Victims of Nazi military justice

Victims of Nazi military justice are people who were convicted by military courts (including field courts and alternative courts ) during the Nazi era .

The judgments against certain groups of victims were overturned very late; advocating rehabilitation was a lengthy process.

The following facts were used by the military justice system against soldiers and persons in military service:

Conscientious objection
Desertion / desertion
Prohibited removal
political offenses
Self-mutilation
Resistance offenses
Statements that degrade military strength
Property crimes
Counterfeiting offenses
Violent crimes
conditional: high treason and treason

These offenses almost always occurred in combination. For example, desertion was usually associated with theft (of the weapon and the uniform). The aim of this categorization was to counteract a confusion of the facts and thus an undifferentiated consideration of the facts (especially desertion).

General

Convictions

The Nazi military justice sentenced around 1.5 million of the approximately 20 million soldiers of the Wehrmacht in their 1,300 courts. They sentenced around 30,000 soldiers to death; About 23,000 death sentences were carried out . The figure of 30,000 convictions of Justice of the military justice are the First World War against just 150 death sentences of the German military justice against German soldiers of whom were executed 48th The comparison becomes even more drastic if one takes into account the number of death sentences passed by the Western allies in World War II : the American forces executed one soldier , the French 102, the British 40. Only the Soviet military tribunals outnumbered the military judges. Soviet military tribunals sentenced members of the Red Army to 157,000 death sentences between 1941 and 1944 .

Penalties and Procedures

If the death sentence was not applied, probation companies and prison labor camps were intended as punishments - the former could come close to a death sentence (poor food, mine clearance, unarmed at the front). The difficult data situation should be pointed out here: From 1944 the Wehrmacht no longer kept statistics. Most of the documents are said to have been lost in bomb attacks. The number of around 100,000 deserters rumored before 1990 is questioned by current research projects.

The procedures of the Nazi military justice initially met the requirements of the rule of law: the right to a defense lawyer, the right to apply for evidence ( exonerating witnesses ), review of the judgment, the right to pardon, the possibility of a retrial, etc. was, for example, military strength decomposition . The basis of the Wehrmacht justice was the Military Criminal Code (MStGB) of 1926, which underwent more severe changes in 1935 and 1940 and was supplemented in 1939 by the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance (KSSVO). This suspended the prohibition of analogy , for example , broadened the facts, created the possibility of shortening the process and considerably expanded the scope of the sentence. There were no legal remedies in the proceedings; soldiers were only given defense counsel if the pending criminal offense was threatened with the death penalty . With this, all “any remnants of a constitutional principle from the Wehrmacht criminal law (eliminated)”.

The desertion, which is a punishable offense in all armies, can be justified during and after the National Socialist state, since the conquest of the Wehrmacht was a criminal war of aggression (see the problem of illegal orders). Basically, however, it can be said that the opinion of many lawyers and politicians after the First World War , according to which the inconsistent treatment of deserters in the First World War led to the defeat of the Germans, was reflected in the harsh judgment of the Nazi military judges.

Examples of the legal problem:

1) Wehrmacht soldier A is supposed to take part in the shooting of civilians or prisoners of war (" Commissar Order ") in Russia ( war crimes ); because of this he commits desertion; Military Police B and C want to arrest him (i.e. face the death penalty); A shoots B and C. Result: A did not commit a crime, anyway not because of the desertion, but also not because of the shooting of the two police officers . Because: The order was illegal, consequently the desertion legal, the arrest attempt by B and C was again illegal, the shooting of B and C by A was therefore proportionate out of self-defense (see case in Radbruch , 1947).

2) But: Soldier D shoots superior E in 1945, without any creditable justification, in order to be able to commit desertion. Result: Criminal manslaughter (see LG Cologne 1953: 10 years imprisonment for manslaughter).

historical development

Germany

After a judgment of the Federal Social Court on September 11, 1991, which provided for provisions for victims of Nazi military justice, the Bundestag was required to respond. With a majority of votes from the SPD / Greens , it was decided in May 1997 that the Wehrmacht soldiers convicted by the Nazi military justice system since September 1, 1939 can be compensated at a flat rate of 7,500 DM per case. Claims for compensation could (but only), according to the relevant decree of the Federal Ministry of Finance , be submitted by December 31, 1999. In its 1998 version, however, the law provided for a case-by-case examination, which is primarily due to the consideration of the Bundeswehr's reputation, which is required by representatives of the CDU / CSU and the FDP . This case-by-case examination was criticized by pro-rehabilitation actors (e.g. the Federal Association of Victims of Nazi Military Justice ).

No compensation claims were z. B. given in the two much-discussed Filbinger death sentences shortly before the end of the war: shooting of the superior and desertion or desertion and mutiny. I.e. Convictions for desertion per se were seen as resistance to and withdrawal from the Nazi state and were to be compensated, as well as for purely Nazi facts (e.g. "decomposition of military strength", i.e. statements such as "Hitler is crazy and the war is lost") ).

On May 17, 2002 , there was general rehabilitation of excluded groups of people ( homosexuals , deserters and other groups of victims who had not yet been rehabilitated). The offense of treason and high treason is still excluded , even if it happened in combination with, for example, the (inevitable) desertion. I.e. someone who deserted and joined the Allies is not legally rehabilitated in Germany. The PDS brings since 2002 continuously received requests for inclusion of that offense in the rehabilitation laws.

See also: Coming to terms with the past , repeal of Nazi injustice judgments , law to overturn Nazi injustice judgments in the criminal justice system , memorials to commemorate those murdered by the Nazi military justice on Murellenberg

Criticism of dealing in Germany

The Nazi armed forces justice - and the possible compensation of its victims - was not an issue for the judiciary and jurisprudence for decades in western Germany as well as in Austria. In the Federal Republic of Germany, public interest only began when the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Hans Filbinger, resigned in 1978 - a naval judge who was involved in four death sentences from 1943 until the end of the war. In addition, in early 1980 various initiatives to erect memorials for Nazi deserters (against the background of the anti-war movement) played an important role.
The really shameful thing about the compensation of the victims of the Nazi military justice is the fact that this happened so late (from May 1997) and - according to the Federal Ministry of Finance - was only possible until December 31, 1999. In this context, the high pensions of the perpetrators of Nazi military justice in the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. Schlegelberger , Freisler widow ) are incomprehensible .
The compensation payments were tied to a case-by-case examination. To be able to prove the motivation after half a century turns out to be impossible, especially since court files are mostly missing or cannot be used due to the false testimony before the Nazi military court.
The judgments / legislation make a distinction between acts of desertion, which are regarded as noble, political resistance actions, and those which were previously and later also punishable (“What was right then cannot be wrong today!”). This interpretation fixes itself on the formulation of the criminal offense and ignores the circumstances and (non-) procedures with which a desertion was punished from 1933 to 1945; namely, according to Hitler's pragmatic announcement in Mein Kampf : “The soldier can die, the deserter must die” - which, however, no lawyer was necessarily bound by. The Nazi military justice as such is viewed as unjust justice.

Austria

After the war, certain groups of victims were recognized in Austria. These formed victims' associations that legally gained co-determination rights. In the tradition of pure legal positivism , the "Repeal and Recruitment Act" was created in 1945, which repealed all Nazi judgments against Austrians. However, this general amnesty was restricted by the fact that judgments in the military area were only overturned if the offense was "directed against National Socialist rule or the restoration of an independent state of Austria". Since it is impossible to provide such evidence for the above-mentioned facts, apart from individual cases, the judgments of this group remained upright. As a result, they had certain disadvantages in terms of pension law, mainly because the periods of imprisonment could not be taken into account when calculating pensions.

In 2005, all judgments were overturned by the Recognition Act and deserters or their descendants were given one-time support. This includes an extensive individual examination. In October 2009, the political parties in Austria, with the exception of the right-wing populist parties FPÖ and BZÖ, agreed on the rehabilitation of victims of Nazi justice.

Criticism of dealing in Austria

Due to the legal imprecision, the situation arose that soldiers who deserted from the Wehrmacht and had been captured and sentenced again had no possibility of pension credit, but the SS guard who was guarding them had.
The thesis, which originated in the Moscow Declaration (1943), that Austria was the first victim of the Second World War, prevented a broad public debate about desertion. For decades, deserters and their families believed that what they did was wrong.
The debate about the recognition of deserters in 2005 was overshadowed by the discussion about recognition for " rubble women ". Due to the individual checks, an award is almost impossible because no documents are available. It is also evident that the 2005 law is not applied in the welfare offices: the award of a victim's pension to a Nazi victim took 50 months.
The order of greatest resistance, that which partisan subsequent Carinthian Slovenes , is still no acknowledgment, let alone appreciation or rehabilitation . The fact that deserters and other victims of Nazi military justice were not rehabilitated by 2005 also meets with little awareness of the problem.

Monuments to victims of Nazi military justice

(for monuments to the special facts: see links under the facts)

In Germany

See category: Deserters Monument

In Austria

Memorial to those persecuted by Nazi military justice on Vienna's Ballhausplatz , opened by Federal President Heinz Fischer on October 24, 2014
Commemorative plaque for the victims of Nazi military justice in Vienna's Danube Park -Kagran, donated by the City of Vienna and the Federal Ministry for National Defense in 1984. Inscription: “During the years of the National Socialist reign of terror 1938–1945, numerous Austrian freedom fighters left the ranks in the immediate vicinity shot by the Wehrmacht. Members of the Vienna fire brigade were among the victims who were executed here. NEVER FORGET!"
Memorial plaque in the former Mauthausen concentration camp / Upper Austria with the text "The pacifist resistance in the Wehrmacht against crime and war, deserters and conscientious objectors, in memory of tens of thousands of victims of Nazi military justice"

There are only these memorial plaques in Austria that commemorate all victims of Nazi military justice.

Memorial for the victims of Nazi justice in front of the Klagenfurt Regional Court. Erected by the Platform Memorial Kärnten-Koroska. Recalls 47 NS resistance and conscientious objectors sentenced to death at the NS district court in Klagenfurt on behalf of numerous other, not yet known, NS victims in Carinthia. Inscription: "In memory of those women and men who resisted National Socialism in Carinthia and were sentenced to death in this house by the Nazi injustice justice system."

literature

For Germany:

Rudolf Absolon: The Wehrmacht Criminal Law in World War II. Collection of basic laws, ordinances and edicts. Printed as a manuscript. Federal Archives Department Central Evidence Office, Kornelimünster 1958.
Georg Auer: The activity of the Nazi military justice and the execution of armed forces court death sentences in Hamburg . In: Contributions to the History of National Socialist Persecution in Northern Germany 13, 2012, pp. 158–189. ISBN 978-3-8378-4033-9 .
Ulrich Baumann, Magnus Koch: "What was right back then ...". Soldiers and civilians before Wehrmacht courts. Published by the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. be.bra-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89809-079-7 (exhibition catalog).
Franz Dillmann, Günter Saathoff: Offenders with pension entitlement - victims get nothing. Members of the Waffen SS and victims of the Nazi military justice in supply law. Comparison. In: VDJ forum. Journal of Democratic Lawyers. 3, 1993, ZDB -ID 1158982-6 , pp. 15-21.
Jörg Friedrich : acquittal for the Nazi judiciary. The judgments against Nazi judges since 1948. Documentation. Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-499-15348-3 , p. 133 ff: Courts of war ( rororo currently 5348).
Dietrich Güstrow (di: Dietrich Wilde ): Deadly everyday life. Criminal defense attorney in the Third Reich. Severin and Siedler, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-88680-009-1 .
Philipp Heldmann: Filbinger. Also take into account what is exonerating. In: Tauber Zeitung (Bad Mergentheim), April 25, 2007, ZDB -ID 125589-7 .
Peter Kalmbach: Wehrmacht Justice . Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86331-053-0 .
Manfred Messerschmidt , Fritz Wüllner: The Wehrmacht Justice in the Service of National Socialism. Destroying a legend. Nomos-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Baden-Baden 1987, ISBN 3-7890-1466-4 .
Dieter Schenk : The post office of Danzig - history of a German judicial murder . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-498-06288-3 .
Martin Schnackenberg: “I didn't want to do any more heroic deeds.” Wehrmacht deserters in World War II. Motives and consequences examined on the basis of personal testimonies. Bis, Oldenburg 1997, ISBN 3-8142-0602-9 ( Oldenburg writings on historical science 4).
Egon Schneider: Jewish lawyers - German soldiers. In: Monthly for German Law . 1991, pp. 1124-1126.
Fritz Wüllner: The Nazi military justice and the misery of historiography. A basic research report . Nomos Verlags-Gesellschaft, Baden-Baden 1991, ISBN 3-7890-1833-3 .
Hermine Wüllner (Ed.): "... only death can be the just atonement." Death sentences from German Wehrmacht courts. A documentation. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 1997, ISBN 3-7890-5104-7 .
Albrecht Goes : “ Restless Night ” novella. Friedrich-Wittig-Verlag, Hamburg 1950. Filmed in 1958 by Falk Harnack .

For Austria:

Walter Manoschek (ed.): Victims of Nazi military justice. Judgment practice, prison system, compensation policy in Austria. Mandelbaum-Verlag, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-85476-101-5 .
Maria Fritsche: Withdrawals. Austrian deserters and self-mutilators in the German Wehrmacht . Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2004, ISBN 978-3-205-77181-4 .
Hannes Metzler: Dishonored forever? The rehabilitation of the deserters of the Wehrmacht. A comparison of Germany and Austria taking Luxembourg into account. Mandelbaum-Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-85476-218-8 .
Vinzenz Jobst: Anton Uran - persecuted, forgotten, executed; persecuted, forgotten, executed. KITAB, Klagenfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-902585-62-2 .
Vinzenz Jobst (Ed.): Punished with death - forever dishonorable? Victims of the Nazi justice at the Klagenfurt Regional Court - commemoration and rehabilitation. Kitab-Verlag, Klagenfurt 2013, ISBN 978-3-902878-24-3 .

Victim associations and initiatives