Hermann Granzow

Hermann Granzow (* 1877 ; † 1948 ) was a German lawyer. Among other things, he was a judge at the People's Court and in this capacity was involved in numerous death sentences of the Nazi martial law during World War II .

Life and activity

During his studies Granzow became a member of the Leipzig University Choir of St. Pauli . He was appointed as a local judge in Schlochau on January 1, 1907 . On February 27, 1919, he was promoted to the district court advisor and assistant judge at the regional court in Konitz in West Prussia . On June 1, 1920, he moved to Celle as a higher regional judge .

On October 1, 1930 Granzow was appointed to the chamber judge. After the National Socialists came to power in the spring of 1933, he joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 .

In the summer of 1934, Granzow was one of several judges at the criminal panel of the Higher Regional Court , who in two verdicts in August found that defendants had been mistreated during their pre-trial detention and who used these verdicts as an opportunity to issue official statements in which they recorded details of the torture and measures to be taken Encouraged prevention. According to the Supreme Court monograph Weichbrodt, Granzow in particular stood out for his “detailed proposals” on how police and judicial interrogations should be designed in the future so that the accused would be protected from such torture in the future. In this context, Weichbrodt considered it justified to boast Granzow's name, despite its later development, together with the names of seven other judges at the Supreme Court who tried in 1934 "to oppose the destruction of law by torturing prisoners" to highlight.

On October 1, 1934, Granzow became a member of the criminal senate at the Berlin Court of Appeal. His position against the regime's torture practices did not have any professional disadvantages for him.

Since February 16, 1940, Granzow belonged to the Berlin People's Court as an assistant judge. He reached his highest rank there when he was promoted to the People's Court on December 27, 1944, with a backdate to October 1, 1944. This promotion, which took place in spite of Granzow's quite advanced age at the time, was made at the suggestion of the President of the People's Court Roland Freisler , who recommended Granzow as early as 1941 for a promotion to the People's Court Council and in an assessment of 1942 as “a loyal follower of the Führer “Had praised.

As an auxiliary judge and judge at the People's Court, Granzow was involved in the imposition of numerous death sentences by the Nazi war justice system, such as the death sentences against Walter Rietig on October 26, 1942, Anton Rausch , Viktor da Pont , Georg Gruber, Adalbert Horejs , Adele Stürzl , Johann Vogl and Andreas Obernauer from April 14, 1944, against Josef Axinger from April 12, 1944, against Franz Jaindl-Haring from June 22, 1944 and against Helene Knothe from November 23, 1944.

He was also involved in the sentencing of Hermann Dubber on May 16, 1941, to life imprisonment.

literature

• Stephan Weichbrodt: The History of the Appeal Court from 1913 to 1945 , 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul Meißner (Ed.): Alt-Herren-Directory of the German Singers. Leipzig 1934, p. 71.
2. ↑ Stephan Weichbrodt: The History of the Lammer Court from 1913 to 1945 , 2009, p. 369 and 376.
3. ↑ Stephan Weichbrodt: The History of the Lammer Court from 1913 to 1945 , 2009, pp. 190, 345 and 369.
4. ^ The denunciation and execution of Walter Rietig ( Memento from February 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Peter Eppel: Resistance and persecution in Tirol, 1934–1945 , 1984, p. 171.
6. ^ Peter Eppel: Resistance and Persecution in Tirol, 1934–1945 , 1984, p. 167.
7. ↑ Eduard Rabobsky: Hidden Root of the Nazi Justice , p. 40.
8. ^ Adolf Diamant: Gestapo Leipzig: on the history of a criminal organization in the years 1933–1945 , 1990, p. 185.
9. ^ Karl Heinz Jahnke: An unusual life: Bruno Dubber (1910–1944) , 1990, p. 114.