A Case of Nazi 'Justice'; The Punishment of Party Members Involved in the Kristallnacht, 1938.pdf

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A Case of Nazi "Justice"-The Punishment of Party
Members Involved in the Kristallnacht,1938
by Donald McKale
In one of the frequent"table talk" discussionsthat he held with confidants
and friendsat his militaryheadquarters
duringthe war, Adolf Hitler reflectedon
"mustcooperate
the meaningof law and justice."Justice,"he said philosophically,
closelywith the reasonof state.The reasonof stateis the only thingwhichcounts."
The Nazi leadertherebyepitomizedthe brutallegal philosophyof his ThirdReich
Deutsche
and National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische
NSDAP).
Arbeiterpartei,
As a part of this broadlegal principle,Nazi justicewas aimedabove all at the
Deutscher
of
Art) from racial con-
"preservation the Germanspecies"(Erhaltung
taminationanddestruction the inferiorJewryand "foreignraces."As with every-
by
thing else dear to Hitler and the NSDAP, this slogan was hammeredrepeatedly
into the minds of Nazi members.In countlessaddressesto the party duringthe
"yearsof struggle"before Hitler became Chancellorin January1933, the Fiihrer
emphasizedthat "justice"must be "identicalwith life's aim itself, that being the
of
preservation the [German]
people."Later,while "table-talking"
duringthe war,
he remarked
about the mixingof the Jews and Germans:"If I can accepta divine
it's
the
Commandment, this one: 'Thoushaltpreserve species.'
"2
The samephrase-
ology was used (or modified)by other party leadersto emphasizethe separation
of the races-Rudolf Hess, HermannG6ring, Hans Frank, and Walter Buch, to
mentionseveral.3
To build the NSDAP into an organization
composedsolely of "pureAryans"
the
and the racialandpoliticaleliteof Germany, movementandthe Nazi government
The SS, for example,operatedits famedRace and
createda numberof institutions.
SettlementMain Office, and the Reich Ministry of the Interiorhad a so-called
vom 20. August 1942," Vier-
Gruchman,
Lothar,"Hitlerfiberdie Justiz: Das Tischgesprache
vol. xii (1964),p. 99. The authorthanksthe GeorgiaCollege Faculty
fir
teljahrshefte Zeitgeschichte,
Research
for
Committee providing
fundsthat aidedthe research the article.
for
2
See, for example,
Beobachter
"UnserFreiheitskampf EuerRecht,"Volkischer
und
(hereafter
VB),
28 October1930;andTrevor-Roper,
1941-44,trans.by Norman
H.R., ed., Hitler'sSecretConversations,
Cameronand R.H. Stevens(New York 1961),p. 157(the entryfor 1-2 December1941).
2nd
ed.
3
As examples, Goring,Hermann,
see
RedenundAufsiitze, by ErichGritzbach ed (Munich
vol. xlvi (1934),
Monatshefte,
1938), p. 137; Hess, Rudolf, "S.A. und Partei,"Nationalsozialistische
Amtliches
Mittei-
Der
and Buch, Walter,"Zielund Aufgabender Parteigerichtsbarkeit", Parteirichter:
lungsblatt des Obersten Parteigerichts der NSDAP, vol. iii (1934/35), p. 17.
p. 3; Frank, Hans, Neues deutsches Recht, ii, Hier spricht das neue Deutschland! (Munich 1934), p. 8;
228
A Caseof Nazi "Justice"
229
"Council of Expertson Populationand Race Policy." A more subtle and incon-
spicuous body created by Hitler was the NSDAP's own SupremeParty Court
(Oberste
Parteigericht,
OPG)whose officeswerein Munichand whose ChiefJustice
was
(or Chairman) the retiredarmymajor,Buch. A longtimeHitlerfollowerfrom
Baden, Buch had been commissionedto head the SupremeCourt in November
1927.The Courtwas legalizedas a part of the GermanConstitutionby the "Law
for the Securingof the Unity of Party and State" of December 1, 1933.4 It was
to
extendedprimarily partyaffairs.
extremely
powerfuland its jurisdiction
In addition to closely examiningapplicationsfor membership the NSDAP
in
the
(to exclude Jews, Freemasons,Communists,and other "subversives"), OPG
settled differencesof opinion among Nazi leaders and investigatedand expelled
disobedientparty membersfrom the movement.If found guilty of committinga
or
seriousoffenseagainstthe "reputation" "honor"of the party,a membercould
be expelled by the Court (which meant almost automatic imprisonment)or he
and
could be givena "warning" be bannedfrom holdinga partyoffice.5
becameespecially
carefulto guard
Followingthe seizureof power,the Tribunal
of
the racial"purity" the Nazi Party.The Courtbannedfromenteringor remaining
in the party personshaving a trace of "coloredor Jewishblood" in their family
as far back as January1800,those havingmarriageties to anyone with "elements
as
of coloredor Jewishblood,"and those withties to such organizations Freemason
groups."6However,the clearestexampleof the Court's
lodges and their"successor
effortsto preventthe racial"pollution"of the partywas its responseto the famed
Kristallnacht
(night of broken glass) carriedout against the Jews on November
9-10, 1938.
During that fateful night, membersof the party, SA, and SS (most of them
disguised in civilian clothes) rioted against the Jews. Synagogueswent up in
But
ransacked. whenit was discovered
weremercilessly
flamesand Jewishbusinesses
by the Nazi leadershipthat some membershad raped Jewish women-thereby
violating the sacredracial "purity"of the NSDAP-and that other excesseshad
occurred,the OPGwas orderedby Hitler to investigate.
Punishingparty memberswho associatedwith Jews was hardly new to the
SupremeCourt. Although Hitler's Deputy Fiihrer, Hess, ordered a stop to the
practicein 1935,7 the Court's subordinatetribunals(at the district, county, and
local party levels) were regularlyhearingsuch cases three years later. In some in-
4 "Gesetz zur Sicherung der Einheit von Partei und Staat v. 1 Dezember 1933," Reichsgesetzblatt,
ed. by Reich Ministry of Interior, vol. i (Berlin 1933), p. 1016.
5
"Text der Richtlinien fur die
Parteigerichte vom 17.2.1934," Haidn, C., and Fischer, L., Das
Recht der NSDAP, 3rd ed (Munich 1938), pp. 697-733; and Mason, John Brown, "The Judicial System
of the Nazi Party," American Political Science Review, vol. xxxviii (1944), pp. 96-103.
6 OPG, "Rundschreiben Nr. 12," 8 January 1934, Bundesarchiv,Koblenz (hereafter BA), NS 22
(Reichsorganisationsleitungder NSDAP)/Ordner 877.
7
Gaugericht(district party court) Pomerania to all county and local party judges, 17 October 1935,
BA, NS 26 (NSDAP Hauptarchiv)/Folder 152.
230
JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES
drove Germans"expectantof membership"
(Parteian-
stances, the investigations
warter,or persons acceptedinto the NSDAP on a two year "trial basis" before
they receivedfull membership)
away from the NSDAP,8 and in others, the courts
showed little sympathyfor National Socialistswho patronizedJewish businesses
or mixedsociallywithJewishfriends.In fact, by the beginning 1938,beingaccused
of
of associatingwith Jews was the "kiss of death" for party members.Most were
expelled for the "offense,"and only a few "old fighters"surviveda party court
proceedingwith the milderpunishmentof a warning.9
At the same time, violentattackson Jews by barbaricSA and partymen were
nothing new to Nazi Germany.Sporadicoutburstsand the destructionof Jewish
propertyin Baden and other districtsin the summerof 1935 promptedHitler to
commanda stop to "singleactions against Jews by party members."'0With his
about his motivesand policies,
regimebarelytwo yearsold and the worldwondering
Hitler was still concernedenough about foreign reaction and public opinion to
attemptto discouragesuch "actions."1'
However,themassivepogromof 1938wasordered Hitlerandhis Propaganda
by
in
for
Minister,JosephGoebbels,apparently retaliation the shootingon the morning
of November7 of Ernstvom Rath, a third-rate
Germandiplomatin Paris. Rath's
assassin was a young Polish-GermanJew, HerschelGriinspan,who was quickly
labelled by the NSDAP's official news organ, the VilkischerBeobachter, the
as
"criminaltool of international
Jewishmurderers."2
When vom Rath died from his wounds on the afternoonof the ninth, Hitler
decided to use the murderas a pretextto move against the Jews and therebyput
pressureon English politicians (namely Winston Churchill)to halt their public
in
attackson hisexpansionism Czechoslovakia eastern
and
Europe.Latethatevening,
while he was in Munich to celebratethe fifteenthanniversary his "Beer Hall
of
Putsch," Hitler gave Goebbels an oral command to order a spontaneousanti-
Jewishriot by the SA and sympathetic
Minister,
partyofficials.
3
The Propaganda
with his boss had slowlydeteriorated
since 1933,was anxiousto
whose relationship
win back the Ftihrer's
favor,and he consented.Moreover,he and othervigorously
8 See
to
Kreisgericht
(countycourtof the party)Bingen(Gau Hessen-Nassau) the Nieder-Ingelheim
to
(localgroup),8 August1938;andEugenKuborth Glassel(localleader,
Ortsgruppe
Nieder-Ingelheim),
7 November1938,National Archives,Washington,
D.C. (hereafter
NA), microcopyT-81 (Recordsof
the National SocialistGermanLabor Party),roll 176/frames
324513,324523.
9 Forexample,
12February
Kreisgericht
1938,NA, T-81,166/305879-30588/.
Bingen,"Beschluss,"
10 "Abschrift:
Rundschreiben
8/35."13August1935,by the Reichorganization
leader,RobertLey,
of
BA, NS 26/Folder152;and the ReichMinistry Justiceto the supreme
commander the SA, 24 Sep-
of
tember1935,BA, NS 26/Folder318.
1 Admittedby Hess, see deputyGauleiterKaufmann(Pomerania) districtofficeleadersand
to
24 February
NS 26/Folder152.
countyleaders,
1936,BA,
12
"Die jiidischeBluttatin Paris," VB, 9 November1938. See also, Heiber,Helmut, "Der Fall
Griinspan," VierteljahrsheftefurZeitgeschichte, vol. v (1957), pp. 134-35.
13
Domarus, Max, Triumph,1932-38, vol. i, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen, 1932-45 (Munich
1965), pp. 970-73.
A Caseof Nazi "Justice"
231
antisemiticpartymen had wantedfor some time to play a greaterrole in the Jewish
destructionprocess being carriedout steadily by the SS and the government.14
a
Minutesbeforemidnight,
Goebbelsinformed groupof partyleadersassembled
at a "Comrade'sEvening"in the Alten Rathausthat anti-Jewishdemonstrations
Jewishbusinesses
had begun in the districtsof Kurhessenand Magdeburg-Anhalt.
were being destroyed,he said, and synagogueswere in flames. He furthernoted
in
that Hitler had agreedwith him not to discouragethe demonstrations the event
that they spread "spontaneously"
throughoutthe Reich. The attentive listeners
understoodGoebbels'words as meaning that the NSDAP should not outwardly
appearto be the instigatorof the riots (e.g., SA and SS men should wear civilian
clothes), but that it was in fact to organizethe riots and carrythem out. 5
With this in mind, the leadersimmediatelytelephonedor teletypedthe order
to their Gau (district)headquarters.
While the SecurityPolice (Sicherheitspolizei)
was orderedby its chief, ReinhardHeydrich,to stand by as a "supervisor" to
and
of
guardagainst destructive
"plundering" Jewishproperty(which was insuredby
Aryan insurancecompanies),16the riots spread with lightningspeed. In Berlin,
windows in Jewish shops were smashed and three synagogues were destroyed
17
and
(exceptfor theirouterwalls)by fire. In Nuremberg,
seventyJewishbusinesses
236 houseswerebadlydamaged, the city'sFireDepartment
and
helpedthe disguised
the
SA burndown the synagogues.(Despite the criminality, FranconianGauleiter,
told a mass partymeetingthe followingeveningthat the "demon-
JuliusStreicher,
strations" in his district were "generallydisciplined,clear and far-sighted.")'8
Evenin the smaller
townsandvillagessuchas Xantenand Geldern(GauWestphalia-
(Gau Hanover), the burning and ransackingproceeded
South) and "Thalburg"
9
throughthe night.
Added to the physicaldestructionof property,individualSA men and groups
of SA "vigilantes"
molestedJewishwomen and cold-bloodedlymurderedJews in
a number of cities. Among other places, Jews were slain in Chemnitz,Munich,
Innsbruck,
Kiistrin,Liinen,and Linz (Hitler'sboyhoodhome).As morningdawned
Concerning Goebbels' motives, see Dietrich, Otto, ZwolfJahre mit Hitler (Cologne n.d.), pp. 55-
56; Hilberg, Raul, The Destruction of the EuropeanJews (Chicago 1961), pp. 22-23; and Peterson, E.N.,
The Limits of Hitler's Power (Princeton 1969), pp. 57-58.
15
Hilberg, Raul, The Destruction of the European Jews (Chicago 1961), p. 23.
16
Heydrich to the security service (Sicherheitsdienst) and state police offices, "Abschrift des Blitz-
Fernschreibens aus Miinchen vom 10.11.38 1 Uhr 20," NA, T-988 (World War II War Crimes Records.
Prosecution Exhibits Submitted to the International Military Tribunal), 214/089501-089504. See also,
Buchheim, Hans, Broszat, Martin, Jacobsen, Hans-Adolf, and Krausnick, Helmut, Konzentrationslager,
vol. ii, Anatomie des SS-Staates (Freiburg 1965), p. 335.
Kommissarbefehl,Judenverfolgung,
17
"Empbrte Volksseele schaffte sich Luft," VB, 11 November 1938.
18
Frdnkische
Tageszeitung(hereafter FT), 11 November 1938; and the Nuremberg police report,
"Betreff: Besondere Vorfille bei der Protestaktion gegen die Juden in Nirnberg," NA, T-81, 57/60275.
19
SS-Sturm (company) Geldern 10/25 to SS-Sturmbann (battalion) III/25, 14 November 1938,
in Scheffler, Wolfgang, Judenverfolgungim Dritten Reich (Berlin 1964), p. 74; and Allen, William S.,
The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1930-1935 (Chicago 1965), p. 273.
14
232
JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES
on November 10, 177synagoguesin the Reich lay demolishedor in burnedrubble,
streets were full of shatteredglass from 7,500 damaged stores, and over 20,000
Jews were being roundedup like cattle by the police for transferto concentration
camps.20
Whennews of the Kristallnacht
reachedthe rest of the world,the reactionwas
werehorrified thedisplayof barbarism destruc-
at
and
extremely
negative.Foreigners
tion. Englishofficialsand other Westernpoliticiansdid not stop their criticismof
in
Hitler'saggression Czechoslovakia. NSDAP,however,
The
actedtotallysurprised;
the Volkischer
Beobachter
noted that the "demonstrations"
were a "spontaneous"
21
answerto the "provocations Paris"andthe "cowardly
in
Jewishmurder." Further-
to
a
more,in themidstof thepogrom,Goebbelsdispatched circular the partyordering
the action to stop "immediately." bit later,a commandfrom Hess' officeforbade
A
the burningof Jewishbusinesses,and the order disclaimedany responsibility
by
the party for the riots.22
The responseof a numberof the party's district leaders (Gauleiters) the
to
was
nightof unrestrained
criminality shock and opposition.As soon as they learned
what was happening, several-including Karl Kaufmann (Hamburg),Joachim
Albert Forster (Danzig), Adolf Wagner(Munich-
Eggeling (Magdeburg-Anhalt),
Upper Bavaria),and Deputy GauleiterPaul Wegener(Kurmark)-either refused
to obey or issued counter-orders.
G6ring, the man second in line to Hitler, was
likewise angry; he disapprovedof the wanton destructionof propertybecause it
hurt his efforts (as head of the Reich's "Four Year Plan") to rebuildGermany's
economy. Even Heydrichpromised a group of district leaders and party court
judges on November 20 that severe measureswould be taken against the worst
offenders.23
Duringthe last week of November,the SupremeCourtreceivedsteadyreports
from its district courts indicatingthat numerouscases of rape, plundering,and
murderby Nazi memberswere under investigationby the police and state courts.
Hess, desiringto insurethat the rapistsbe held accountablefor theircrimeagainst
the NSDAP's racialprinciples
and fearinga publicinquirythat might uncoverthe
real culpritsin the riots and seriouslyembarrassthe party, suddenlyorderedthe
OPG to interveneand bring the party membersto trial secretly.Simultaneously,
to
Goringwas appointedHitler's"specialcommissioner" cooperatewith the Court
and the Gestapo in gettingthe state investigations
stopped. Throughsuch moves,
The figures,which first becameknown at the Nuremberg
Trials, were given by Heydrichto
Niederschrift einemTeil der Besprechung
von
unter
Goring.See "Stenographische
iiberdie Judenfrage
im RLM am 12. November1938, 11 Uhr.,"NA, T-988,214/089610.
Vorsitzvon Feldmarschall
Goring
21
"Antwort
auf die feigejudischeMordtat,"VB,10 November1938.
22
FT, 11 November1938; and the OPG's reporton the pogromto G6ring, "Berichtiiberdie
die
mit
Vorgangeund parteigerichtlichen
Verfahren, im Zusammenhang den antisemitischen
Kundge-
bungenvom 9. November1938stehen,"NA, T-988, 216/090729.
20
23
p. 466.
International Military Tribunal, Trial of the Major War Criminals,vol. xxi (Nuremberg 1947-49),

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