was best qualified to judge? Is it not evident that the administration of justice under Guertner and Schlegelberger had done their utmost to face the avalanche? Is Hitler not best qualified to testify against the charges brought by the prosecution, namely that Schlegelberger had lent himself to the carrying out of National Socialist ideas of violence as personified by Hitler? With this point of view in mind we shall have to judge the defendant Schlegelberger: A man, known to us only by his work, performed with integrity, and whose activities, viewed from National Socialist aspects, Hitler criticized in the above-mentioned way both in his Reichstag speech on 26 April 1942 and in his decree of 20 August 1942. Such a person has a right to point out: “The charges brought by the prosecution which superficially regarded, appear to be against me, and the charges that the prosecution has brought against me in order to incriminate me for my 10 years of service as Under Secretary cannot be judged as isolated facts and without considering motives but must be evaluated as a whole.” Thus, we will best be able to gain breathing space after the speech of the prosecution, which is necessary in order to reach impartial judgment and which culminates in the conclusion that Schlegelberger “had indeed played a prominent part in the destruction of German law,” a reproach which he rightly rejects: with which also the statement of the British Broadcasting Corporation on the occasion of his retirement from office in August 1942, namely, that with Schlegelberger, the last judge in Germany, had disappeared--is incompatible. Schlegelberger, under secretary for civil law, certainly knew how to supervise the orphaned Ministry of Justice for a year and a half in an administrative capacity. The one who succeeded him, his appearance already threateningly forecast, and to the stemming of whose course Schlegelberger devoted his whole self, escaped judgment. The aspect of being the representative [Gesichtspunkt der Repraesentanz] which obviously has influenced the prosecution essentially, has to be disregarded. We will also have to take the fact into account, that Schlegelberger’s position as interim administrator of the Reich Ministry of Justice, did by no means equal that of a minister. If, in spite of these hectic times when everything was being infected by the National Socialist virus, he succeeded in retaining the position taken over from Guertner, his decision alone to remain in office until the limits of what could normally be expected of anyone, certainly not an easy decision, would fully justify this step. Judging by his personality and studying in detail the real and true situation during those years we shall explain what really was behind the Rostock speech mentioned by the prosecution. Evidence will be offered as to Schlegelberger’s real relations with the Party and how this was evident in the policy he pursued concerning questions of personnel.