Wilhelm Hirte (lawyer)

Wilhelm Hirte (born December 18, 1905 in Braunschweig ; † February 12, 1986 there ) was a doctor of law and judge . Hirte had been a member of the NSDAP since May 1, 1933 and also a member of the SA from 1933 to 1935 . He was the managing public prosecutor and prosecutor of the Braunschweig Special Court . Because of his participation in the conference of the Reich Ministry of Justice to prepare legal questions of euthanasiaa preliminary investigation was initiated against him in January 1967, which was put down on May 27, 1970. Shepherd was instrumental in the death sentence for the innocently accused worker Erna Wazinski and the rejection of her appeal for clemency.

Life

Before 1945

Hirte passed his Abitur at Wilhelm-Gymnasium in 1924 and then studied law at the universities of Mainz and Leipzig . In 1928 he was at the Philipps University of Marburg on the subject of collective agreements and apprenticeships: an investigation into the competition between the regulatory competence of the collective agreement and the competence of the guilds and chambers of crafts in current law and the problem of regulatory competence de lege ferenda, especially in view of the draft of a vocational training Act doctorate .

From 1933, Hirte worked for the public prosecutor's office at the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court (OLG). In April 1935 he was hired as a local judge and had to perform the task of a public prosecutor at the OLG. In 1937 he was promoted to First Public Prosecutor. From the outbreak of World War II until 1942, Hirte was the acting attorney general (representing the office holder who had been drafted to the front) . In 1942 the new Attorney General Willy Rahmel took up his duties, whereupon Hirte became head of the prosecution at the Braunschweig Special Court. He held this position until the end of the war.

Supporters of the Nazi system

In the situation reports he received to the Reich Minister of Justice as early as 1940, Hirte showed that he was an unreserved supporter of the Nazi system. For example, with regard to the ordinance against pests of the people and the ordinance on extraordinary radio measures , he wrote that they were "necessary weapons for the fight against war parasites and for the fight against attacks on the internal front of the German people." Against thieves, said Shepherd: "I just want to facilitate the passing of judgments in the future, which also in the question of the sentence correspond to the will of the government and the requirements of today." He was known for his harshness and is for at least 59 Jointly responsible for death sentences from the Braunschweig Special Court.

The Erna Wazinski case

Erna Wazinski

As the prosecutor of the special court, he played a key role in the conviction of 19-year-old Erna Wazinski , who was denounced and sentenced to death for alleged looting after the bombing raid on Braunschweig on October 15, 1944 . It was he who rejected Erna Wazinski's petition for clemency with the following argument:

“The unmarried worker Erna Wazinski from Braunschweig, born on September 7, 1925, was sentenced to death by judgment of the special court of October 21 for looting - §1 of the People's Pest Ordinance . [...] There are no concerns about the judgment. […] Finally, characteristic of the condemned woman is that she joined the milling cutter Gerda Körner on her last job. [...] She has a previous conviction for strolling around the workforce and abortion and is known for other things because of her hanging around with soldiers. The mother Koerner, to whom the convicted moved after being bombed, had served a prison sentence of several years until recently. Despite her youth, the condemned is not a person who deserves indulgence. "

This case preoccupied the Braunschweig courts for decades and it was not until March 1991 that Erna Wazinski's innocence was recognized in court and this judgment was overridden.

After 1945

In May 1945, Hirte was released by the British Military Government and worked in a law firm from 1947 to 1952. In May 1956 he came back to the Braunschweig District Court as a judge who administered the land register. In December 1967 he was given early retirement at his own request.

Since Hirte had participated in the conference of the Reich Ministry of Justice in April 1941 on legal questions of euthanasia, a judicial investigation was opened against him in January 1967. This was discontinued on May 27, 1970 by the Limburg Regional Court .

Shepherd in the judgment of contemporaries

Curt Staff , the first attorney general to take office in Braunschweig after the end of the war, ruled on Hirte that he had "played a decisive role in the fateful development of the Brunswick administration of justice". Hubert Schlebusch , former Prime Minister of the State of Braunschweig , said in a letter dated September 11, 1945:

“Shepherd was driven by such immoderate ambition that he did not focus on justice, but punishment at all costs. To be handed over to him as head of the prosecution at the special court meant physical and mental annihilation for the Nazi opponent ... "

literature

• Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Fischer, Frankfurt / Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
• 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. Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein, Braunschweig 2000, ISBN 3-928009-17-6 , ( sources and research on Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte 36).
• Susanne Benzler (Ed.): Justice in National Socialism. About crimes in the name of the people. Exhibition catalog. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-8178-7 .
• Werner Sohn / Working Group Other History e. V. (Ed.): In the mirror of the post-war processes. The establishment of Nazi rule in the Free State of Braunschweig. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-930292-81-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Hans-Ulrich Ludewig, Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 286.
2. ↑ Susanne Benzler (Ed.): Justice in National Socialism. P. 102.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Hans-Ulrich Ludewig, Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945 , p. 285
4. ↑ quoted from: Hans-Ulrich Ludewig, Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 287, situation report of April 5, 1940.
5. ↑ Irmtrud Wojak : Fritz Bauer 1903–1968: A biography. CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 248, ISBN 3-406-58154-4 .
6. ↑ Hanno Loewy, Bettina Winter (ed.): Nazi 'euthanasia' in court. Fritz Bauer and the limits of legal coping. Campus, Frankfurt am Main and New York 1996, FN 88, p. 126, ISBN 3-593-35442-X .
7. ↑ Excerpt from the statement by Chief Public Prosecutor Hirte on Erna Wazinski's petition for clemency. In: Justice under National Socialism. P. 103.
8. ↑ 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. on forumjustizgeschichte.de, accessed on November 2, 2009. 
9. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Ludewig, Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 287.
10. ↑ quoted from: Hans-Ulrich Ludewig, Dietrich Kuessner: "So everyone should be warned" - The Braunschweig Special Court 1933–1945. P. 287, letter to Colonel Alexander.