ABSTRACT
The two basic motivating forces behind National Socialist law were the desire to achieve a ‘racial renewal’ and to reinforce the ‘leadership principle’. The Minister of Justice did not want to introduce an exceptional criminal law, and he objected to the idea of capital punishment for minor offences, but gave in to the objections of Adolf Hitler’s deputy. According to the Law for the Protection of German Blood, he could only be given a prison sentence for such an offence. Although Hitler sometimes criticised Otto Georg Thierack for not being ‘robust’ enough and for paying too much attention to the letter of the law, he was a brutal, ruthless and fanatical racist who was determined to see more heads rolling. Thus Lothar Kreyssig, a judge responsible for guardianship cases, violently objected to the euthanasia laws and argued against them to the Minister of Justice, Franz Gurtner, and to the state secretary, Roland Freisler.
