UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM 1 IDAHO JUDICIAL CONFERENCE 2013
Dec 26, 2015
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
3 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
German Society and the Holocaust
4 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
What is the role of the judiciary in society?List:
5 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
The Holocaust
6 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.
7 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Dr. Erwin Bumke, President of the German Supreme Court, 1929-1945.
8 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Chancellor Adolf Hitler and President Paul von Hindenburg. Potsdam, Germany, 1933.
9 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Pedestrians look upon the still burning parliament building the morning after the arson. Berlin, Germany, February 28, 1933..
10 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
A police officer and a member of the SS on patrol. Berlin, Germany,March 5, 1933.
11 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Members of the SA humiliate Dr. Michael Siegel, a Jewish attorney. Munich, Germany, March 10, 1933.
“I will never again complain to the police”
12 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Hans Kerrl, Prussian minister of justice, visits the instruction camp for German jurists. Jüterbog, Germany, August, 1933.
13 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.”
14 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
“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
15 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
“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.”
16 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Marinus van der Lubbe, testifies before the Supreme Court. Leipzig, Germany, September 1933
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM17
Was judicial independence preserved?
a) Yesb) No
18 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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)
19 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
“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)
20 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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”
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM21
In this contract law case, the Superior Court in Berlin:
A. Primarily followed the LawB. Primarily applied Nazi ideologyC. Primarily expanded on the Law
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM22
In this contract law case, the Superior Court decided the case:
A. FairlyB. Unfairly
23 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
The Kusserow children at the family home. Bad Lippspringe, Germany, 1939.
24 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.”
25 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
“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."
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM26
In this family law case, the District Court in Karlsruhe:
A. Primarily followed the LawB. Primarily applied Nazi ideologyC. Primarily expanded on the Law
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM27
In this family law case, the District Court decided the case:A. FairlyB. Unfairly
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM28
Three liberated prisoners, Franz Josef Seitz (No 730) is on the right. Buchenwald, Germany, after April 11, 1945.
29 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
A couple is publicly humiliated for violating Nazi race taboos. Norden, Germany, July 1935.
“I am a defiler of the race.”
30 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.
31 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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
32 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Chart indicating the determination of Jewish racial ancestry under the Nuremberg laws.
33 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
“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”
34 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.”
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM35
In this Nuremberg Law decision the Supreme Court:
A. Primarily followed the LawB. Primarily applied Nazi ideologyC. Primarily expanded on the Law
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM36
In this Nuremberg Law case the Supreme Court decided:
A. FairlyB. Unfairly
37 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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.
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM38
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.
39 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Massacre of unarmed, Jewish civilians during World War II. Vinnitsa, Soviet Union, 1941-1943.
40 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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… “
41 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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
42 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Erna Wazinski
Brunswick, Germany Arrested: October 1944
43 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Walter Meyer
Düsseldorf, Germany Arrested: April 1943
44 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Walter Meyer
Düsseldorf, Germany Arrested: April 1943
45 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Erna Wazinski Brunswick, Germany. Arrested: October 1944.
Walter Meyer Born 1927, in the Rhineland, Germany. Arrested: April 1943
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM46
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
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM47
German courts interpreted the Decree Against Public Enemies:
A. FairlyB. Unfairly
48 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Touch Stones of German Justice, Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung – 1934.
“The murderer’s dagger was hidden beneath the robes of the jurist.” Nuremberg Trials
49 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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
50 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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
51 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
What are the safeguards in our system to ensure a fair and impartial system of justice today?
Are they enough?
52 UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
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?
53
Use this as a divider or question page (insert large image here)