English Translation

197 weapons. The martial court was basically merely a meeting of Nazi police officials during which the defendant's fate was decided. It was based on the facts found (Sachverhalt) presented by the Gestapo official on the basis of the final report on the investigation. If the case of the accused Czech arrested outside of Prague was discussed, which was very common during the second martial law, the martial court in Prague was sufficient with a telephonic message about the crime of the defendant, sent by the head of the relevant outdoor office. In writing, the "state court" in Prague informed the outside office of its decision, which was always in line with the previous proposed measure (see Commissioner Hardtke's interrogation above). The judgment of the martial court formally confirmed the senior commander of the SS and Karl Hermann Frank police, however, under the second martial law. The commander of the Prague or Brno Gestapo took personal responsibility for the execution of the judgments handed down by the martial court. (562) There was therefore no control mechanism or appeal in the proceedings before the "absolute court" and, moreover, the very decree of exceptional condition was violated when people were executed for the alleged approval of the assassination prior to the declaration of martial law. The decisive criticism of repression was to eliminate, or enrich, politically uncomfortable citizens. In this context, eloquent messages are preserved between the Gestapo office in Klatovy and the headquarters in Prague, the content of which was confirmed by their author Heinrich Winkelhofer after the war: '...I ask that the reasons for the judgment be taken into account that these persons were already in custody before the assassination, which is widely known around their home. I therefore ask that, in the reasoning of the judgment, there be no mention of wrongdoing in connection with the assassination... Although Wolf denies all illegal or anti-religious activity, it may be considered that he is convicted by various testimony. At least he is a representative of destructive intelligence and maybe he is viewed as an outbreak of danger." (563) The martial courts and, above all, the reports processing their agenda were quick, but they did not act rashly, for, as Vojtěch Kyncl says, the darker the functioning of the "stern courts" was, the clearer the choice of their victims. Unofficially allowed the announcement of the second exceptional condition of the liquidation of Czech intelligence, which