The Reichs Minister of the Interior is authorized to issue legal and
administrative regulations for the administration and enforcement of
this law.
Berlin 26 May 1933
The Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1397-PS
1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PAGE 175, Art 1-18, 7 April 1933.
Law for the Reestablishment of the Professional Civil Service 7 April
1933
The Reichsgovernment has enacted the following law, which is hereby
proclaimed:
Art. 1
1. For the reestablishment of a national professional civil service and
for the simplification of administration, officials may be discharged
from office according to the following regulations, even when the
necessary conditions according to the appropriate law do not exist.
2. Officials, as used in this law, means immediate [unmittelbare] and
mediate [mittlebare] officials of the Reich, immediate and mediate
officials of the federal states [Laender], officials of communes
[Gemeinde] and communal associations, officials of public legal
corporations as well as institutions and undertakings placed upon the
same status as these public legal corporations (Third decree of the
Reichspresident for the safeguarding of business and finance of 6
October 1931-RGBl. I P. 537, 3rd part, Chapter V, Section I, Art. 15,
subparagraph 1). The stipulations apply also to employees of agencies
supplying social insurance, who have the rights and duties of officials.
3. Officials as used in this law also includes officials in temporary
retirement.
4. The Reichsbank and the German State Railway Co. are empowered to
make corresponding regulations.
Art. 2
1. Officials who since 9 November 1918 have attained the status of
officials without possessing the required or usual preparation or other
qualifications are to be dismissed from service. Their former salaries
will be accorded them for a period of 3 months after their dismissal.
2. A right to waiting allowances, pensions, or survivors pension and to
the continuance of the official designation, the title, the official
uniform and the official insignia is not possessed by them.
3. In case of need a pension, revocable at any time, equivalent to a
third of the usual base pay of the last position held by them may be
granted them, especially when they are caring for dependent relatives;
reinsurance according to the provisions of the Reich's social insurance
law will not take place.
4. The stipulations of Section 2 and 3 will receive corresponding
application in the case of persons of the type designated in Sec. 1,
who already before this law became effective had been retired.
Art. 3
1. Officials, who are of non-aryan descent, are to be retired; insofar
as honorary officials are concerned, they are to be removed from
official status.
2. Section 1 is not in effect for officials who were already officials
since 1 August 1914, or who fought during the World War at the front
for the German Reichs or who fought for its allies or whose fathers or
sons were killed in the World War. The Reichsminister of the Interior
can permit further exceptions in understanding with the appropriate
special minister or the highest authorities of the federal states in
the case of officials abroad.
Art. 4
Officials, whose former political activity does not offer a guarantee
that they at all times without reservation act in the interest of the
national state can be dismissed from service. For a period of 3 months
after dismissal they are accorded their former salary. From this time
on they receive 3/4 of their pension and corresponding survivor's
benefits.
Art. 5
1. Every official must allow himself to be transferred to another
office of the same or equivalent career, even into such a one having
less rank or regular salary--reimbursement for the prescribed costs
of transfer taking place, if the needs of the service require it. In
case of transferment to an office of lower rank and regular salary the
official retains his previous official title and the official income of
his former position.
2. The official can, in place of transfer to an office of lesser rank
and regular income (section 11) demand to be retired.
Art. 6
For the simplification of administration officials can be retired, even
if they are not yet unfit for service. If officials are retired for
this reason, their places may not be filled again.
Art. 7
1. Dismissal from office, transfer to another office and retirement
will be ordered by the highest Reichs or federal state agency which
will render final decision without right of appeal.
2. The dispositions according to Art 2 to 6 must be made known at the
latest by 30 Sept 1933 to those affected. The time can be shortened by
agreement with the Reichsminister of the Interior, if the appropriate
Reichs or federal state agency declares that the measures authorized in
this law have been carried out.
Art. 8
A pension will not be granted to the officials dismissed or retired
in accordance with Art 3 and 4, if they have not completed a term of
service of at least 10 years; this applies also in the cases in which
according to the existing stipulation a pension is already accorded
after a shorter term of service. Articles 36, 47 and 49 of the Reichs
officials' law, the law of 4 July 1921 on increased computation of
time in service accomplished during the war (RGBl p. 825) and the
corresponding provisions of federal state laws remained unchanged.
Art. 9
1. In the calculation of length of service valid for pension purposes,
excepting time of service accrued in their last employment, only a term
served in the Reichs, Federal State, or communal service according
to the existing regulations may be credited to officials dismissed
or retired according to Articles 3 and 4. Also accrediting of this
length of service is only permissible, if it bears some relationship in
preparation or career to the position last held; such a relationship of
lower career to a higher one is to be regarded as an orderly promotion.
If the official would have obtained a higher pension by the addition of
later years of service to time served in an earlier position regularly
obtained by qualifications and preparation, the ruling more favorable
to him takes precedence.
2. The implementative regulations govern the calculation of time served
with public corporations and with institutions and undertakings placed
upon the same basis as these public corporations.
3. Accreditation and certification of time served valid for pension
purposes, which conflict with the carrying out of the provisions of
Section 1, are nullified.
4. In the case of officials of the Reich and of public corporations,
institutions, and agencies under the supervision of the Reich, the
Reichsminister of the Interior in agreement with the Reichsminister of
Finance can mitigate hardships; the highest federal state authorities
can do the same in the case of other officials.
5. Sections 1 to 4 as well as Article 8 will also be applied to such
officials who already, before this law came into effect, were retired
either permanently or temporarily upon whom Articles 2 to 4 would have
been applied if the officials had been still in service at the time
this law came into effect. The new accrediting of time of service valid
in the calculation of pensions and the accrediting of pensions and of
waiting allowances must, at the latest, take place on 30 Sept 1933 with
effect as of 1 Oct 1933.
Art. 10
1. Guiding principles, which are established for the amount of pay for
officials will be based upon the calculation of service remunerations
and pension. In case decisions by the competent authorities on the
applying of the guiding principles do not yet exist, they are to be
issued without delay.
2. After decisions by the competent authorities concerning the
application of the guiding principle have been made, if officials are
found to have received higher remunerations than are due them according
to the decisions, they then have to reimburse the surplus amounts
received since 1 April 1932 at the pay office where the payments were
given out. The argument of no longer existing enrichment (Articles
812vBGB and subs) is excluded.
3. Subsections 1 and 2 are valid also for persons who have been retired
inside of one year before this law became effective.
Art. 11.
1. If, in the accrediting of pay-seniority of officials who leave
the service on account of Articles 3 and 4, employment outside of
the Reichs, Federal State, or communal service has been calculated,
then the pay-seniority is to be newly calculated. Therein only an
employment in the Reichs, Federal State, or communal service, or
according to the implementative regulations, in the service of public
corporations and institutions and undertakings equivalent to the former
may be accredited. Exceptions can be permitted by the Reichsminister
of the Interior in agreement with the Reichsminister of Finance for
Reichs officials; for other officials, by the highest federal state
authorities.
2. If a new accrediting of pay-seniority according to Section 1 comes
into consideration, then in the case of officials retired or dismissed
according to Articles 3 and 4, the new determination of pay-seniority
will be carried out in conjunction with the determination of the
pension amount.
3. The same is valid for the persons named in Article 9, Section 5.
Art. 12.
1. The salaries of Reichsministers appointed since 9 Nov 1918, which
are not calculated according to the provisions of Articles 16 to 24 of
the Reichsminister law of 27 March 1930 (RGBl I P. 96) are to be newly
calculated. In the new calculation, the above-mentioned provisions of
the Reichsminister law are to be applied as if they had been already
in effect at the time of the Reichsminister's dismissal from office.
According to this law, excess payments received since 1 April 1933 are
to be paid back. The argument of no longer existing enrichment (Article
812 and subs BGB) is inadmissible.
2. Section 1 will receive application upon the members of the federal
state government appointed since 9 Nov 1918 with the provision that in
place of the Reichsminister law the corresponding provisions of the
federal state law will be in effect; however, payments may only be made
to the amount which results from the application of the fundamental
principles of Articles 16 to 24 of the Reichsminister law.
3. The new calculation of payments must take place before 31 December
1933.
4. Retroactive payments will not take place.
Art. 13.
The survivors payments will be calculated with corresponding
application of Articles 8 to 12.
Art. 14.
1. Against the officials who have been dismissed or transferred upon
the authority of this law, the institution of civil service punishment
proceedings on account of misdemeanors committed while in office with
the object of cancellation of pension, survivors benefits, designation
of office, title, official uniform and insignia. The institution of the
proceedings must take place on 31 December 1933 at the latest.
2. Section 1 is also valid for persons who within one year of the date
that this law becomes effective have been retired and upon whom the
Articles 2 and 4 would have been applied, if these persons had still
been in service when this law came into effect.
Art. 15.
The provisions concerning officials will be applied in an appropriate
manner to employees and workers. The implementative regulations govern
detailed application.
Art. 16.
If unreasonable hardships occur in the carrying out of this law, then
higher payments or transition money may be granted in accordance with
the general regulations. The decisions in this matter will be made by
the Reichsminister of the Interior in agreement with the Reichsminister
of Finance in the case of Reichs officials, in other cases by the
highest federal state authorities.
Art. 17.
1. The Reichsminister of the interior will issue in agreement with the
Reichsminister of Finance, the necessary regulations for the execution
and carrying through of this law and the general administrative
provisions.
2. If necessary the highest federal state authorities will issue
supplementary regulations. In this matter they must confine themselves
to the framework of the Reichs regulations.
Art. 18.
With the expiration of the periods established in this law, the general
provisions valid for the professional civil services will be again
completely valid, without prejudice to the measures taken on the basis
of this law.
Berlin, 7 April 1933
The Reichschancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reichsminister of the Interior
Frick
The Reichsminister of Finance
Count Schwerin von Krosigk
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1398-PS
1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 433
Law to Supplement the Law for the Restoration of the Professional
Civil Service of 20 July 1933
The Reich government has enacted the following law, which is hereby
promulgated:
The Law for the Restoration of Civil Service from 7 April 1933 (RGBl I,
page 175) is supplemented as follows:
1. The following is added to Article 2:
Article 2a
1. Officials, who have belonged to the communist party or to
communistic auxiliary or collateral organizations, or otherwise have
been active in furthering the aims of Communism, are to be discharged.
Discharge is not necessary for (a) officials, who before 30 January
1933 joined a party or an organization, which has placed itself behind
the government of the national revolution, and (b) officials, who have
distinguished themselves exceptionally in the national movement.
2. Officials, who in the future are active for Marxism (Communism or
Social-Democracy) are to be discharged.
3. The following are the bases on which officials are discharged: Sec.
1,--Sec. 2,--Art. 2, Sec. 1, sentence 2--Secs. 2 and 3.
Berchtesgaden, 20 July 1933
The Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
For the Minister of the Interior:
The Reich Minister of Finance
Count Schwerin von Krosigk
The Reich Minister of Finance
Count Schwerin von Krosigk
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1400-PS
1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 433
Law Changing the Regulations in regard to Public Officers, June 30,
1933
Chapter 2
Article 1a
1. Only such persons may be appointed Reich officials who possess for
their career the prescribed education or customary training or who
have special qualifications for the office about to be given, and
who guarantee that they will support the Reich at all times without
reservation.
2. Women may only be appointed Reich officials for life when they have
completed the 35th year.
3. Anyone of non-Aryan descent, or married to a person of non-Aryan
descent, may not be appointed a Reich official. Reich officials of
Aryan descent who marry a person of non-Aryan descent are to be
discharged. The question of who is of non-Aryan descent is to be
decided by regulations decreed by the Reich Minister of the Interior.
4. If urgent requirements of the administration so necessitate,
the highest Reich officials may make exceptions in individual
cases--exceptions from the provisions of (2) with the approval of the
Reich Minister of Finance, exceptions from the provisions of (3) with
the approval of the Reich Minister of the Interior.
* * * * *
Article 6
1. The provisions are also to be applied to the civil service
regulations of the states, local communities, and of the other bodies,
institutions, and foundations of public law * * *.
2. The German State Railways, the Reichsbank, the public-legal
religious societies, and the confederations are empowered to issue
similar regulations.
Chapter 3
* * * * *
Article 7
2. When the economic status of a female official appears to be
permanently secured because of a family income, the officials * * * may
order a dismissal. The conditions for dismissal are always present when
the husband is a permanent official not subject to dismissal.
Chapter 8
* * * * *
Article 40
1. The states and the bodies of public law not supervised by the states
are empowered and compelled to lower the incomes of their officials
insofar as they are higher than the incomes of Reich officials of
equal rank. The Reich ministers and the Reich chancellor are to be
considered as Reich officials within the scope of this chapter.
Sentence 1 is not applicable to university teachers; for them the
special rules of Section 44 apply. Similarly, the Reich Government or
the state governments may make different rules in other cases in which
the scholarly or artistic significance of an office requires a special
evaluation.
2. The local communes, and the other bodies of public law which
are under the supervision of the state officials are empowered and
obligated to reduce the salaries of their officials, insofar as they
are higher than the salaries of state officials, of corresponding rank.
* * * * *
Article 44
1. The state governments are empowered to alter or annul the assurances
given to university professors before this chapter became effective.
They are not bound hereby to agreements, compromises, legal judgments
or arbitration decisions.
* * * * *
Chapter 13
* * * * *
Article 77
1. Insofar as the execution of the provisions of this law requires it,
deviations from the Reich constitution and from the state constitutions
are permissible.
Berlin, 30 June 1933
The Reichschancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reichsminister for Finance
Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
The Reichsminister of the Interior
Frick
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1401-PS
1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 188
Law Regarding Admission to the Bar, 7 April 1933
The Reich Government has enacted the following law that is promulgated
herewith:
Art. 1. The admission of lawyers who, according to the Law for the
Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, of April 7, 1933 (RGBl,
I 175), are of non-Aryan descent, may be cancelled till September 30,
1933.
The provision of clause 1 does not apply to lawyers already admitted
before August 1, 1914, or, who, during the World War fought at the
front for Germany, or her allies, or who lost their fathers or sons in
the World War.
Art. 2. Persons who, according to the Law for the Restoration of the
Professional Civil Service of April 7, 1933 (RGBl. I, p. 175) are of
non-Aryan descent, may be refused permission to practice law, even if
there exists none of the reasons enumerated in the Regulations for
Lawyers. The same rule applies in cases, as where a lawyer described in
Section 1, clause 2, wishes to be admitted to another court.
Art. 3. Persons, who were active in the communistic sense are excluded
from the admission to the Bar. Admissions already given have to be
revoked.
Art. 4. The Justice-Administration can issue an injunction against a
lawyer until it is decided, if use will be made of the right to revoke
the admission in accordance with Art 1/1, or Art 3. The prescriptions
of Art 9/b/2-4 of the Bar regulation (Reichs-Law-Publication 1933, I,
page 120) apply accordingly to the injunction against representation.
Against lawyers of that type as described in Art. 1/2 the injunction
against representation is only then permissible when the use of Art. 3
is concerned.
Art. 5. To revoke the admission to the Bar is considered an important
reason for the cancelling of employment contracts, which were concluded
by the lawyer as employer.
Art. 6. In case the admission of a lawyer is revoked in accordance
with this law, then for the cancelling of leases of rooms, which were
rented by the lawyer for himself or his family, the regulations of the
law about the cancelling right of persons concerned by the law for the
renovation of professional bureaucracy, 7 April 1933, (RGBl. Part I,
page 187) will accordingly be used. The same will apply to employees of
lawyers, who lost their job owing to the fact that the admission of the
lawyer was revoked or an injunction against representation against him
was issued in conformity with Art. 4.
Berlin, 7 April 1933
The Reichs-Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
The Reichs-Minister for Justice
Dr. Guertner
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1402-PS
1933 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 685
The Homestead Law, Sept. 29, 1933
The Reich Government desires to maintain the peasantry as the
well-spring of the German people by securing the German tradition of
ancestral rights.
The Reich Government, therefore, has enacted the following law. The
basic thoughts of the law are:
* * * * *
The owner of an hereditary manor is called a peasant.
Only a respectable person who is a German citizen and has German or
cognate blood may be a peasant.
* * * * *
Section 12
Only a German citizen can be a peasant.
Section 13
Requirement of German or cognate blood.
(1) Only a person of German or cognate blood may be a peasant.
(2) A person is not considered German or as having cognate blood, if
his paternal or maternal ancestors have Jewish or colored blood in
their veins.
(3) The first of January, 1800, is the day that decides whether the
premises of Section I obtain. In case of doubt whether the premises
of Section I obtain, the inheritance court decides on a motion of the
owner or of the district leader of the peasants.
Berlin 29 Sept 1933.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1403-PS
1937 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 1333
Law on the Granting of Indemnities in Case of Confiscation or Transfer
of Property, 9 December 1937
The Reich government has decided to proclaim the following law:
Chapter 1. Property of Communists, Enemies of the People and the State
Article 1
If objects and rights have been seized in favor of a state on the
basis of the law on the confiscation of communist property of 26 May
33 (RGBl I, page 293) or of the law on the confiscation of property of
enemies of the people and the state of 14 July 1933 (RGBl I, page 479)
before the law became effective, the state shall not be responsible for
the claims which have arisen against the former owner of the seized
property or rights.
Article 2
1. Rights, which are still existing at the time this law becomes
effective and apply to confiscated objects, are deemed expired with
the seizure. The same is true in the case of guarantees on property
which has been confiscated.
2. Section 1 is not being applied if the seized objects have already
been sold by the state before this law became effective.
Article 3
1. Corporations are not responsible for liabilities from the time
before the confiscation, if all the shares have been transferred by
confiscation to the property of a state, unless the liabilities were
recovered by the sequestration decreed for the preparation of the
seizure.
2. The existing rights of third persons in the property of such
corporations will be considered as expired.
Article 4
Legal personalities, corporations, or legally incompetent associations,
whose property has been confiscated, are considered as dissolved by the
seizure. A liquidation does not take place.
Article 5
Claims against the owners of property mentioned in Article 4 shall be
deemed expired through confiscation of the property. The same applies
to individual members or partners of associations. The affidavits and
other liabilities existing in order to insure the safeguarding and
guarantees of such claims are also deemed expired.
Article 6
1. If someone suffered financial loss through sequestration or seizure
of objects and rights on account of the laws mentioned in Article 1, or
through their effect, an indemnification from the means of the state in
whose favor the confiscation or seizure took place can be granted. In
the sense of this regulation, no one has suffered loss who was affected
by the sequestration or seizure directly.
2. A person shall not be granted compensation on the basis and with
the acquisition of this right, which expired with this law, if he has
intentionally or carelessly promoted:
1. Communist aspirations.
2. Marxist or other movements which have been declared as hostile to
the people and state by the Minister of the Interior.
It is not an intentional promotion of aspirations as designated in No.
2, if the victim stood under the control or direction of the state.
3. An indemnification can also be granted in the cases of (2) No. 2,
i.e. if the victim is needy in the sense of Article 13(2) or if the
predominant viewpoints of the public interest speak for the granting of
indemnification.
Article 7
1. Indemnification will only be granted if the victim makes a petition
before 31 March 1938.
2. The petition has to be. sent in writing to the competent authority
(Article 9), with reference to the cause of the offense.
Article 8
1. The determination of the indemnification takes place in a
determination procedure and before determining authorities.
2. The Reich Minister of the Interior can decree that no determining
procedures shall take place for certain properties or in certain
districts. If such a regulation is issued by the Reich Minister of
the Interior, the regulations of this section with the exception of
Articles 1, 4 and 5 are not to be applied for the property of the
district.
Article 9
1. The determining authority in Prussia and Bavaria is the president
of the government (in Berlin the police president), in Saxony the
Kreishauptmann, and in the other states the highest authority of the
state.
2. The Reich Minister of the Interior may decide that a common
determining authority will be formed for several administrative
districts.
Article 10
1. The determining authority for the district in which the sequestered
or seized property, whose indemnification has been proposed, used to
be, is locally responsible.
2. The highest authority of the state or the Reich Minister of the
Interior appoints the determining authority, if the property was
located in the district of several determining authorities and if
several determining authorities of the same state are involved.
3. The Reich Minister of the Interior is entitled to appoint
exclusively one or more determining authorities for certain kinds of
confiscated or seized objects and rights.
Article 11
1. The petition to grant indemnification shall be refused, if it has
not been made within the time determined in Article 7, section 1. The
determining authority is obliged to admit the petition, if the victim
proves that he himself or his legal representative or his proxy failed
to make the petition within the appointed period through no fault of
their own and inasmuch as it will be repeated within two months after
clearing the obstacle. Petitions cannot be made any more after 31 March
1939.
2. If the petition to grant indemnification is received by a
determining authority, which is locally not responsible (Article 10),
it will fall within the appointed time.
Article 12
1. The total amount of indemnifications, which shall be granted because
of sequestration or seizure of property of a certain owner of property,
is limited by the extent of this property. Each economic unit will
be considered property in the sense of the first sentence, if the
confiscated property of a person includes several economic units of the
kind designated in Article 2 of the Reichsbewertunsgesetz [Law for the
evaluation of property] of 16 Oct 1934 (RGBl I, page 1035). For the
classification according to economic units, a determined purpose in the
period before the confiscation is of no importance.
2. In order to estimate the extent of property according to Section 1,
its selling value is decisive.
Article 13
1. In determining the indemnifications, the creditors should be
treated in the succession as is provided for their satisfaction in the
bankruptcy order.
2. This principle is to be disregarded, if reasons of fairness require
to do so; particularly these victims are to get privileged treatment
whose livelihood or economic progress is endangered or require an
indemnification in order to fulfill their duties of livelihood on the
basis of the law.
Article 14
1. The determining authority fixes the amount of money to be paid
as indemnification. It can determine installments and the time of
payments. Inasmuch as there is no other clause in the decision of the
determining authority, the amount of money is payable to him within one
month after the decision has been delivered to the victim.
2. The determining authority may rule that an indemnification will be
effected by Reich or state-owned mortgage-deeds or by transferring
an object, or that claim of indemnification due to the victim on
account of the decision of the determining authority will be secured by
arranging a lien on land.
3. The state can propose, until the decision of the determining
authority has been relayed to the victim, what, in the amount of
the indemnification which is being granted for an expired lien on
land (Article 2, 6), a new lien on land will be entered into the
land-register in its place. The determining authority has to respect
such a move except in the case that this would be particularly unfair
toward the victim. The new lien on land has to be entered into the
land-register under the same conditions as the expired one insofar as
the determining authority does not issue different instructions; the
rate of interest may be reduced by the determining authority to five
percent.
Article 15
1. The victim is entitled to appeal to the determining authority of the
Reich against the decision of the determining authority. (Article 16)
2. The appeal must be delivered in writing to the determining authority
or to the determining authority of the Reich, within two weeks after
the decision has been forwarded and it must be substantiated. Article
11, Section 1 will be applied respectively.
3. The determining authority may submit its decision to the determining
authority of the Reich for scrutiny. Its presentation to the
determining authority of the Reich has the effect of an appeal.
Article 16
1. The determining authority of the Reich will be linked to the Reich
Minister of the Interior.
2. The determining authority of the Reich consists of chambers. Each
chamber is composed of five members including the chairman, three of
whom must have the ability to perform the functions of the judge or of
higher administrative offices, two members will be suggested by the
Deputy of the Fuehrer.
3. The chairman and the members will be appointed by the Reich Minister
of the Interior.
Article 17
1. The decisions of the determining authorities are to be delivered to
the victim.
2. The decision of the determining authority of the Reich is final.
Chapter 2. Property forfeited to the Reich
Article 18
If the property of a person deprived of his citizenship (law on the
recall of naturalizations and the deprivation of the German citizenship
of 14 July 1933--RGBl I, page 480) has been confiscated, or has been
declared forfeited to the Reich, previous to this law, the Reich is not
responsible for claims against the person deprived of his citizenship.
Article 19
1. Rights on objects of such properties, which have been declared as
forfeited to the Reich, are deemed expired with the declaration of
forfeiture. The same applies to objects on which property rights have
been secured.
2. Section 1 will not be applied, if the objects have already been sold
by the Reich before effectiveness of this law.
Article 20
If someone has suffered a loss of property through sequestration or the
declaration of forfeiture (Article 18) or through the effect of this
law, he may be granted an indemnification from the funds of the Reich.
The victim in the sense of this regulation is not he who was directly
affected by the sequestration or declaration of forfeiture.
Article 21
The regulations of Articles 6 to 17 will be applied respectively
according to Articles 22 and 23.
Article 22
The determining authority of the Reich will decide on the petition.
Article 23
An indemnification will also not be granted (Article 6(2)), if the
victim has knowingly supported the person deprived of his citizenship
in hurting German interests.
Chapter 3. Property of Former Associations of Employers and Employees
Article 24
1. The property administration of the DAF [German labor front], Ltd.,
Berlin (hereafter called "property administration of the German labor
front") as trustee of the German labor front, will be put in possession
of the former associations of employers and employees including the
auxiliary and replacement organizations, property administrations,
pension disbursing agencies and other special properties, upon entrance
into effect of this law.
2. In the case that only former associations of employers and employees
have interests in a legal personality, the property administration of
the German labor front will be put in possession of both the shares of
property of the former associations of employees and employers and the
property of the legal personality. However, if the legal personality
represents a corporation, a limited liability corporation, or company,
the property administration of the German labor front will only be put
in possession of the shares or business shares; the company continues
its existence with rights and obligations. Sentence 2 is not effective
if the exclusive purpose of the company was the administration of
houses of labor unions or if a property administration or trustee
company of a former association of employers and employees is involved,
the property of which will be put in possession of the property
administration of the German labor front as provided in (1). The
property administration of the German labor front (DAF) will in these
cases take possession of both the shares and business shares, and also
of the property of the company.
3. Inasmuch as the property of a former association of employers and
employees has already been disposed of through an orderly liquidation
or agreement, it will be left as it is. Pending liquidations and
settlements will not be continued.
4. The Reich Minister of the Interior will announce, in agreement with
the Deputy of the Fuehrer, the Reich Minister of Economy and the Reich
Minister for Labor, the owners of property, possession of which has
been transferred to the property administration of the German labor
front according to (1), (2) first sentence and (2) third sentence.
These regulations will be announced in the Deutscher Reichsanzeiger and
Preussischer Staatsanzeiger (official publications) until the 30 June
1938. They are binding for courts and administrative authorities.
5. The owners of property to be made public as provided in (4),
are, inasmuch as they represent legal personalities or collective
personalities, dissolved with the effectiveness of this law. A
liquidation does not take place.
6. The leader of the German labor front Dr. Ley will be the guardian
entitled to dispose of the properties confiscated by the general public
prosecutor of the Country Court I Berlin from the time of confiscation
of the properties up to the effectiveness of this law and will be
verified with the authority to take action compatible with the purpose
of the sequestration and according to his judgment conformable to duty;
in particular to give and receive declarations of will for the owners
of the confiscated property.
Article 25
1. The German labor front and the property administration are
responsible for claims against those owners of property, which has
been transferred to the latter, only in the case, if the claims arose
after a day which the Reich Minister of the Interior will determine
in cooperation with the Deputy of the Fuehrer, the Reich Minister of
Economy and the Reich Minister for Labor at the announcement of the
owners of property (Article 24(4)).
2. The German labor front and the property administration of the
German labor front are responsible for claims resulting from service
or work status with the owners of property mentioned in Article 24 or
the German labor front only, if the service or work status has been
extended by the German labor front beyond the 30 Sept 1933.
Article 26
1. Rights on objects, which the property administration of the German
labor front acquires according to Article 24, are expiring. The same
applies to property rights secured in such objects.
2. Section (1) will not be applied, if the objects have been already
liquidated at the effectiveness of this law or if the rights or the
secured property have been established after the day to be determined
according to Article 25 (1).
Article 27
If the victim suffered a loss in property on account of the regulations
of Articles 25 and 26, he can be granted an indemnification from the
funds of the German labor front and the property administration of the
German labor front.
Article 28
The regulations of Articles 5 to 17 will be applied on the basis of
Articles 29 and 30 respectively.
Article 29
The petition to grant an indemnification has to be made in writing by
30 Sept 38 to the determining authority (Article 30) by stating the
cause of the offense.
Article 30
1. The determining authority of the Reich will decide on the motion
(Article 16). The chambers will judge the case in a composition of
three members including the chairman of whom one member will be
suggested by the Deputy of the Fuehrer, another one by the Reich
Minister of Economy in conjunction with the Reich Minister for Labor.
The chairman and the members will be appointed by the Reich Minister of
the Interior.
2. Before the decision a representative to be named by the German labor
front has to be heard.
Article 31
Inasmuch as economic associations of employers and their institutions
have been incorporated or joined or dissolved within the framework of
the legislation on the preliminary erection of the Reich food estate,
the regulations of this part will not be applied.
Chapter 4. Final Regulations
Article 32
1. Indemnification will not be granted on the basis of other laws in
those cases affected by this law. Existing claims expire.
2. If a party proves by litigation that the pending claim comes under
this law, the court has to discontinue the procedure and to defer
temporarily the distraint resulting from an executory decision already
enacted. The court may also issue these regulations under the authority
of the law if it views the pending claim as falling under this law. In
both cases the court has to inform the proper determining authority by
presenting the records. The rules of the court cannot be contested.
3. The determining authority may admit the further prosecution of the
claim by regular legal steps or present the records to the determining
authority of the Reich for a decision.
4. If the determining authority or the determining authority of
the Reich permits the further prosecution of the claim by regular
legal steps, the court has to lift on request the regulation on the
discontinuance of the legal dispute or the temporary suspension of the
distraint.
5. The decision of the determining authority of the Reich to deal
with the claim in a determining procedure does not permit its further
prosecution by legal steps and the distraint of the claim.
Article 33
If there exists already an executory title on claims which are affected
by this law, the regulations of Article 32 will be applied respectively.
Article 34
Inasmuch as a legal dispute is being settled by this law, the court
costs will be cancelled and the extrajudicial costs balanced against
each other.
Article 35
1. The granting of an indemnification by arbitration will not be
excluded by the regulations of this law. The determining authority has
to verify the agreement.
2. If an agreement on the claims and rights affected by this law had
already been concluded at the time this law became effective, it will
be left as it is.
Article 36
1. If the Reich or a state has transferred confiscated properties
as a whole or in part to another natural or legal personality, the
determining authority may impose upon the one who takes possession of
the property, the duty to give total or partial indemnification to the
entitled persons. In case the Reich or a state will be declared liable
of indemnification, it must at the same time be determined whether and
in what amount the one who takes possession has to pay compensation to
the Reich or State. The person taking possession of the property has
the right to appeal against the decision of the determining authority
to the determining authority of the Reich.
2. Resulting from the valid decisions of the determining authorities,
by which according to (1) obligations will be imposed on the one who
takes possession, the distraint will be executed.
Article 37
The decisions of the determining authorities are binding for the
regular courts and other places of judgment.
Article 38
Articles 3, 4 and 7 of the law on the confiscation of communist
property of 26 May 1933 (RGBl I, p. 293) are no longer valid.
Article 39
1. If objects and rights are seized on the basis of the laws designated
in Article 1, the State is responsible for claims against the former
owner of the confiscated objects only with the rights and objects
fallen to it by the confiscation. Rights on objects of seized property
continue to exist.
2. In case of excessive debts, bankruptcy proceedings against the
property will be enacted through motion of a state or creditor,
according to regulations. The referee in bankruptcy has to be appointed
in agreement with the central administration board responsible for the
district of the bankruptcy court and has to be recalled on its request.
3. The same applies if the property of a person deprived of citizenship
(Article 18) has been declared to fall to the Reich after this law had
become effective.
Article 40
The Reich Minister of the Interior will be authorized to issue
in agreement with the other responsible ministers the legal and
administrative instruments required in order to execute and supplement
this law.
Berlin, 9 December 1937
The Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich
Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
The Deputy of the Fuehrer
R. Hess
(Reich Minister without Portfolio)
The Reich Minister of Finance
Count Schwerin von Krosigk
The Reich Minister of Economy
authorized to manage affairs:
Goering
(Prussian Premier)
The Reich Minister for Labor
Franz Seldte
The Reich Minister for Justice
Dr Guertner
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1406-PS
1938 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART I, PAGE 414
Decree for the Reporting of Jewish Owned Property of 26 April 1938
On the basis of the Decree for the Execution of the Four Year Plan of
18 October 1936 (RGBl I, 887) the following is hereby decreed:
Article 1
1. Every Jew (Article 5 of the First Regulation under the Reich
Citizenship Law of 14 November 1935 (RGBl I, 1333)) shall report and
evaluate in accordance with the following instructions his entire
domestic and foreign property and estate on the day when this decree
goes into force. Jews of foreign citizenship shall report and evaluate
only their domestic property.
2. The duty to report holds likewise for the non-Jewish marital partner
of a Jew.
3. Every reporting person's property must be given separately.
Article 2
1. Property in the sense of this law includes the total property of the
person required to report, irrespective of whether it is exempt from
any form of taxation or not.
2. It does not include movable objects used by the individual or house
furnishings as far as the latter are not classed as luxury objects.
Article 3
1. Every part of the property shall be valued according to the usual
value it has on the effective date of this regulation.
2. No report is necessary when the total worth of the property to be
reported does not exceed 5000 marks.
Article 4
The report is to be presented on an official form by 30 June 1938,
to the administrative official responsible at the place of residence
of the reporting individual. When such a report is not possible by
this date the responsible office can extend the period. In such case,
however, an estimate is to be presented by 30 June 1938, together with
a statement of the grounds of delay.
Article 5
1. The reporting individual must report, after this decree goes into
force, to the responsible office, every change of said individual's
total property as far as it exceeds a proper standard of living or
normal business transactions.
2. The reporting requirement applies also to those Jews who were not
required to report on the effective date of this regulation, but who
have acquired property exceeding 5000 Reichsmarks in value, after this
date. Article 1 (1) clause 2, shall apply respectively.
Article 6
1. The administrative offices responsible under this regulation are
in Prussia--Highest Administrative Officer [Regierungspraesident] (in
Berlin the Police President); Bavaria--Highest Administrative Officer
[Regierungspraesident]; Saxony--The District Head [Kreishauptmann];
Wurtemberg--The Minister of the Interior; Baden--The Minister
of the Interior; Thueringen--Reich Governor [Reichsstatthalter];
Hessen--Reich Governor; Hamburg--Reich Governor; Mecklenburg--Ministry
of the State, Interior Department; Oldenburg-Minister of Interior;
Braunschweig--Ministry of Interior; Bremen--Senator for Administration
of Interior; Anhalt--Ministry of State Interior Department;
Lippe--Reich Governor (Land Government); Schaumburg-Lippe--Land
Government; Saarland--The Reich Commissioner for the Saar.
2. Austria--The Reich Governor has jurisdiction. He may transfer his
authority to another board.
Article 7
The Deputy for the Four Year Plan is empowered to take such necessary
measures as may be necessary to guarantee the use of the reported
property in accord with the necessities of German economy.
Article 8
1. Whoever wilfully or negligently fails to comply with this reporting
requirement, either by omitting it, or making it incorrectly, or not
within the time specified, or whoever acts contrary to any instruction
issued pursuant to Article 7 by the Deputy of the Four Year Plan
shall be punishable by imprisonment and by a fine or by both of these
penalties, in particularly flagrant cases of wilful violation the
offender may be condemned to hard labor up to ten years. The offender
is punishable notwithstanding that the action was in a foreign country.
2. Any attempt to commit such actions is punishable.
3. In addition to the imposition of the penalties under (1), the
property may be confiscated, insofar as it was involved in the criminal
action. In addition to hard labor confiscation may be made. Where no
specific individual can be prosecuted or convicted, confiscation may be
decreed independently, where the prerequisites for confiscation warrant
it.
Berlin, 26 April 1938
The Deputy for the Four Year Plan
Goering
General Field Marshal
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1946-693256