70 years ago on this date, April 24, 1945, the People’s Court of Nazi Germany ceased its activity. I will post information about this Court from Wikipedia and other links.
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Judge Roland Freisler (centre) at the
People's Court
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The
People's Court (German: Volksgerichtshof) was a Sondergericht, a special court, established in 1934
by German Chancellor
Adolf Hitler, who had been dissatisfied
with the outcome of the Reichstag fire
Trial (all but one of the accused were acquitted). The "People's
Court" was set up outside the operations of the constitutional frame of
law. The court had jurisdiction over a rather broad array of "political
offenses," which included crimes like black marketeering, work slowdowns, defeatism and treason against the Third Reich. These crimes were viewed by
the court as Wehrkraftzersetzung
("disintegration of defensive capability") and were accordingly
punished severely. The death penalty was meted out in numerous cases in this
court.
The
Court handed down an enormous number of death sentences under Judge-President Roland Freisler,
including those that followed the 20 July Plot to kill Hitler. Many of those
found guilty by the Court died in the Plötzensee prison.
The proceedings of the court were often even less than show trials in that some cases, such as
that of Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans Scholl and fellow White Rose
activists concluded in less than an hour, without evidence being presented or
arguments made by either side. The president of the court often acted as
prosecutor, denouncing defendants, then pronouncing his verdict and sentence
without objection from defense counsel, who usually remained silent throughout.
Unsurprisingly, it did not follow the laws and procedures of regular German
trials, being easily characterized as a "kangaroo court". It almost
always sided with the prosecution, to the point that being hauled before it was
tantamount to a death sentence.
Manner
of Proceedings
The
trials of August 1944
Bombing
of People's Court
Notable
people sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof
Judge-Presidents
of the People's Court
Legal
Aftermath after World War II
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