Author(s): Alice Eged

Title: IGAZSÁGSZOLGÁLTATÁS A DIKTATÚRA ÉS A DEMOKRÁCIA SZOLGÁLATÁBAN

Source: Sz. Simon (ed.): 13th International Conference of J. Selye University. Language and Literacy Section. Conference Proceedings

ISBN: 978-80-8122-412-6

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36007/4126.2022.25

Publisher: J. Selye University, Komárno, Slovakia

PY, pages: 2021, 25-35

Published on-line: 2022

Language: hu

Abstract: Not only did the National Socialist regime transformed the political institutions of the Weimar Republic, but it reckoned with a number of traditional legal institutions as well. Central government took over federal structures of government, and instead of the classical principles of civil state-building, guiding principles became decisive. Reshaping of the judicial system emphatically prevailed in the field of criminal law. The upper limit of sanctions against perpetrators became increasingly high, and the list of crimes punishable by death considerably increased. The majority of lawyers cooperated with the regime, and their acivity significantly contributed to the stable functioning of the system. In 1947, an American military tribunal held 16 jurists to account in Nuremberg, however, after the birth of the German Federal Republic, authorities only reluctantly persecuted offenders who had committed perversion of the course of justice. Moreover, they were allowed to stay in the service of the new state, or after a short period, they were reinstated into their high positions. My paper illustrates the inadequacy of post-war prosecutions through the case of the judges of the Katzenberger trial (1942).

Keywords: National Socialist regime, reshaping of the judicial system, Katzenberger trial, role of judges, judicial responsibility

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