Hauptamt SS-Gericht

The Hauptamt SS-Gericht (translation: SS Court Head Office) was a department of the SS (Schutzstaffel) during the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler from 1939 until 1945. It was responsible for formulating the laws and codes that the SS and various other groups of the secret police and Wehrmacht were to adhere to, as well as administering the SS and police courts and penal systems.Axis History [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=3094 Factbook] retrieved on March 30 2007]

History

Early in the Nazi regime SS personnel were charged with breaking the law through the performance of their duties in 1934 at the Dachau concentration camp, when the local town magistrate charged several SS guards with murder after several prisoners were executed without cause or trial.Fact|date=April 2007 With such circumstances, it became necessary to remove the SS and police forces from the civilian courts control and make them accountable only to the Hauptamt SS Gericht through a petition the Reich Ministry of Justice. This effectively placed the SS 'above the law', and its members could break regular German law without fear of penalty.

Organization

The Hauptamt SS Gericht was an extension of the previous SS Gericht, an organisation that administered surveys of the SS and police forces and their codes of honor. The Hauptamt SS Gericht was organised into four sections, Amtsgruppe's I-IV, which were responsible for legal affairs; organisation, personnel & disciplinary matters; pardons, reprieves and the execution of sentences; and for office liaison respectively. From 1 July 1939 until 15 August 1942 the Hauptamt SS Gericht was commanded by Obergruppenführer Paul Scharfe, and then by Obergruppenführer Franz Breithaupt until 29 April 1945, a day before Hitler's suicide. The Hauptamt SS Gericht operated out of a high court office in Munich with 605 qualified lawyers that passed sentences on members of the German armed forces, though Himmler often manipulated the sentences. This high court office administered 38 regional SS courts throughout the Third Reich, and their legal proclamations superseded civilian courts, and extended to SS and police force members operating either in Germany or abroad as the only means by which these individuals could be tried or punished for criminal activities. [Höhne, Heinz. "The Order of the Death's Head, The Story of Hitler's SS". London: Pan Books Ltd]

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