Mannheim Special Court
The Mannheim Special Court was the special court in Baden during the Nazi era . It existed from 1933 to 1945.
history
In March 1933, the National Socialist Reich government issued an ordinance on the formation of special courts. These were initially responsible for criminal offenses that were listed in the Reichstag Fire Ordinance and the Deceit Ordinance. The ordinances were directed against the opponents of National Socialism. A special court was established in each higher regional court district. In Baden , the special court responsible for the district of the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court was not set up in the capital Karlsruhe , but in Mannheim because the Baden Ministry of Justice was of the opinion that in the working-class city of Mannheim, the largest city in the state and stronghold of the social democrats and communists in Baden, most cases would occur for trial. The special court was located at the Mannheim Regional Court in Mannheim Castle .
In 1938 and again in 1939 after the start of the Second World War , the jurisdiction of the court was expanded. The regulation on extraordinary broadcasting measures, for example, made listening to foreign broadcasters a criminal offense. Possibly due to overload, a second Baden special court was set up in Freiburg in 1940 , which was responsible for the regional court districts of Freiburg , Offenburg , Konstanz and Waldshut .
The speed of the proceedings and the fact that the defendant was not permitted to appeal were characteristic of the cases at the special court . 68.8 percent of the proceedings in Mannheim were due to advertisements from private individuals. Around 3,000 people were charged. 84 of them were sentenced to death . Five of them were pardoned , two died shortly before execution and four escaped execution because the war ended. Seventy-three people were executed, more than half of whom were found guilty of what would now be considered petty offenses , such as theft of groceries for personal consumption .
A memorial was erected in front of the west wing of the palace to commemorate the victims of the Nazi justice system. The names of the 73 executed are engraved. The monument was designed by Jürgen Schwarz and inaugurated in 2002 by the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Justice Ulrich Goll .
literature
- Christiane Oehler: The case law of the Mannheim special court 1933–1945 . Berlin 1997, ISBN 978-3-428-08898-0 .
- Peter Kaiser: The district of Mannheim under National Socialism . Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-932102-20-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ anti-fascist news No. 20 of September 26, 2002: “In memory of the victims of justice under National Socialism” - memorial in front of the palace unveiled on September 12, 2002
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 4.8 ″ N , 8 ° 27 ′ 39.2 ″ E