In the shadow of Auschwitz … Jews before Special Courts of the ‘Third Reich’ 1933–1945

Abstract

Summary This article offers a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the presence of Jews before Special Courts of the ‘Third Reich’. The research shows that the participation of Jews as defendants before Special Courts in the so-called Old Reich was marginal. The situation was different in polish areas incorporated into the Reich. Attention is here paid to the numbers of defendants and other penalty statistics, to some types of imputed acts, and to attempts to use courts and court sentencing to take the lives of Jews.