„Strafrecht ist Kampfrecht!“ Justiz und Terror in Mecklenburg 1933 – 1945
In the organizer's words:
The exhibition primarily documents the role of the Mecklenburg judiciary as part of the Nazi dictatorship. The focus is on the instrumentalization of the law to eliminate actual or supposed opponents. In addition, extrajudicial persecution instances and methods are also documented. In addition to the individual fates of victims of Nazi justice, prominent careers of perpetrators are traced. A special chapter is dedicated to dealing with Nazi crimes after 1945 up to the present day.
The topics:
- The restructuring of law and justice in the "Third Reich"
- Centralization of the judicial system
- The house on Adolf-Hitler-Platz
- The role of the secret state police
- Instrumentalization of criminal law
- Forced sterilizations by court order
- Boycott and exclusion of Jews
- Justice in the "total war"
- The penal system in Mecklenburg
- Murder of the sick and mentally handicapped
- Persecution, expulsion and extermination of the Jews
- The system of subcamps in Mecklenburg
- Mecklenburg and July 20, 1944
- The collapse of the "Third Reich"
- Dealing with the Nazi past after 1945
The special court
Instrumentalization of criminal law
Justice in the service of the Nazi dictatorship. During the National Socialist regime, Schwerin's Demmlerplatz bore the name of Adolf Hitler (it was later renamed Blücherplatz). At this time, the court building housed the special court for Mecklenburg. Its jurisdiction extended to political criminal cases. These included active acts of resistance, spontaneous expressions of displeasure, insults against leading Nazi functionaries or the spreading of political jokes. The defendants were largely without rights before the special court.
The hereditary health court
Forced sterilizations by court order
The Schwerin court building was home to another division chamber that also served to implement political directives: the Hereditary Health Court. On the basis of the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" of 14 July 1933, it had to decide on the infertility of people who were considered "inferior" according to National Socialist racial ideology. These included people with mental or physical disabilities, the mentally ill, alcoholics and so-called "asocials".
The Schwerin court building, around 1930.
Schwerin state archives.
Unrestricted terror
Secret state police
Independently of the legal persecution by the courts, the National Socialist terror apparatus had other means of action at its disposal that were not restricted by law. In the form of the Secret State Police, it had a powerful institution that was not subject to judicial control. For example, the state police station in Schwerin's Weinbergstraße had the power to take politically unpopular people into "protective custody" for an indefinite period of time and commit them to a concentration camp.
This content has been machine translated.Price information:
Visiting the exhibitions and using the educational services of the Documentation Center are free of charge.
Location
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