But these measures were not confined to the governmental judicial organization. It extended into all branches of the legal profession. The first step was the subjugation, and later the complete elimination, of the old professional associations, such as the Deutscher Richterbund, the Republikanischer Richterbund, and the Deutscher Anwaltsverein. Their destruction was accomplished by the same sort of maneuvers that effected the dissolution of the pre-Nazi medical and other professional societies at about the same time. In the early spring of 1933, the former officers were ousted under duress, and new officers, all of them members of the Nazi Party, were appointed according to the newly proclaimed leadership principle (Fuehrer-prinzip). This procedure also became known under the term “coordination” (Gleichschaltung). At the same time, the membership of well-known anti-Nazi or Jewish jurists was canceled in all these professional organizations. Many of them were threatened and forced to emigrate. Shortly afterward, in May 1933, the old organizations were completely dissolved. All organizational and professional activity was centered in the National Socialist German Jurists’ League, which became one of the most important tools in the Nazi penal program. Hans Frank reported to Hitler in May 1933 that all existing professional organizations and associations of lawyers had joined the BNSDJ.[63] The cooperative entry of these organizations into the BNSDJ did not, however, imply individual membership of its members in the BNSDJ. This required an individual application. Actually by the end of 1934 there was hardly a lawyer left who had not joined the BNSDJ. Those very few who had the courage to stay out laid themselves open as opponents of the regime with the grave risks which this implied. One of the conditions of membership in the BNSDJ was membership in the Nazi Party, but non-Party members could be admitted as so-called “supporting members” (Foerdernde Mitglieder). The constitution of the BNSDJ dates from 4 May 1933. It declares as its program the realization of the National Socialist program in the legal field. According to Hitler’s order of 30 May 1933, the BNSDJ was the sole representative of the German Law Front and the exclusive professional organization of all lawyers. The seat of the BNSDJ was Munich, its leader Hans Frank, and its executive secretary Dr. Wilhelm Heuber. Regionally, it was divided into 26 regions (Gaue). Leader of the Gaue “Hanseatic Cities” was the defendant Rothenberger. At the end of 1934, the Nazi organization of jurists had approximately 80,000 individual members and its executive secretary could boast that it was the biggest lawyers’ organization in the world. In 1936, the name was changed to “Nationalsozialistischer Rechtswahrerbund” (NSRB). Through the disciplinary boards of this organization, the legal chieftains of the Nazis held the lawyers under close political surveillance.