As the supreme judge of the Nazi Party, Walter Buch administered justice according to Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic principles. Buch considered justice to be "what is useful to the German people and to Germany." Since Jews were by definition enemies of the Fatherland, Buch held that "the Jew is outside the law." In a secret report on the "Week of Broken Glass," he justified the punishments given to SS and SA members who went beyond their instructions to destroy property and arrest wealthy Jews. Those who raped Jews were expelled from the Nazi Party because they had violated the Nuremberg Laws forbidding sexual contact between Germans and Jews. However, those who killed Jews received minor punishments because, as participants in anti-Semitic riots organized by the party, they were carrying out the Fuhrer's will.

The man who became Hitler's chief justice was himself the son of a judge. Born in...