Democracy, Nazi Trials, and Transitional Justice in Germany, 1945–1950

Pendas, Devin O.

doi:10.1017/9781139021074

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…23 This charge was more readily 'implemented in the East, where dispensing ex post facto justice was more accustomed than in the West, where such prosecution of crimes against humanity was neither necessary, as most crimes could be prosecuted under ordinary German law anyway, nor just, because the Nazis themselves provided a notorious example of what happened when one abandoned the prohibition on ex post facto law'. 24 Regarding the general quality of these proceedings, Pendas finds, again against the common wisdom, that they were much more than show trials:…”

Section: The Eastern Face Of Nurembergmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…West German trials for Nazi crimes are very much an artifact of the transition period'. 36 Tackling the Holocaust behind the Iron Curtain Just as Nuremberg eclipses the other trials held in postwar Germany, so does the German model of facing its past overshadow other attempts in that direction. Yet they occurred across Europe through examining the scope and nature of collaboration during the Nazi occupation, which was and remains among the thorniest wartime issues.…”

Section: The Eastern Face Of Nurembergmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitional Justice Incubator: Bridging European Fault Lines

Petrović

2022

Contemporary European History

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Transitional justice is typically perceived as a product of the third wave of democratisation, which came to the fore after the fall of the Iron Curtain, bringing along with it various mechanisms, from truth commissions and lustration procedures to national trials, leading to the creation of hybrid and international tribunals of global reach.1 Despite its obvious relevance, the aftermath of the Second World War is generally treated as a cursory prehistory in the transitional justice literature. With the exception of the Nuremberg trials, robust research on legal and extralegal ventures which characterised the first postwar decade remains largely disconnected from contemporary transitional justice concerns, and yet it offers a number of valuable lessons.2 Three recent publications which are the subject of this review are therefore a welcome intervention, highlighting the scope and depth, successes and fallacies of efforts to come to terms with the atrocious legacy of the Second World War in its immediate aftermath.

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Section: The Eastern Face Of Nurembergmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Eastern Face Of Nurembergmentioning

confidence: 99%