Supreme Court of East Germany

Supreme Court (OG ) was the name of the highest judicial organ of the GDR. It was organized separately established by law of 8 December 1949 by the Attorney General of the GDR and resolved with the entry into force of the Unification Treaty.

Until the beginning of the 1970s, the Supreme Court found in the representative part of the building of the former Military Medical Academy at the disability road with the postal address " Scharnhorststraße 6 " in Berlin -Mitte. Then it moved into the Littleton Street premises in the courthouse. In the building there were also the City Court of Berlin, the three city district courts Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and - until its extract - Friedrichshain, the State Notary and Attorney General of (large) Berlin, the prosecutors of the city districts Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and - to to the extract - Friedrichshain, the Military Court and the Military attorney General.

Responsibilities

Were among the areas of responsibility of the Court

• The conduct of criminal proceedings in first and last instance in which the Supreme Prosecutor of the GDR brought charges before the Supreme Court because of the paramount importance of the cases, and
• Cassation in civil and criminal matters.

Later, additional tasks were added, which is mainly attributable to the process of simplification, the walked through the East German judiciary. According to § 55 of the Judicature Act of the GDR, which entered into force on 15 October 1952, the Supreme Court had also

• As the second instance on the appeal of the protest, the appeal and the appeal against first instance judgments in civil and criminal matters and
• To negotiate against decisions of arbitration for annulments of the Office for Inventions and Patents in patent nullity suits and decide.

A constitutional jurisdiction and specific administrative, social and fiscal court branches existed in the GDR. For contract disputes within the socialist economy the central contract Court of the GDR was responsible.

Organization

The Supreme Court of the GDR was ordinary court and decided in both criminal and civil matters. These Senate were formed, which were each headed by a President or Vice President as Chief Justice. In addition to the Chief Justice sat in a Senate two additional judges. According to the Judicature Act, the Supreme Court justices were elected on the proposal of the Council of Ministers of the People's Chamber for five years.

The supreme body was plenary belonged to all the judges of the Supreme Court and the directors of the district courts and the three senior military courts. At annual meetings, guidelines and resolutions were adopted, which were included in the Official Gazette of the GDR in general.

The business of the Supreme Court were regulated by the Bureau, consisting of the President, the Vice President and the top judges. The Bureau was able to take decisions for the jurisdiction of lower courts. The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court had to rule on substantive decision. Depending on whether the Grand Senate was to rule on criminal or civil matters, the panel of judges from the top judges of the respective criminal or civil Senate and the President and Vice- President of the Court sat together.

• President: Kurt Schumann (1949-1960, NDPD ), Heinrich Toeplitz (1960-1986, CDU ), Günter Sarge (1986-1989, SED);
• Vice-Presidents: Hilde Benjamin (1949-1953, SED); Vice President and Chairman of the College of Criminal Law: Walter Ziegler (1953-1958, SED), Gustav Jahn (1958-1962), Walter Ziegler (1962-1977, SED), (new 1st Vice President ) Günter Sarge ( 1977-1986, SED ), since 1977, five criminal panels;
• Chairman of the college for civil, family and labor: Werner Strasberg;
• Military College: Chairman of the College: Günter Sarge (1963-1977), Lothar Penndorf (1977-1989) responsible for mDI, MfNV and Stasi, from 1971 two Senate;
• Not the Supreme Court imputed state attorneys general (see DDR Justice ): Ernst Melsheimer ( 1949-1960, SED ), Josef Streit ( 1962-1986, SED ), Günter Wendland (1986-1989), Harri Harr Country ( 1989/1990 ), Hans -Jürgen Joseph ( 1-6/1990 );
• Deputy Attorneys General: Günter Wendland ( until 1986 ), Karl- Heinz Borchert, from 1990, inter alia, Lothar Reuter and Peter Przybylski ( long-time press officer / prosecutor for Public Relations, amongst others in the DFF television show The prosecutor has the word ).

The 1st Criminal Division

In the 1st Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of important processes were negotiated by high political relevance for the history of the GDR in particular in the early years of the GDR, about the trial of the Jehovah's Witnesses (1950), against Otto Fleischer ( 1953), Elli Barczatis / Karl Laurenz (1955 ) in which it came to espionage, or the show trial of Hans Globke, a close advisor Konrad Adenauer, because of its Nazi past ( 1963). From 1950 to 1972, the Criminal Division conducted 63 cases against 260 people, most of 1950-1957 took place. In the 41 processes with 202 defendants in this period, only two were acquitted. Were among the 200 convictions

From the mid- 1960s, the number of in process here took off. From 1967, a criminal before 1 Criminal Division per year took place at the most.

It was chaired most of the Vice President, the President rarely. The Criminal Division precipitated, particularly in the 1950s, rulings of law rules, eventually resulting in the GDR legislation. Ernst Melsheimer, the first Attorney General of the German Democratic Republic, the Senate spoke a central political function:

" The supreme court shall administer justice in critical areas for the foundations of our state and for the existence of our republic issues; it shall pronounce on high, well all the people visible platform; it shall pronounce quickly and correctly. [ ... ] The trial [ ... ] by the Supreme Court in the broadest public strengthens and deepens the democratic spirit and democratic vigilance of the masses. "

The later GDR Justice Minister Hilde Benjamin held in this space as the first Vice- President of the Court from several political processes. She led the legislative Commission of the State Council of the GDR and GDR wrote legal history.