The first letter was published on 1 October 1942. In a sort of hortatory prelude, many thoughts and ideas from the Rothenberger thesis were embodied. Thereafter, a number of criminal cases and the sentences therein imposed were set forth and commented upon. Four cases dealing with crimes committed during black-outs were described; those decisions in which the death penalty had been imposed were approved, the others were all criticized for being too mild. Six cases dealing with sex offenses followed; the sentences in five of them were condemned as utterly inadequate. No case was cited where the sentence was thought too severe. At the end of the letter, three cases dealing with Jews were discussed in great detail. One of these dealt with the racial law which required all Jews to adopt the surname “Sarah” or “Israel” according to their sex. A Jewish woman had neglected to apply to the telephone company to change her listing by the addition of the name “Sarah.” The district court sentenced her to a fine of thirty reichsmarks, or 19 days in prison. The court set forth in its opinion that certain other courts had construed the law as not requiring an application to change a telephone listing, and that the Jewess might have relied on these decisions. Thierack’s letter described the Jewess’ action as “typical Jewish camouflage in her business dealings” and stated that the lack of uniformity in the decisions in no way justified leniency in the punishment. In the second case, a special coffee ration had been distributed in a certain town, in the autumn of 1940. A large number of Jews had applied to receive the ration. However, since Jews were automatically excluded from the distribution, they did not receive any coffee. The following year, the food authorities imposed a fine on the Jews for the offense of having applied for the coffee; thereupon several hundred Jews sought relief against the fine in the district court. The judge rescinded the fine on the basis of the statute of limitations and for other legal reasons, and expressed the opinion that the Jews had not committed any punishable act in merely applying for the coffee. On this decision, the Reich Minister’s letter commented as follows (_NG-298, Pros. Ex. 81_):