Retribution against Collaborators of the Occupiers after the End of the Second World War: The Concept of "National Honour"

Abstract

Courts of national honour were established in some European countries after the end of the Second World War. These were special courts which assisted in the process of "cleansing" or the process of post-war retribution against collaborators of the occupiers. Such courts were known in the Netherlands, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and all Yugoslav nations. The author presents the criminal procedures for acts against national honour in Czechoslovakia, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia, where the sentences caused long-term consequences. The courts of national honour assumed the role of revolutionary courts and through their operation contributed to the final seizure and consolidation of the Communist Party's power. They participated in the process of changing the socio-economic structure of the state. Trials before the courts were rapid and short. The charges were often a consequence of revenge or the personal interests of complainants. Trials before the courts of national honour violated one of the fundamental legal principles – nullum crimen sine lege: acts (the collaboration with the occupier) tried by the courts of national honour were not considered crimes at the time that they were committed.