Walter Lerche (lawyer)

Walter Lerche (born October 7, 1901 in Vorsfelde , Helmstedt district , † December 26, 1962 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a doctor of law and judge. He was elected chairman of the Braunschweig Special Court and, after 1945, the Higher Regional Church Council and later the second President of the General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany .

Life until 1945

The son of the District Court Councilor August Lerche was involved in the suppression of the Braunschweig Council Government in 1919 as a member of the Maercker Freikorps . He studied law and passed the two state exams in 1922 and 1926 . He then found a job in May 1931 at the Braunschweig Regional and District Court and joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933 . He was a member of the Lawyers' Association and at times in the SA . Between 1935 and 1937 he was a block administrator for the NSV . After a promotion to regional court director in 1937, he was appointed chairman of the Braunschweig special court in January 1944, of which he had been deputy chairman since 1939. Despite party membership, Lerche had been a member of the parish council of the Braunschweig St. Magni congregation since 1940 . His brother was the pastor Rudolf Lerche from Gebhardshagen.

As chairman of the special court, he was instrumental in the conviction of 19-year-old Erna Wazinski , who was sentenced to death by denouncing her for alleged looting after the bombing raid on Braunschweig on October 15, 1944 . This case preoccupied the Braunschweig courts until March 1991, when this judgment was overturned. According to the latest research, Lerche was demonstrably involved in 59 death sentences from the Braunschweig Special Court.

After 1945

Lerche was dismissed by the British Military Government on May 2, 1945 and removed from the judiciary on September 16, 1946. In 1946 he was elected a member of the legal committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Braunschweig , rose to the Oberlandeskirchenrat in July 1951, belonged to the College of the Regional Church Office from 1957 and became the 2nd Vice President of the 1st General Synod from 1949 to 1954 during the term of office of the 1st General Synod General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany elected.

Fonts

• The concept of forest theft in the individual German states and the possibility of a uniform imperial regulation. (= Dissertation, University of Göttingen) Göttingen 1928, OCLC 71893666 .
• Curriculum for female vocational schools, rural vocational schools for girls, home economics schools According to the minist. Edit guidelines Zickfeldt, Osterwieck / Harz / Berlin 1939, OCLC 72215838 .

literature

• Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 378 .
• Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Fischer, Frankfurt / Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 . (Updated 2nd edition).
• Helmut Kramer (ed.): Braunschweig under the swastika. Bourgeoisie, Justice and Church - A series of lectures and their echo. Magni-Buchladen, Braunschweig 1981, ISBN 3-922571-03-4 .
• Helmut Kramer (Ed.): "The ordinance against pests of the people of 5.9.1939 was a valid law ...". In: Reader on the Erna Wazinski case. without place and year.
• Hans-Ulrich Ludewig , Dietrich Kuessner : "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. In: Sources and research on the Braunschweig national history. Volume 36, self-published by the Braunschweigisches Geschichtsverein, Langenhagen 2000, ISBN 3-928009-17-6 -
• Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education (Ed.): Justice in National Socialism. Crimes in the name of the people. Exhibition catalog. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-8178-7 .
• Klaus Erich Pollmann (ed.): The difficult way into the post-war period. The Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Braunschweig 1945–1950. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-525-55239-4 .

Movies

• Gerolf Karwath: Hitler's elites after 1945. Part 4: Jurists - acquittal on their own behalf. Director: Holger Hillesheim. SWR 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klaus Erich Pollmann: The difficult way into the post-war period. The Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church in Braunschweig 1945–1950. P. 296.
2. ↑ Ludewig, Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 270.
3. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau v. March 22, 1991: acquittal - but the Nazi verdict is not void. Executed woman rehabilitated / witnesses forced resumption of special court judgment ( memento of the original from May 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 2, 2009. 
4. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt / Main 2007, p. 368.