“The Reich Supreme Court, as the highest German tribunal, must consider it its duty to effect an interpretation of the law which takes into account the change of ideology and of legal concepts which the new State has brought about. In order to be able to accomplish this task without having to show consideration for the decisions of the past brought about by other ideology and other legal concepts, it is ruled as follows: “When a decision is made about a legal question, the Reich Supreme Court can deviate from a decision laid down before this law went into effect.” This tyrannical doctrine of “punishment by analogy” was given a sugar coating by Dr. Hans Frank (_NG-777, Pros. Ex. 19_): “In the future, criminal behavior, even if it does not fall under formal penal precepts, will receive the deserved punishment if such behavior is considered punishable according to the sound sentiment of the people.”[26] But once again, Josef Goebbels was shameless enough to state the doctrine with complete frankness (_NG-417, Pros. Ex. 23_): “While making his decisions the judge is to proceed less from the law than from the basic idea that the offender is to be eliminated from the community. During a war it is not so much a matter of whether a judgment is just or unjust, but only the decision is expedient. The State must protect itself in the most efficient way and wipe them out entirely * * *. One must not proceed from the law, but from the resolution that the man must be wiped out.”[27] On the administrative side, the prewar years were characterized by ever closer collaboration between Himmler’s Gestapo and the Reich Ministry of Justice. In February 1937, Himmler directed that all Gestapo matters be made available to the district public prosecutors. The next month, the Reich Minister of Justice (Guertner) addressed a letter to all the district public prosecutors, calling attention to Himmler’s directive and stating (_NG-323, Pros. Ex. 32_): “In order to have this decree fulfill its purpose and in the interest of the closest possible collaboration between the office of the public prosecutor and the authorities of the Gestapo, I hereby issue this supplementary order that in future, public prosecutors routinely address all requests for investigations to be conducted on the basis of reports of political nature received by them directly, to the local and district police authorities _via the competent state police offices_. When in cases based on such reports, the necessary interrogations of the accused or the witnesses are procured by the court itself or by the expert of the prosecution, and the police authorities are not at all involved in the proceedings, I request that the state police offices be informed of the proceedings as soon as possible.”[28]