. Thus it is possible for a prisoner, :to have h'i; length of internment increased, after the Judge has passed' sentence, or for man. to be arrested for an action cora- ..mitted in the past before it had been declared illegal the passing of a new law. When, at the instigation of the. German delegates, this procedure was put before the Penal congress for approbation, it was cleverly .a.cvcrell, ,so that it appeared, that a prisoner might benefit if new legislation was .introduced during his • imprisonment, lessening the duration of punishment for which he ivw; ..sentenced. It is on.this interpretation of the retrocessive -nature (fliickwirkung). of the law that nearly all political prisoners are interned—i.e., for actions declared illegal at a..later date. . .
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