Death Sentences in the Name of Nazi Justice
Historian Dr. Alexander Korb on the Nazi justice system and the victims executed at Munich’s Stadelheim Prison
Many people were executed in Munich-Stadelheim prison during the Nazi era—for their political beliefs, alleged criminality, or for racist motives. In this interview, historian Dr. Alexander Korb explains how the Nazi legal system worked, what role special courts and the People’s Court played, and what the surviving execution files reveal about the last weeks of the condemned.
During the Nazi era, more than 1,000 people were executed in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison. What do we know about these victims of Nazism?
Astonishingly little, despite the wealth of archival information on them. This has to do with the fact that research generally doesn’t put much emphasis on justice system victims. Until now, the focus has been on the political victims of National Socialism. Seven members of the White Rose were executed in Stadelheim, for example, and their fates and the events surrounding their executions are well documented. But in general, the documentation is extremely fragmented. A given file is usually kept in the city where the sentence was pronounced, and the sources are scattered accordingly far and wide.
What was the basis for executing people during the Nazi era?
To begin with, it’s worth pointing out that the executions were individually substantiated. Unlike the millions of murders carried out in the concentration and extermination camps, executions came about as the result of individual, publicly held legal proceedings.
That mirrors the two-faced character of the Nazi justice system. The judiciary took great pains to organize the executions “constitutionally” and to justify the sentences.
Dr. Alexander Korb
On the surface, the Nazi judiciary was based on rules and evidence. As far as we know from the records, the people charged with crimes actually did commit them in one way or another. In many cases, there were even acquittals, for example when the judge considered the evidence insufficient.
The only exception to this evidence-based practice were the racist verdicts. When a German brought charges against a Russian or Polish forced laborer, the accusation was considered a statement of truth. On farms, for example, there were often violent disputes between foreign forced laborers and German farmers. When a case of this kind came to trial, it was extremely difficult for the foreign worker to prove their innocence.
Did the number of executions increase over the course of the Nazi period?
Yes, but in that context you have to look back a bit further. As far as execution practices were concerned, the year 1933 didn’t represent a major turning point. After World War I, in the 1920s, for instance, far more people were executed than in the early 1930s. The late 1920s saw the formation of a powerful initiative to abolish capital punishment. In the early ’30s, the number of executions gradually began to rise again.
All 30 persons executed in Stadelheim between the Nazi accession to power and the outbreak of World War II had been convicted of murder. The situation changed when the war started: Now the Nazi justice system became much more active and aggressive. The number of capital punishment provisions exploded and with it the number of executions. The procedural rules were tightened and judges were under pressure to impose the maximum penalties. Even more importantly, two new court types were created: special courts, which tried alleged criminal acts, and so-called people’s courts, where political acts were prosecuted.
Offenses that could be linked to the war were now prosecuted with particular severity, for example the theft of a bicycle or a suitcase during the blackout. This was a lesson the Nazis had learned from World War I. According to the narrative, back then the judiciary had been too lenient, and that’s why Germany had lost the war. This idea was deeply ingrained in the judges’ minds. The number of death sentences executed in Stadelheim before 1942 was 136; between 1942 and 1945 it shot up to over 1,000.
What reasons were cited for executions?
The reasons for executions ranged from political accusations such as high treason to criminal acts such as such as sexual offenses, attempted murder, and murder, especially femicide. On closer inspection, however, they were very complex. Roughly speaking, it can be said that about one third of the sentences were linked to political acts, another third to petty offenses. People who from the Nazi viewpoint did not fit into society made up a substantial proportion. They included “vagrants,” for instance, who had provided false information about themselves to the social welfare office, and Sinti who were condemned for their way of life. Soldiers found guilty by court martials, usually for desertion, accounted for a somewhat smaller percentage. Naturally, capital offenses were also important reasons for execution.
What offenses led most frequently to the death sentence?
The large majority of the death sentences pronounced in this period were for theft, for example looting, suitcase theft, and mail theft. The Nazis even created their own terms for these crimes, such as “Postmarder” (mail weasel). The next most common were political death sentences for participation in the resistance. Then there were crimes that could practically only be committed by foreigners, such as the “denigration of German culture.” The Nazis were afraid that the hundreds of thousands of forced laborers working in the German Reich at the time might instigate an uprising.
Documents and letters of/by the people executed
What sources provide information about the executions?
The court files kept by public prosecutors are the main source. They contain all the documents related to a trial from the indictment to the executioner’s bill. In most cases, they also contain the recorded statements of defendants and witnesses, as well as the “pardon book” and the “execution book,” and sometimes letters or photos. Together, these documents provide insight into the proceedings from the court’s perspective. There are also the execution files, which are far less extensive.
What types of documents do the execution files contain?
On the day of their arrival at Stadelheim Prison, each condemned prisoner received an execution file. This file began with a transcript of the sentence, followed by the transfer form documenting the prisoner’s transfer from the court to the place of execution. There was moreover a list of their belongings—their clothing, hand luggage, and any cash they had on them. A considerable portion of the file revolved around the issue of who should receive the belongings after the execution. There was also a record of visits and a yellow index card listing all correspondence, including farewell letters.
Was every prisoner permitted to write a farewell letter?
Yes, every prisoner had the right to write one or more farewell letters. Many took advantage of this opportunity.
How many of these execution files have survived?
There are 844 execution files in the Staatsarchiv München (Munich State Archive). I have found two more in the course of my research. These files account for about two thirds of the persons sentenced to death. No one knows why the remaining files, numbering approximately 500, are missing. In the surviving files, we have identified only somewhat over 50 letters written by the persons executed. This means that the majority of the farewell letters were probably delivered.
Why were some of the farewell letters never delivered to the intended recipients?
Among the possible reasons were illegibility or the cryptic nature of a letter. The public prosecutors or prison administrators probably also kept letters in which the condemned person criticized the trial or the death sentence, possibly because they felt such criticism was a personal attack on their character. I assume the reasons for the failure to deliver a farewell letter were subjective and there was no tight censorship.
Sometimes copies were made of letters. The Nazi justice system was very interested in the psychological dimensions of the offenses. The farewell letters by the serial killer Johann Eichhorn, for example, were typed out and presumably read by many members of the judiciary.
The letters differ strongly in character. Sometimes you can’t read them without tears coming to your eyes; others are more matter-of-fact. An astonishing number of them are about finding consolation in Christian beliefs about the afterlife.
Commemorating the victims of Nazi justice
In your opinion, are the victims of Nazi justice adequately commemorated?
There are several commemorative sites. There’s an exhibit, for example, in the courtroom of the Munich Palace of Justice in which one of the trials of members of the White Rose took place. However, that presentation says nothing about the hundreds of less prominent victims sentenced to death in the same courtroom. In 1954, a grove of honor was created in the cemetery in Perlach Forest for victims of Nazi justice condemned for allegedly political crimes. However, there is no explanation whatsoever of who is actually buried there and why. Several plaques have been erected in front of the entrance to Stadelheim Prison. At other execution sites such as the ones in Plötzensee and Brandenburg-Görden, there are also installations for commemorating the persons executed.
What I find problematic is that, until now, a distinction has always been made between political and non-political victims of Nazi executions. We talked earlier about the Nazi justice system. The persons condemned for “criminal” offenses were also victims of the rogue regime. To this day, there is no place that tells this story in all its facets.
What do you think would be a fitting way to commemorate them?
I think there should be a central site for the commemoration of all victims of Nazi justice, for example in Berlin, where many other Nazi victim groups are commemorated. Maybe an object like the Stadelheim guillotine—which is kept in storage in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum and has never been shown in public before—could fulfil this function.
There is so much we can learn from the history of the justice system—above and beyond National Socialism. It touches directly on questions like: What is justice? How can justice be perverted? And how can it be preserved? It would be well worth our while to consider creating such a site.
Dr. Alexander Korb
Six Weeks on Death Row – The harrowing journey from sentencing to execution
The trials were held in public in various courts, many in Munich, and often in prominent buildings such as the Munich Palace of Justice. Other courts were located in Nuremberg, Innsbruck, Regensburg, Eger, Salzburg, and Bayreuth. The proceedings were fast and efficient and usually lasted one to two hours. The Nazis even went to the trouble of summoning witnesses who lived a long way away from Munich. On the surface, the proceedings resembled court trials as we know them.
The death sentence was pronounced in the courtroom. Afterwards, the prisoners were often transported directly to Stadelheim, usually by train or in a prisoner transport vehicle.
Every defendant had the right to a court-appointed defense lawyer. After being convicted and before being transported to the execution site, prisoners could meet briefly with their lawyer to prepare a petition for clemency (at least two women were admitted as defense lawyers before the special courts). Once imprisoned, most lost all contact with their lawyers.
In Stadelheim, those sentenced to death were held in a prison cell, usually in solitary confinement. They spent their days alone in their cells, practically cut off from the outside world. During this time, they clung to the hope of a positive decision on their clemency petition. Some wrote or received a few letters, and visits were usually allowed if requested by relatives. The days were long and gloomy. On average, prisoners spent six to eight weeks on death row, living in constant uncertainty, never knowing whether the next day would be their last.
On the day of the execution, the prisoner was taken to the “reporting room” where officials informed them of the outcome of their clemency petition. In some documented cases, such petitions were successful. Usually, however, the “Führer” decided to “let justice take its course”—in other words, he gave his approval for the execution. As a rule, the death sentence was carried out a few hours later. In the interim, the condemned prisoner had time to compose themselves, speak with the prison chaplain, and write a farewell letter.
With few exceptions, most victims in Stadelheim were executed by guillotine. The guillotine was concealed behind a curtain in a converted tool shed draped in black cloth, directly adjacent to the cell block of the new building. At first, executions were staged ceremonially. Later they were carried out at a rate of one per minute, and steps that took up any time—for example the tolling of the death knell—were omitted. On May 7, 1943, for instance, 17 people were executed at Stadelheim in less than an hour. In Vienna and Berlin, over 30 executions were sometimes carried out in a single day.
In approximately 85 percent of cases, the bodies were sent to the anatomy departments of the university hospitals in Munich, Erlangen, Innsbruck, or Würzburg. During the war, and especially during air raids, it became increasingly difficult for staff to collect the bodies, so many executed prisoners were buried right next to the execution site or, in some cases, at other Munich cemeteries. Many of these graves are now abandoned.