English Translation

Appendix 7 61 Copy. German Gendarmerie Commando Brno, 30th October 1942 in Brno. To the District Chief - Chief of Government Schmälzlein - in Brno, Germany. According to the oral order given, on 28th January 1942 I had the local farmer's guide Josef R a a b , born 5.1.19o1 in Guldenfurt and residing in Branowitz No. 69, visited in the said place, referred him to his duties and asked about the reasons for his negative attitude. As a long-serving country gendarme, non-hunter, to whom the persons and hunting conditions in the Branowitz district have not been known so far and who therefore considers the matter from a purely gendarmerie point of view, I found that in this case it is not a stubbornness par excellence, but the preservation of legitimate interests of the German peasantry of Branoitz and that this matter does not only concern the Germans there, but also those of the surrounding area. I therefore do not consider it advisable to take a coercive approach, as there is a fear of political consequences that could be avoided. The local farmer leader Raab strongly refuses to give his consent to the contract because he, as a German man, does not believe he can answer to a matter by which the German farmers of Branowitz are to be excluded from hunting on their own land for all time. He stressed that he was fully aware of the scope of his action, that he had at all times understood and complied with laws and official orders, but that in this case he did not understand it and considered it his absolute duty to interpret it.