Hitler's Executioner: Roland Freisler, President of the Nazi People's Court

by Helmut Ortner

Though little known, the name of the judge Roland Freisler is inextricably linked to the judiciary in Nazi Germany. As well as serving as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice, he was the notorious president of the People s Court , a man directly responsible for more than 2,200 death sentences; with almost no exceptions, cases in the People s Court had predetermined guilty verdicts. It was Freisler, for example, who tried three activists of the White Rose resistance movement in February 1943\. Along with Christoph Probst, Sophie and Hans Scholl were arrested for their part in an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign which called for active opposition against the Nazi regime. Found guilty of treason, Freisler sentenced the trio to death by beheading; a sentence carried out the same day by guillotine. In August 1944, Freisler played a central role in the show trials that followed the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler on 20 July that year a plot known more commonly as Operation Valkyrie. Many of the ringleaders were tried by Freisler in the People s Court . The proceedings were filmed, the intention being to use the images as propaganda in newsreels. Freisler could be seen alternating between clinical interrogations of the defendants through to his yelling of personalized and theatrically enraged abuse at them from the bench. Nearly all of those found guilty were sentenced to death by hanging, the sentences being carried out within two hours of the verdicts being passed. Roland Freisler s mastery of legal texts and dramatic court-room verbal dexterity made him the most feared judge in the Third Reich. In this in-depth examination, Helmut Ortner not only investigates the development and judgments of the Nazi tribunal, but the career of Freisler, a man who was killed in February 1945 during an Allied air raid.

Genres: Biography, History, Ebooks, World War II, War

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Memed Koz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Belgesel olması daha uygun olan, kitap olaraksa biraz fazla detaylara girilmesini ve bazı konuların fazla uzamasını saymazsak Nazi dönemi “adalet sistemini” güzel aktaran bir kitap.
Sokakta arkadaşınıza Hitler’in savaş politikasını eleştirirseniz ve buna biri tanık olup adalet divanına bildirirse hüküm belli; sembolik bir mahkeme ve sorgulama, peşi sıra idam. Çoğu kez böyle olmuş.
Savaş zayiatları Almanların aleyhine artmaya başladıkça, savaşın kaybedileceği netleşmeye başladıkça Nazi adaletinin balyozu daha sert vurmaya başlamış ve kendi ırkından olan vatandaşlarını daha çok idam sehpasına götürmüş.
Nazi rejimi sona erdikten sonra da adaletsizlik şöyle devam etmiş; baştan sonra yeniden inşa edilmeye çalışılan kamu kurumları, konu adalet olunca maalesef yine aynı acımasız hakimlere, bu sefer farklı görevler vererek çözüme kavuşturulmuş.
Tüm bunları, başta belirttiğim üzere, daha kısaltılarak anlatmaya ihtiyaç hissettiren şekilde paylaşıyor kitap.

[Tita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opinião aqui

[António · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este livro, muito bem documentado, não é “apenas” a biografia de Roland Freisler, presidente do Tribunal do Povo no regime nazi de Hitler entre 1942 e 1945 (“o mais sinistro, mais brutal e mais sanguinário juíz de toda a história da administração alemã da justiça”), mas um livro muito mais abrangente: do que ele trata é de “culpa e expiação, de fracasso e de cobardia, de coragem e de honradez, de criminosos e de vítimas, de repressão e de negação”. Recorda, enfim, o que foi o Direito e a “Justiça” no regime nazi, assim como se concretizou a criação dele, pelos legisladores, e a aplicação dela pelos Juízes, particularmente os do Tribunal do Povo. Apesar da tradução satisfatória, só não dou 5 estrelas a este livro devido à “descuidada” revisão de Paulina Amaral. As gralhas são às centenas e algumas delas irritantes e iletradas (para não dizer analfabetas): residente em vez de resistente, aplicar em lugar de aplacar e psicodrama por psicograma são alguns exemplos. Lamentavelmente exemplares.

[Rita Costa (Lusitania Geek) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well there was obviously no such thing as justice in Nazi Germany, especially with a man called Roland Friesler, a ruthless judge that over the years build a ladder to be the most dangerous judge-president in People’s Court in Nazi regime.

It really was eye opening to Germans, when this book was on the market, his actions that took away many people’s lifes with an ideology that was seen post war as unhuman and irrational.

It’s a non-fiction well documented. I recommend this book ! 4.5 ⭐️

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of the book is rather misleading. I was expecting a biography on Roland Freisler and, instead, most of the book focuses on the entire German judiciary during the III Reich.
It's an interesting read for the most part... Until the final chapter when the author throws away the impartiality he used throughout the book and goes on rants against the way the "denazification" process went etc.