Abstract
West Germany's post-war judiciary faced a di lemma in criminally judging Nazi denunciation. This di lemma consisted of a ban against the retroactive application of new laws, as well as of an objection against relinquishing reports of true facts. Contemporary jurists viewed the mo tives leading to a as morally reprehensible, but not necessarily as deserving of criminal punishment. The motives were therefore regarded as irrelevant in the context of criminal prosecutions. This draws attention to the am biguous nature of the terms denunciation and report, and highlights the difference between judging a denuncia tion morally and legally. This essay provides of an over view of the legal precedents and scholarly debate in post war Germany, with a special emphasis on the difficulties presented to German courts by the Control Council Law No. 10. Subsequently it will show that the judiciary's atten tion concerning the problem of was not only focused on the past. The background of during Germany's National Socialist past also provided a setting in which to consider the possibility of using positive denun ciations or 'reports' for criminal prosecution in the fu ture. Address all communications to Claudia Bade, Gellertstr. 48, D-28201 Bremen, E-mail: Claudia@uni-bremen.de oder cl.bade@gmx.de
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