Interrogation record

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Interrogation protocols are transcripts of interrogations of the accused or of witnesses , which are made in the course of a process - in the case of criminal proceedings also in the preliminary investigation.

Since the Basic Law came into force in 1949, the term interrogation and its methods have not been used in Germany and have been replaced by interrogation .

Inquisition proceedings

In the interrogation protocols from inquisition proceedings , the focus is on the individual and their social behavior. They usually start with an interrogation with the suspect, which is logged and gives an initial overview of the criminal case. The witness statements, if any, are usually recorded and documented later. In addition to the recorded content, the interrogated person's emotions are also recorded (crying, laughing, hesitation when answering).

In the interrogation protocols at the actual trial, the defendant's environment and his curriculum vitae were recorded. At the same time, the requirements of substantive law were also taken into account. The defendant's confession was the only certain evidence and should be coerced if necessary. In this context, we should also mention the so-called embarrassing interviews that were carried out under torture . However, it didn't always happen. The suspects had the opportunity to escape an "embarrassing" trial by means of a confession ( Urgicht ).

The recorders of the court hearings were mostly court clerks, town clerks or market clerks, nurses and regional court administrators. It happened that the writing of the statement and the statement itself differed in time or that entire sentences were literally taken over from other criminal cases. Hence the different levels of accuracy of the statements recorded.

Legal regulation and course

In the early modern period, interrogation protocols were recorded in civil and sovereign proceedings, as well as in criminal proceedings. The legal regulation of the procedure forms the framework within which the minutes were created and must be evaluated. The early modern criminal jurisdiction, in particular procedural law, was regulated by the Embarrassing Neck Court Code of Emperor Charles V of 1532 ( Constitutio Criminalis Carolina ) as an imperial law. In addition, guidelines for criminal proceedings from the Reich Chamber of Justice ordinances of 1495, 1521 and 1555 were taken as a model, later also the regulations for civil proceedings in the Reich Decree of 1654. Due to these regulations under Reich law, the sources on criminal jurisdiction show uniformity across the territories and are therefore in almost always comparable to their system.

Criminal proceedings

Inquisition General

A preliminary investigation, the Inquisition General, had to prove that a criminal act had actually occurred when an act became known. This had to be attached to certain external features, the corpora delicti that were found and inspected. The interrogation of witnesses was then the most important means of raising sufficient grounds for suspicion against a particular person if a perpetrator had not betrayed himself or was caught in the act or confessed. The interrogations were carried out exclusively by the investigating authorities, i. H. managed by the local authorities or the highest officials of the cities or offices as territorial administrative units. This pre-trial interrogation in the investigation phase was different from that in a process. The special provisions for testimony during the trial did not have to be taken into account here. The statements about the person are usually reduced to the name of the person making the statement. The questions were not asked according to a fixed scheme, but generally and openly. The extent to which indications of the perpetrator could be elicited also depended on the skill of the investigator. One clerk kept the record as a "summary record", i.e. H. the content of the interrogator's statement was reproduced in indirect speech. Its linguistic peculiarities are not taken into account; sometimes non-verbal utterances such as gestures, falling feet, raising both hands or tears were recorded.

Special inquisition

The general inquisition provided the basis for formulating an articulated complaint and thus initiating the inquisition process. The facts that emerged from the interrogation of the preliminary investigation were broken down into very small parts, the articles of the Inquisition, according to the rules of the procedural rules. A number of witnesses were named for each article. With their testimony, they had to confirm whether the facts as they emerged from the investigation were true or untrue. In a case of insulting the authorities in Leonberg in 1672, the results of the investigation were contained in 163 articles and named 62 witnesses. Some of the articles were questioned about one, sometimes about 40 or more articles. A fixed questionnaire was used. This initially provided for questions about the person (name, age, marital status, place of residence, income basis ...). Then followed the questions about the circumstances of the crime according to the articles of the Inquisition. The minutes of this articulate interrogation reflect the fixed questionnaire. It can be given verbatim. In addition to the answers, the circumstances of the interrogation, the date, those present and special incidents were noted. The first interrogation always took place without the threat or application of the ordeal. The statements could be sworn in; behind it was the threat of losing the oath finger.

Civil litigation

In the civil accusation trial, a plaintiff filed an indictment set out in articles. He could also apply for witness evidence and name appropriate witnesses.

Early modern interrogation protocols as ego documents

The interrogation protocols as a source group reveal - in addition to the respective facts to be clarified - also values, knowledge, individually human behavior of historical individuals who articulate them in the situation of the interrogation as suspects or witnesses of a process. Your statements convey, partly unconsciously or in a covert form, individual problems, fears, time-related thought patterns, experiences and action strategies. In this way, they provide insights into the world of different social classes. The transcripts of interrogations meet the criteria that apply to ego documents .

Interrogation records make up only part of the court records that have survived. The court files are addressed as ego documents in the research literature. This term describes all historical sources that have a personal character, describe the self-perception of a person and provide information about his relationship to his environment. The court files represent a comprehensive source for social, mentality, legal history and folklore questions. They are written statements by people who stood as witnesses or accused before lower or high courts. For a long time they were regarded by science as an inferior historical remnant and for this reason they have been neglected. The generic term court files has a wide range and includes documents such as appeals, contracts, purchases, sales, deliveries, wills and, above all, the court records that have arisen in connection with criminal proceedings: judgments, penalties or council decisions. Research into the term court files as ego documents is mainly limited to the period between the late Middle Ages and the end of the 18th century, as this period was characterized by processes of individualization.

National Socialism and World War II

The use of violent interrogation, especially of prisoners in protective custody or of the Scholl siblings , was part of the normal state police practice of the National Socialist Secret State Police .

After the Second World War , there were special internment and interrogation centers in Germany run by the victorious Allied powers such as the American Camp King in the Taunus, the British interrogation center in Bad Nenndorf or the special camps in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ).

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: interrogation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: interrogation protocol  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Eisele: The meaning of the doctrine of the "corpus delicti" in criminal proceedings in the early modern period. Lexicon for the history of witch hunt, ed. v. Gudrun Gersmann, Katrin Moeller and Jürgen-Michael Schmidt, in: historicum.net, online
  2. ↑ Helga Schnabel-Schüle : Ego documents in the early modern criminal trial. In: Winfried Schulze (Ed.): Ego documents. Approaching the People in History. (Self-testimonies of the modern age 2), Berlin 1996, pp. 295–317.
  3. ↑ Hans and Sophie Scholl during interrogation bpb , accessed on May 25, 2016
  4. ↑ Manfred Kopp: In the labyrinth of guilt. US Army Interrogation Center in Oberursel, 1945-1952 reprint from the yearbook of the Hochtaunuskreis, Frankfurt am Main, 2010
  5. ^ Philipp Wittrock: British interrogation camp in Lower Saxony: The secret of the forbidden village Der Spiegel , December 23, 2005