Existing comment:
[5 Front]
Should murder be subject to a statute of limitations?
The Federal Ministry of Justice and the Statue of Limitations for Nazi Crimes
01 Debates on the Statute of Limitations
In the early 1960s, a debate began in the Federal Republic of Germany on the statute of limitations for Nazi crimes. Under the Criminal Code, manslaughter offences were to be statute-barred from 8 May 1960 and murders were to be statute-barred from 8 May 1965. In spring 1960, the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) advocated enabling the judiciary to prosecute these offences for a few more years. The Federal Ministry of Justice strongly objected. The Bundestag rejected the SPD's applications and the manslaughter offences became statute-barred.
In 1965, however, a majority in the Bundestag advocated a longer period within which Nazi murderers could be prosecuted. In an impressive speech, Ernst Benda, a young Bundestag deputy, had convinced many parliamentarians in favour of an extension.
In 1979, the statute of limitations was finally abolished in cases of murder. Thus, perpetrators in Nazi extermination camps can still be tried today.
Fritz Schäffer, Federal Minister of Justice:
"I am convinced that the German people and the German legal system have already done the best that is possible to prosecute the crimes committed during the Nazi period. It is my conviction that today, there is no longer a danger that any major matter in this field remains undiscovered and therefore threatened by the statute of limitations."
The statute of limitations debate was revived in 1965 when murders from the Nazi period threatened to become statute-barred. The Federal Minister of Justice was now Ewald Bucher, who from 1931 had been a member of the National Socialist Schoolchildren's League, had been awarded the Golden Party Badge of the Hitler Youth organisation and in 1937 had joined the Nazi Party. Once again, the Ministry and the Minster opposed a longer period of prosecutability for Nazi murders.
Ewald Bucher, Federal Minister of Justice:
"The exceptional situation referred to as the Third Reich has already been taken into account in that our judiciary has suspended the limitation period for specific Nazi crimes for the entire duration of the Nazi regime. That is something."
Der Spiegel no. 5/1965
When Jewish organisations in New York demonstrated against the impending statute of Ewald Bucher, Federal Minister of limitations, Justice, accused them of provoking anti-Semitism:
"It should not be overlooked that these demonstrations, mainly supported by Jewish organisations, could feed latent anti-Semitism in the world – after all, it is not just a German characteristic."
Der Spiegel, no. 5/1965.
02 Today
For a long time, many Nazi perpetrators could not be punished because their involvement in a specific killing in the concentration camps could not be demonstrated. In 2011, the courts changed their view.
The proceedings against Gröning and Hanning represent a very late legal anyone who kept the SS Unterscharführer Oskar Gröning was deployed in Auschwitz concentration camp from 1942 to 1944 where he was responsible for administering prisoners' money. In 2015, he was convicted by the Regional Court Lüneburg as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases.
Oskar Gröning in SS uniform during his time in Auschwitz from 1942 to 1944
Oskar Gröning in court in Lüneburg, April 2015
SS Unterscharführer Oskar Gröning was deployed in Auschwitz concentration camp from 1942 to 1944 where he was responsible for administering prisoners' money. In 2015, he was convicted by the Regional Court Lüneburg as an accessory to murder in 300,000 cases.
Reinhold Hanning in uniform as an SS Unterscharführer, around 1943/1944
Reinhold Hanning in the courtroom in Detmold, June 2016
SS Unterscharführer Reinhold Hanning was deployed at Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. In 2016, he was convicted by the Regional Court Detmold as an accessory to murder in 170,000 cases. |