862.00 P.R./132

The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
No. 2272

Sir:

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3. Three New Decrees. On March 21, the day on which the Reichstag was solemnly convened at Potsdam, the Reich Government announced the promulgation of three new decrees. The first two—a new political amnesty and a decree to combat treacherous attacks against the Government—are presidential decrees based on Article 48 of the Constitution. The third decree institutes once more special courts, which, it will be recalled, were in existence during von Papen’s chancellorship; it is an executive decree based on the Presidential Decree of October 6, 1931.

The amnesty is confined to political offenses committed by followers of the so-called national parties in the struggle for national resurgence.

The decree to combat treacherous attacks against the Government provides severe punishment for the wearing or possession of uniforms of political organizations supporting the Government, such as the Brown Army and the Stahlhelm, without being a member of such an organization. Punishment is also provided for the wearing of emblems of such an organization by unauthorized persons. Criminal offenses committed by persons wearing uniforms or emblems of such an organization, without being a member thereof, are punishable by terms in the penitentiary. If the offense is committed with the intention of causing an uprising, alarming the population, or causing foreign political complications, the penalty ranges from three years to a life term in the penitentiary. In especially grave cases the death penalty may be imposed. Under these provisions, a German can also be prosecuted if the offense was committed in a foreign country.

Deliberate assertion or dissemination of untruthful or distorted statements likely to impair the welfare of the Reich or a German State, or the reputation of the Reich or State Governments, or the parties or organizations supporting these Governments is punishable by imprisonment up to two years, in so far as a more severe penalty is not otherwise [Page 215] provided. Should, as a result of such offense, the Reich or a State suffer severe damage, a penitentiary sentence may be imposed.

The executive decree governing the special courts specifically states that these courts are courts of the German States. Their competence is restricted to offenses coming under the Presidential Decree of February 28, issued as a result of the fire in the Reichstag, or the decree of March 21 to combat treacherous attacks against the Government. Special courts are to be set up in Prussia in thirteen cities.

4. The Burning of the Reichstag. A member of the Supreme Court at Leipzig charged with the legal investigation in connection with the fire in the Reichstag (see despatch No. 2222 of March 3, 1933) has prepared a report of the result of his investigations which was released to the press by the Ministry for Propaganda. According to this report, the Dutchman arrested as the incendiary had, immediately prior to the fire, been in contact with German and foreign Communists including some who had been sentenced to death or terms in the penitentiary in connection with the outrage in the Cathedral in Sofia in 1925. The persons in question were arrested. The investigations failed to give the slightest indication that non-Communist circles were connected with the fire in the Reichstag.

With the last sentence of this report the authorities for the first time officially admit that the Social-Democrats had nothing to do with the fire, thus refuting the statements of the Prussian police, and especially those of Minister Göring, issued immediately after the fire, that the arrested incendiary had admitted in his confession that he had connections with the Social-Democrats. It will be recalled that this alleged confession formed the only basis for the Government’s most drastic action against the Social-Democrats, completely paralyzing this party in the crucial week of the election campaign.

However, despite this official exoneration, the Social-Democratic press remains suppressed in accordance with Minister Göring’s recent threat in a public meeting that as long as journals of the Left in foreign countries continued to vilify the present régime in Germany the ban on the Social-Democratic press would not be lifted.

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Respectfully yours,

George A. Gordon