Franz Ludwig (lawyer)

Franz Ludwig (born April 7, 1899 in Mainz , † 1970 ) was a German lawyer and National Socialist who was involved in trials of special courts in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the Nazi era .

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On May 1, 1933, the doctor of law joined the NSDAP as member no. 2.221.271. In 1940 he was transferred to the German Higher Regional Court in Prague. As a senior public prosecutor at the associated special court in Prague , he had the task of representing the charges against the accused. He also wrote mercy reports for delinquents sentenced to death. Ludwig was involved in many unlawful death sentences.

Ludwig was awarded the War Merit Cross by the Nazi regime for special merits, an award for carrying out war-important tasks. After the war he was wanted as a war criminal in Czechoslovakia under the number A-6/302. But Ludwig was able to leave for Germany in time.

Although Ludwig was included in the Alphabetical index of war criminals of the United Nations War Crimes Commission , he was hired as a public prosecutor in Düsseldorf immediately from 1945. In March 1961 he retired.

Personal involvement in judicial atrocities

According to the files on the judgments at the special court, he has applied for execution to the special court for at least 77 death sentences. According to the testimony of the executioner's assistant Robert Týfa (→ Alois Weiß ) in the Pankrác prison in Prague , Ludwig participated directly in executions. This statement was confirmed by the clerk at the prison there, Vladimír Černý (born November 5, 1903 in Starý Smolivec).

The guards led the prisoners out of the cells with their hands tied behind their backs. Then they were handed over to the waiting prosecutor. The public prosecutor led the shackled to the executioner or his assistant. The guards went back to the cells to get another inmate out of that cell. If all prisoners were executed on that date, those involved in the execution went to the Sauerbruch law firm, where they were treated to alcoholic beverages.

Selected judgments

• Richard Bloch (born July 5, 1916 in Vodňany ) from Warsaw was deported from Vodňany to the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. He managed to flee to Czechoslovakia. He was sentenced to death for illegally crossing the border and executed on August 13, 1943. Bozena Dolejsi (born July 22, 1900) from Zrala in Prague was also sentenced to death for supporting Bloch. Her execution took place on November 22, 1943 (Ref .: 5 Ls 1126/42).

• Otakar Zapotecky from Prague, Ladislav Dlesk from Vienna, Emilie Flunkova (née Casenska) from Prague, Svatopluk Cila from Prague, Vaclav Dryak from Leipzig, Walter Lewit from Leipzig, Yvonne Lewitova (née Ehrlich) from Leipzig, Marianne Golz-Goldlust from Prague, Josef Goldschmidt from Prague and Ervin Samek from Prague were charged in the Prague Special Court on March 21 of helping people who wanted to evade persecution on racial grounds. Walter Lewit and Yvonne Lewitova were charged with illegally crossing the border. All of the accused were sentenced to death and executed on October 8, 1943. Walter Lewit, his wife Yvonne Lewitova and Josef Goldschmidt were handed over to the Gestapo for the purpose of liquidation (Ref .: 8 Js 64/43/8 and K Ls 90/43-IV-989/43).

• Josef Tronicek (born September 21, 1904) from Prague was sentenced to death for supporting a person who was persecuted by the Gestapo. His execution took place on June 26, 1944 (Ref .: 7 Js 213/44).

• Vaclav Jachym (born September 16, 1893) from Kardasova Recice, Jaromir Pechman (born March 18, 1898) from Veselí nad Lužnicí , Josef Prokes (born March 11, 1894) from Veselí nad Lužnicí were indicted on May 13, 1944, foreign news broadcasts to have heard. All of the accused were sentenced to death and executed on May 26, 1944 (Ref .: 1 K Ls 9/44)

• Marie Benetkova (born May 11, 1898) from Suchdol was charged on December 16, 1944, because she had established contact with her husband, who was living in illegality. She was also charged with supporting her husband as a crime. She was sentenced to death and executed on February 22, 1945 (Ref .: 2 Js 1211/1944).

See also

• Marianne Golz

literature

• Association of Antifascist Resistance Fighters: Criminals in Judge's Robes - Documents on the criminal activities of 230 Nazi judges and prosecutors on the occupied territory of the Czechoslovak Republic who are currently serving in the West German judiciary . Orbis Verlag, Prague 1960 ( DNB ).
• Norbert Podewin (ed.): Braunbuch - war and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and Berlin (West) . Reprint of the edition Berlin (East) 1968 (3rd edition).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andreas Meckel: “To let justice run free”: The judicial murders of Oskar Löwenstein and Marianne Golz by the Prague Special Court in 1943 . Edited by Erhard Roy Wiehn, Hartung-Gorre, Konstanz 2009, ISBN 978-3-86628-240-7 .