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Volksgericht
The People's Court (german: Volksgerichtshof, acronymed to ''VGH'') was a ' ("special court") of Nazi Germany, set up outside the operations of the constitutional frame of law. Its headquarters were originally located in the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin, later moved to the former '' Königliches Wilhelms-Gymnasium'' at Bellevuestrasse 15 in Potsdamer Platz (the location now occupied by the Sony Center; a marker is located on the sidewalk nearby). The court was established in 1934 by order of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, in response to his dissatisfaction at the outcome of the Reichstag fire trial in front of the Reich Court of Justice (''Reichsgericht'') in which all but one of the defendants were acquitted. The court had jurisdiction over a rather broad array of "political offenses", which included crimes like black marketeering, work slowdowns, defeatism, and treason against Nazi Germany. These crimes were viewed by the court as ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' ("the disi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sondergericht
A ''Sondergericht'' (plural: ''Sondergerichte'') was a German "special court". After taking power in 1933, the Nazis quickly moved to remove internal opposition to the Nazi regime in Germany. The legal system became one of many tools for this aim and the Nazis gradually supplanted the normal justice system with political courts with wide-ranging powers. The function of the special courts was to intimidate the German public, but as they expanded their scope and took over roles previously done by ordinary courts such as ''Amtsgerichte'' this function became diluted. Function in Germany Special courts had existed in Germany as far back as the nineteenth century. They had generally been set up temporarily in response to some major but localised civil disturbance and then quickly dissolved once they had served their purpose. A more permanent national network of Special Courts came into being during 1933, soon after the passage of the Reichstag Fire Decree, which all but eliminate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The detention centre established in 1868 has a long history; it became notorious during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era as one of the main sites of capital punishment, where about 3,000 inmates were executed. Famous inmates include East Germany's last communist leader Egon Krenz. History The prison was founded by resolution of the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian government under King William I, German Emperor, William I and built until 1879 on the estates of the Plötzensee manor, named after nearby Plötzensee (lake), Plötzensee Lake (''Plötze'' is the local German name of the common roach, cf. ''Płoć'' in Polish language, Polish). The area divided by the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal opened in 1859 was located at the outskirts of the Tegel forest no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945), a German Nazi jurist, judge, and politician, served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1934 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 1945. As a prominent ideologist of Nazism, he influenced the Nazification of Germany's legal system as a jurist. He attended the Wannsee Conference, the 1942 event which set the Holocaust in motion. He was appointed President of the People's Court in 1942, overseeing the prosecution of political crimes as a judge, and became known for his aggressive personality, his humiliation of defendants, and frequent use of the death penalty in sentencing. Although the death penalty was abolished with the creation of the Federal Republic in 1949, Freisler's 1941 definition of murder in German law, as opposed to the less severe crime of ''killing'', survives in the Strafgesetzbuch § 211. Early life Roland Freisler was born on 30 October 1893 in C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erwin Von Witzleben
Job Wilhelm Georg Erdmann Erwin von Witzleben (4 December 1881 – 8 August 1944) was a German field marshal in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. A leading conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was designated to become Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi regime had the plot succeeded. Early years Erwin von Witzleben was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) in the Prussian province of Silesia, the son of Georg von Witzleben (1838–1898), a Hauptmann (captain) in the Prussian Army, and his wife, Therese née Brandenburg. The Witzleben dynasty was an '' Uradel'' family of old nobility and many officers, descending from Witzleben in Thuringia. He completed the Prussian Cadet Corps program at Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie, Prussian Silesia and in Lichterfelde near Berlin, and on 22 June 1901 joined the Grenadier Regiment ''König Wilhelm I'' No. 7 in Liegnitz, Silesia (now Legnica, Poland) as a Leutnant (lieutenant). In 1910, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Rose
The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the University of Munich: Willi Graf, Kurt Huber, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. Their activities started in Munich on 27 June 1942; they ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on 18 February 1943. They, as well as other members and supporters of the group who carried on distributing the pamphlets, faced show trials by the Nazi People's Court (); many of them were sentenced to death or imprisonment. Hans and Sophie Scholl, as well as Christoph Probst were executed by guillotine four days after their arrest, on 22 February 1943. During the trial, Sophie interrupted the judge multiple times. No defendants were given any opportunity to speak. The group wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrkraftzersetzung
''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' (German for "undermining defence force") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945. ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 by decree as Germany moved closer to World War II to suppress criticism of the Nazi Party and ''Wehrmacht'' leadership in the military, and in 1939, a second decree was issued extending the law to civilians.The term is nuanced, making it difficult to translate in a way that clearly conveys its sense. In picking any equivalent word, the translator necessarily leaves out all the others. The word ''Zersetzung'' means "decomposition", "corrosion", "disintegration", "putrefaction", "degradation" or "degrading", but is also used figuratively to mean "subversion" and "disruptiveness". The word ''Wehrkraft'' translates verbatim as "military power" or "military strength". See the translation of ''Zersetzung'here./ref> ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' consolidated and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies of World War II, Allies defeated Germany, End of World War II in Europe, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kangaroo Court
A kangaroo court is a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides, and is typically convened ad hoc. A kangaroo court may ignore due process and come to a predetermined conclusion. The term may also apply to a court held by a legitimate judicial authority which intentionally disregards the court's legal or ethical obligations (compare show trial). A kangaroo court could also develop when the structure and operation of the forum result in an inferior brand of adjudication. A common example of this is when institutional disputants ("repeat players") have excessive and unfair structural advantages over individual disputants ("one-shot players"). Etymology The term ''kangaroo court'' is often erroneously believed to have its origin from the courts of Australia's penal colonies. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites the first published instance of the term as from an American source, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
20 July Plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The name "Operation Valkyrie"—originally referring to part of the conspiracy—has become associated with the entire event. The apparent aim of the assassination attempt was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. The details of the conspirators' peace initiatives remain unknown, but they would have included unrealistic demands for the confirmation of Germany's extensive annexations of European territory. The plot was the culmination of efforts by several groups in the German resistance to overthrow the Nazi German government. The failure of the assassination attempt and the intended military , or putsch, that was to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the Chancellor of Germany, chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of in 1934. During his dictatorship, he initiated European theatre of World War II, World War II in Europe by invasion of Poland, invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of Holocaust victims, about six million Jews and millions of other victims. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s and moved to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his Military career of Adolf Hitler, service in the German Army in Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prussian House Of Lords
The Prussian House of Lords (german: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Representatives (''Abgeordnetenhaus''), it formed the Prussian bicameral legislature. The building is now used as the seat of the German Bundesrat. Kingdom of Prussia Modeled on the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, the ''Herrenhaus'' was created following the 1848 revolution with the adoption of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia imposed by King Frederick William IV on 31 January 1850. A member of the House of Lords was known as a ''pair'' (see also pairie), or officially as a ''member of the Prussian House of Lords'' (''Mitglieder des preußischen Herrenhauses'', or MdH). The House consisted of hereditary peers, life peers appointed by the King of Prussia, peers by virtue of position, representatives of cities and unive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defeatism
Defeatism is the acceptance of defeat without struggle, often with negative connotations. It can be linked to pessimism in psychology, and may sometimes be used synonymously with fatalism or determinism. History The term ''defeatism'' is commonly used in politics as a descriptor for an ideological stance that considers co-operation with the opposition party. In the military context, in wartime, and especially at the front, ''defeatism'' is synonymous with treason. Under military law, a soldier can be accused of being defeatist if he refuses to fight by voicing doubt of the ideological validity of national policy; thus, existential questions such as "Is the war already lost?" and "Is the fight worth the effort?" are defeatism that connote advocacy of an alternative end-to-the war other than military victory. "Defeatism" in Nazi Germany Defeatism became a buzzword in Germany following its capitulation in 1918, particularly among the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler, who routinely bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
