Abstract
Article Five of the Special Wartime Penal Code served as the basis for the prosecution of the crime of Wehrkraftzersetzung (“subversion”) in the Third Reich. Using a sample of sixty‐six cases dealing with defeatist statements tried before the People's Court, this article argues that these subversion cases clearly demonstrate the politicisation of the judicial process under the Nazi regime. The application of an extraordinarily broad interpretation of the term “public”— virtually obliterating any notion of a private sphere — as well as a draconian use of the death penalty (two‐thirds of defendants were sentenced to death and executed) both provide evidence that the prosecution of subversion can be understood as one component of a broader effort by the Hitler regime to achieve total control over society in pursuit of total war.
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