Hitler's Table Talk

TASKS OF THE JUDICIARY 105
Ministries. The fundamental difference between the former
and the latter is that the former have properly qualified junior
staffs. Posts are awarded only with regard to talent, not in
virtue of titles that are often no more than valueless pieces of
paper.
At the bottom of every success in this war one finds the individual
merit of the soldier. That proves the justice of the
system that takes account, for purposes of promotion, only of
real aptitudes. What indicates an aptitude, to the High Command,
is the gift for using each man according to his personal
possibilities, and for awakening in each man the will to devote
himself to the communal effort. That's exactly the opposite of
what the Civil Service practises towards the citizens, with regard
both to legislation and to the application of the laws. In
imitation of what used to be done in the old days, in our old
police State, the Civil Service, even to-day, sees in the citizen
only a politically minor subject, who has to be kept on the
leash.
Especially in the sphere of Justice, it is important to be able
to rely on a magistrature that is as homogeneous as possible.
Let the magistrates present a certain uniformity, from the
racial point of view—and we can expect the magistracy to
apply the conceptions of the State intelligently. Take as an
example acts of violence committed under cover of the blackout.
The Nordic judge, of National Socialist tendency, at once
recognises the seriousness of this type of crime, and the threat
it offers society. A judge who is a native of our regions further
to the East will have a tendency to see the facts in themselves :
a handbag snatched, a few marks stolen. One won't remedy
the state of affairs by multiplying and complicating the laws.
It's impossible to codify everything, on the one hand, and, on
the other hand, to have a written guarantee that the law will
in every case be applied in a sensible manner. If we succeed in
grouping together our élite of magistrates, taking race into
account, we shall be able to restrict ourselves to issuing directives,
instead of putting ourselves in the strait-jacket of a rigid
codification. Thus each judge will have the faculty of acting
in accordance with his own sound sense.