The Law Under the Swastika (48 page)

121
. “ThürOVG, Urt. v. 21. Oktober 1936,”
Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt
(1937): 356; on the exceptions to this, see the decision of April 13, 1938,
Deutsche Verwaltung
(1938): 411.

122
. “Entscheidung v. 12. Januar 1938,”
Deutsche Verwaltung
(1938): 158.

123
.
Jahrbuch der Entscheidungen des Thüringischen Oberverwaltungsgerichts
17:81.

124
. G. Edelmann, “100 Jahre Hessische Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit—Entstehung und Entwicklung in Hessen-Darmstadt,”
Der Gemeindetag
(1976): 129–138; J. Weitzel, “100 Jahre Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Hessen,”
Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt
(1975): 869–873, with additional references.

125
. On Lüneburg, see H. C. Sarnighausen, in
25 Jahre Oberverwaltungsgericht Lüneburg 1949–1974
(Hannover, 1974), 44 ff. On Schleswig, see H. Sander, 90 ff. (104–105).

126
. M. Sellmann,
Entwicklung und Geschichte der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Oldenburg
(Oldenburg, 1957), 83 ff.; Sellmann, in
Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt
(1956): 845; and Sellmann, in Baring (see note 1, above), 124 ff.

127
. References in Echterhölter (see note 71, above).

128
. Evidence for the State Administrative Court in Schwerin in Echterhölter (see note 71, above).

129
. As demonstrated in the
Mecklenburgische Zeitschrift für Rechtspflege, Rechtswissenschaft, Verwaltung
(the title after 1925–1926).

130
. “Gesetz v. 6. Dezember 1937,”
Reichsgesetzblatt
(1937): 309.

131
. The Administrative High Court of Bremen was established by the Law on Administrative Jurisdiction, as promulgated on September 21, 1933 (
Gesetzblatt
[1933]: 351). The two-tier system thus did not exist before National Socialism. See J. Peters, “Geschichte, Entstehung und Entwicklung der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Bremen,” law diss., Kiel, 1981 (Düsseldorf, 1981), 114 ff., 122–131, limited to organizational questions; W. Giesges,
Die Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit in Hamburg. Unter Einschluß der VO Nr. 141
(Hamburg, 1941); G. Quast, “Die Entstehungsgeschichte der hamburgischen Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit,” law diss., Hamburg, 1974.

132
. H. G. Figge, “Die Entwicklung der Verwaltungsrechtspflege im Bezirk des Verwaltungsgerichts Braunschweig,” in
25 Jahre Oberverwaltungsgericht
(see note 125, above), 36 (41–43).

133
. F. Hueber, “Justiz im Führerstaat,”
Deutsche Justiz
1942: 5 (9). See note 30, above.

CHAPTER NINE

1
. E. Schwinge, “Die deutsche Militärgerichtsbarkeit im Zweiten Weltkrieg,”
Deutsche Richterzeitung
(1959): 350–352.

2
. See on this the debate between Weinkauff and E. Franssen,
Juristenzeitung
(1969): 766; (1970): 54.

3
. R. Echterhölter,
Das öffentliche Recht im nationalsozialistischen Staat
(1970).

4
. K. D. Erdmann, “Zeitgeschichte, Militärjustiz und Völkerrecht,”
Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht
(1979): 129–139; M. Broszat, “Der Streit um die Wehrmachtsgerichtsbarkeit,”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, October 10, 1978.

5
. O. P. Schweling,
Die deutsche Militärjustiz in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus
(Marburg, 1977).

6
. Ibid., 6.

7
. Ibid., 14.

8
. Ibid., 8.

9
. Ibid., 26.

10
. Ibid., 28.

11
. Ibid., 30.

12
. Ibid., 169.

13
. Ibid., 173.

14
. Ibid, 188–189.

15
. Ibid, 211.

16
. Ibid, 252 ff.

17
. Ibid, 322.

18
. Ibid, 329.

19
. Ibid, 336–337.

20
. Hans Karl Filbinger was a former navy judge who rose to become premier of the state of Baden-Württemberg. Revelations about his Nazi past ended his political career.—Trans.

21
. M. Messerschmidt and F. Wüllner,
Die Wehrmachtjustiz im Dienste des Nationalsozialismus
(Baden-Baden, 1987). This is countered, for example, by the retired Major General J. Schreiber,
Soldat im Volk
37, no. 3 (1988); and by E. Schwinge,
Verfälschung und Wahrheit. Das Bild der Wehrmachtgerichtsbarkeit
(Tübingen, Zurich, and Paris, 1988).

22
. M. Messerschmidt, “Deutsche Militärgerichtsbarkeit im Zweiten Weltkrieg,” in
Festschrift für Martin Hirsch
(Baden-Baden, 1981), 11–141.

23
. H. Wrobel, “Cum ira et studio,”
Rechtshistorisches Journal
10 (1991): 99–101.

24
. Decision of September 11, 1991,
Entscheidungen des Bundessozialgerichts
69:211.

25
. See, on the one side, E. Schwinge,
Neue juristische Wochenschrift
(1993): 369; and W. Stoecker,
Sozialgerichtsbarkeit
(1993): 352; on the other, O. Gritschneder,
Sozialgerichtsbarkeit
(1993): 603.

CHAPTER TEN

1
. The White Rose (Weiße Rose) was a student anti-Nazi resistance group that was formed at the University of Munich in 1942 at the initiative of Hans and Sophie Scholl. Six members of the group were arrested in mid-February 1943. After a hasty trial before the People’s Court, the Scholls were sentenced to death and executed on February 22, 1943. Kurt Huber, a professor of philosophy at the university, was executed on July 13.—Trans.

2
. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Diederich Behrend and Günter Frankenberg for their help in gathering the material for this essay.

3
. D. Strothmann, “Die Dornen der ‘Weißen Rose’,”
Die Zeit
, November 26, 1982; Strothmann, “Unter dem Fallbeil der Zeit,”
Die Zeit
, January 7, 1983.

4
. fr (= F. K. Fromme), “Infam,”
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, January 18, 1982; similarly, H. Heigert, “Wie Moral zur Verleumdung verdirbt,”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, January 22, 1982. Opposing view by M. Krebs, “Juristische Haarspalterei zum Schutz von Nazi-Richtern,”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, December 11–12, 1982.

5
. H. Weber and Chr. Engel, “Der Film ‘Die Weiße Rose’ und die Rechtslage bei Urteilen des Volksgerichtshofs,”
Juristenzeitung
(1983): 192.

6
. W. Fikentscher,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, October 16, 1982.

7
. H. Heigert, “Eine unsichere Nation,”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, December 11, 1982.

8
. President of the Federal Court Pfeiffer, press release in
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
and
Frankfurter Rundschau
, November 18, 1982.

9
. Letter by the deputy press spokesman of the Federal Court to Hans Hirzel (a member of the White Rose), dated November 25, 1982.

10
.
Neue juristische Wochenschrift
(1968): 1339.

11
. See note 7, above.

12
. References in Weber and Engel (see note 5, above), and in H. Hillermeier, “Vom Versagen der Richter gestern und heute,”
Kritische Justiz
(1984): 54–57; G. Frankenberg and F. J. Müller, “Verdrängt, vergessen oder ausgeheilt? Die Bewältigung der Vergangenheit durch den Bundesgerichtshof,”
Kritische Justiz
(1983); G. Offczors, “Strafrechtliche Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts am Beispiel des Widerstandskämpfers Fiete Schulze,”
Demokratie und Recht
(1983): 174–182.

13
.
Frankfurter Rundschau
, December 13, 1982.

14
. The new closing statement read as follows: “1. It is the view of the Federal Court that the paragraphs under which the resistance fighters of the White Rose were sentenced were not part of the Nazi terror system but valid law.

“2. It is the view of the Federal Court that resistance fighters like the White Rose objectively violated laws that were valid at the time.

“3. It is the view of the Federal Court that a judge at the People’s Court who sentenced resistance fighters like the White Rose was subject to these laws that were valid at the time.

“4. It is the view of the Federal Court that resistance fighters like the White Rose could, nevertheless, not be criminally charged if they violated valid laws with the intent of helping their country.

“5. It is the view of the Federal Court, however, that a judge who considered a resistance fighter to have been proven guilty in a proper trial cannot be reproached, in terms of criminal law, if he believed, given the laws at the time, that he had to sentence him to death.

“6. So far no government and no Bundestag could bring themselves to annul all sentences of the People’s Court by law” (press release, November 25, 1982).

15
. Protocol of the 128th and 131st sessions of the Bundestag, November 12,1982, and November 26, 1982, respectively (responses of Parliamentary State Secretary H. H. Klein).

16
. Inge Scholl,
Die Weiße Rose
, reprint (Fischer, 1982); R. Hanser,
“Deutschland zuliebe.” Leben und Sterben der Geschwister Scholl
(dtv, 1982); M. Verhoeven and M. Krebs,
Die weiße Rose. Der Widerstand Münchner Studenten gegen Hitler
(Fischer, 1982); H. Vinke,
Das kurze Leben der Sophie Scholl
(O. Maier, 1980).

17
.
Frankfurter Rundschau
, June 3, 1982.

18
.
Frankfurter Rundschau
, February 25, 1983 (the Superior Court of Justice for Berlin rejected it as inadmissible on December 20, 1982); on the rejection by the Federal High Court, see
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
, May 31, 1983. The events leading up to this are described in Deiseroth,
Demokratie und Recht
(1980), 63.

19
. Hans-Joachim Rehse was, after Roland Freisler, the most incriminated judge at the People’s Court. He was acquitted of all charges in 1968. The decision was widely regarded as scandalous.—Trans.

20
. The cases ended without any spectacular results, mainly through the death of those under investigation or the prosecution’s decision not to indict for lack of evidence.—Trans.

21
. W. Fikentscher and R. Koch, “Strafrechtliche Wiedergutmachung national-sozialistischen Unrechts,”
Neue juristische Wochenschrift
(1983): 12–15; Weber and Engel (see note 5, above), with additional references; Offczors (see note 12, above), 174–175.

22
. Frankenberg and Müller (see note 12, above).

23
. See statements 1–3 of the revised trailer (note 14, above).

24
. Compare
Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofs in Zivilsachen
5:76 (96);
Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofs in Strafsachen
3:110 (113), 4:66 (68), 9:302 (305).

25
.
Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts
3:58 ff, 6:132 ff.; the quotation is in
Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts
23:98 (106). Here I can only begin to touch on the debate about the relationship between law and morality and about the validity of immoral legal norms. See especially N. Hoerster, “Zum begrifflichen Verhältnis von Recht und Moral,”
Neue Hefte für Philosophie
17 (1979): 77–88; R. Dreier, “Recht und Moral,” in
Recht-Moral-Ideologie
(Frankfurt, 1981), 180–216; H. Hofmann,
Legitimität und Rechtsgeltung
(Berlin, 1977).

26
. Claus Arndt,
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, November 6–7, 1982.

27
. Art. 3 of “Gesetz zur Änderung von Vorschriften des Strafrechts und des Strafverfahrens v. 24.4.1934,”
Reichsgesetzblatt
1 (1934): 341. On the establishment of the People’s Court, see the detailed account by W. Wagner,
Der Volksgerichtshof im nationalsozialistischen Staat
(Stuttgart, 1974), 13 ff.

28
. Thus the press statement of nine members of the White Rose sentenced by the court (Bollinger, Grimminger, Guter, Hirzel, Zeller-Hirzel, Jud, F. J. Müller, Th. Müller, Suhr),
Frankfurter Rundschau
, December 13, 1983. Thus also the Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Fraktion
(parliamentary group) in a petition to the federal government on December 7, 1982, on the grounds that the court was “an instrument of political terror to oppress, persecute, neutralize, and destroy the enemies of the Hitler dictatorship.”

29
. G. Buchheit,
Richter in roter Robe. Freisler, Präsident des Volksgerichtshofs
(Munich, 1968); W. Wagner (see note 25, above), 29 ff.; H. Hillermeier, ed.,
“Im Namen des Deutschen Volkes.” Todesurteile des Volksgerichtshofes
(Darmstadt und Neuwied, 1980).

30
. On the dependent status of the judge under National Socialism, see D. Simon,
Die Unabhängigkeit des Richters
(Darmstadt, 1975), 53 ff.

31
. This was the general opinion. See, for instance, Deiseroth (note 18, above), 58 ff.; Strothmann (note 3, above).

32
. Documentation in Deiseroth (see note 18, above), 107 ff.; and in W. H. Seiter and A. Kahn,
Hitlers Blutjustiz. Ein noch zu bewältigendes Kapitel deutscher Vergangenheit
(Frankfurt, 1981).

33
. Open letter by forty professors to the Justizsenator of Berlin and the prosecutor general, January 1980.
Frankfurter Rundschau
, January 12, 1980.

34
. For a discussion of how the historical course was set, see M. Broszat, “Siegerjustiz oder strafrechtliche ‘Selbstreinigung’,”
Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte
(1981): 477. A good summary is in A. Rückerl,
Die Strafverfolgung von NS-Verbrechen 1945–1978
(Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, 1978); Rückerl,
NS-Verbrechen vor Gericht
(Stuttgart, 1982).

35
. According to a report in the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
, February 7, 1983, the German authorities declared that they were not interested in the extradition of Barbie, “among other reasons because of the impending parliamentary elections.” Reference in Frankenberg and Müller (see note 12, above).