law, justice, and the holocaust how the courts failed germany

UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM1

IDAHO JUDICIAL CONFERENCE 2013

Law, Justice, and the Holocaust

How the Courts Failed Germany

2 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM


German Society and the Holocaust

http://www.doew.at/service/ausstellung/1938/8/8schule.html


What is the role of the judiciary in society?List:


The Holocaust


Once the leader of small party on the fringe of German politics, by 1932 Hitler established the National Socialists as the largest party in parliament.


Dr. Erwin Bumke, President of the German Supreme Court, 1929-1945.

http://zbc.ksiaznica.szczecin.pl/dlibra/applet?content_url=/Content/1645/Inw_akc_450_35.djvu&handler=djvu&sec=true


Chancellor Adolf Hitler and President Paul von Hindenburg. Potsdam, Germany, 1933.


Pedestrians look upon the still burning parliament building the morning after the arson. Berlin, Germany, February 28, 1933..


A police officer and a member of the SS on patrol. Berlin, Germany,March 5, 1933.


Members of the SA humiliate Dr. Michael Siegel, a Jewish attorney. Munich, Germany, March 10, 1933.

“I will never again complain to the police”


Hans Kerrl, Prussian minister of justice, visits the instruction camp for German jurists. Jüterbog, Germany, August, 1933.


Judges swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler. Berlin, Germany, October 1936.

“I swear I will be true and obedient to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, observe the law and conscientiously fulfill the duties of my office, so help me God.”


“I find, in good conscience, that I am not able to swear the loyalty oath to the Reich Chancellor and Führer, Adolf Hitler, as required of all officials by Reich law of August 20, 1934.”

Submitted to Chief Judge of the State Court in Wuppertal on August 25, 1934.

Martin Gauger

http://193.98.117.66:8011/nachrichten/artikel.asp?id=917024


“Justice or Paragraph

Dictatorship?

The Reich Law Office of the NSDAP is fighting for a new German people’s law. Let’s make it a fact soon; it’s what we want and what the people desire.”


Marinus van der Lubbe, testifies before the Supreme Court. Leipzig, Germany, September 1933


Was judicial independence preserved?

a) Yesb) No


Henry Koster (Hermann Kosterlitz)(Berlin, Germany, 1905-Camarillo, California, 1988) Directed such classic films as Harvey (1950), My Man Godfrey (1957) and The Singing Nun (1966.)

Scene from Koster’s 1933 Film,“The Ugly Girl” (Das Hässliche Mädchen)


“A service contract/employment relationship can be terminated by any party to the contract without notice if there is a factual basis for the terminating party to conclude –in weighing all the individual circumstances of the case and the interests of all parties to the contract —if there are important reasons to do so.”

Article 626 Civil Code: Summary Dismissal for Cause (1900-1969)


Decision of the State Superior Court in Berlin, May 17, 1933.

§§ 242, 627, 626, Civil Code. Termination without notice of a contract regarding the employment of a Jewish film director, in light of current political circumstances.

”…once the Jewish boycott began on April 1, 1933, the plaintiff should have relied on sound and reasonable judgment, taking into account the particularly strong flaring of tempers at the time, to determine that they [the film company] could not insist that they make another film with the plaintiff, Director K., because to do so would be to take on an immediate business risk of great proportions for the defendant…

The defendant was justified in summarily ending the contract”


In this contract law case, the Superior Court in Berlin:

A. Primarily followed the LawB. Primarily applied Nazi ideologyC. Primarily expanded on the Law


In this contract law case, the Superior Court decided the case:

A. FairlyB. Unfairly


The Kusserow children at the family home. Bad Lippspringe, Germany, 1939.


Article 1666 Civil Code: Court Measures where the Welfare of the Child is Endangered (1900-58).

“If the spiritual or physical welfare of the child is endangered by the father’s abuse of his right to care for the child, or his neglect of the child or is guilty of dishonorable or immoral practices then the Guardianship Court is obligated to take whatever actions are required to eliminate the danger to the child.”


“Karlsruhe v. [Franz Josef Seitz] and Willi Seitz, April 15,1937, case no. 1 ZFH 33/37

The task of parents is… raising their children in German customs and beliefs that morally and intellectually reveal the spirit of National Socialism in the service of the Volk and the national community. This violation of the duties of parents is a subjective infraction of Paragraph 1666."


In this family law case, the District Court in Karlsruhe:



In this family law case, the District Court decided the case:A. FairlyB. Unfairly


Three liberated prisoners, Franz Josef Seitz (No 730) is on the right. Buchenwald, Germany, after April 11, 1945.


A couple is publicly humiliated for violating Nazi race taboos. Norden, Germany, July 1935.

“I am a defiler of the race.”


King Frederick Wilhelm II and his advisors discuss the principle of “Equality Before the Law” in the Prussian General Common Law codification of June 1, 1794 in this drawing by Carl Roehling.


Wilhelm Stuckart (1902-1953), Nazi jurist responsible for the Nuremberg Laws.

“Those actions of judges that seeks to limit the political decisions of the Führer and ultimately obstruct them are in direct opposition to the central legal conception of the National Socialist state, namely the Führer Principle”-State Secretary Dr. Stuckart, Deutsche Verwaltung 12 JG 1935, p. 161


Chart indicating the determination of Jewish racial ancestry under the Nuremberg laws.


“The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor, September 15, 1935

…purity of the German Blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the German people..: …Article 2Extramarital relations between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood is forbidden.“

“Pictures of the German Race1”


Supreme Court Decision in 1936

“Other difficulties argue against such a narrow definition equating “sexual relations” with “intercourse.”

Such a definition would pose nearly insurmountable difficulties for the courts in obtaining evidence and force the discussion of the most delicate questions.

A wider interpretation is also required here because the provisions of the law serve not only to protect German blood but also to protect German honor.”


In this Nuremberg Law decision the Supreme Court:



In this Nuremberg Law case the Supreme Court decided:



Supreme Court rulings on the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor:

Any act that satisfied the sex urge violated the law.

Crime established even if the sexual act occurred abroad.

Intent was irrelevant in determining penalties.

Just a verbal proposition for sex violated the law.

Crime did not require bodily contact.


Leo Katzenberger, Chairman of the Jewish Cultural Community in Nuremberg. He was executed for race defilement on June 3, 1942.

Irene Seiler testifies at the Nuremberg Jurist Trial. Nuremberg, Germany, March 26, 1947.

http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=5256512&language=en


Massacre of unarmed, Jewish civilians during World War II. Vinnitsa, Soviet Union, 1941-1943.


Decree Against Public Enemies (Volksschädlinge, literally “harmers of the nation”) September 5, 1939

Decree Against Public Enemies

“Anyone who commits a crime using the special circumstances induced by the condition of war will be punished, overstepping the normal legal penalties, with penitentiary of up to 15 years, with life in prison, or with death in accordance with the requirements of sound popular judgment… “


0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

Death Sentences, 1933-1945

Total 16,560


Erna Wazinski

Brunswick, Germany Arrested: October 1944


Walter Meyer

Düsseldorf, Germany Arrested: April 1943


Erna Wazinski Brunswick, Germany. Arrested: October 1944.

Walter Meyer Born 1927, in the Rhineland, Germany. Arrested: April 1943


In the interpretation of the Decree Against Public Enemies German courts:A. Primarily followed the LawB. Primarily applied Nazi ideologyC. Primarily expanded on the Law


German courts interpreted the Decree Against Public Enemies:



Touch Stones of German Justice, Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung – 1934.

“The murderer’s dagger was hidden beneath the robes of the jurist.” Nuremberg Trials


When did the judiciary in Nazi Germany fail in their role? 1. Purge of the judiciary2. Reichstag Fire Trial3. Oath to Hitler4. Referenced Nazi ideology in

court decisions


The main source of injustice in the courts of Nazi Germany was:A. Nazi assaults on judicial independenceB. Judges adhering strictly to the LawC. Judges applied Nazi ideologyD. Judges expanding on the Law to fit the situation


What are the safeguards in our system to ensure a fair and impartial system of justice today?

Are they enough?


What can you do in your court right now to ensure that the kinds of failures that led to the Holocaust do not

happen on your watch?

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law, justice, and the holocaust how the courts failed germany

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