Published: 2023-05-06

Sondergericht Kielce: A “Special Court” in German-Occupied Poland (1939-1945)

Konrad Graczyk
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2023.23.1.04

Abstract

This article describes the activities of Sondergericht Kielce, one of the Nazi German “special” summary courts operating on the territory of the Generalgouvernement, that is, German-occupied Poland during the Second World War (1939- 945). The research which has been done on this subject so far has been fragmentary, which makes it a good area for study. The aim of my undertaking was to establish the basic facts relating to Sondergericht Kielce: the type of cases it handled, the nationality of the defendants it prosecuted and the sentences it handed down on them. Another key question was capital punishment: did Sondergericht Kielce hand down death sentences, and if so, in what kind of cases? The next question was the work of the Sondergericht: who sat on the judges’ bench and who were the prosecutors? Who were the lawyers involved in the work of Sondergericht Kielce and where did they come from? Were its verdicts subject to extraordinary legal procedures? The sources I used for this research project were the extant archival records, the bibliography of what has been published on the Sondergericht, and information from newspapers, all of which helped to establish new facts on the Nazi German Sondergericht Kielce.

Keywords:

Nazi German Sondergerichte (special summary courts);, the death penalty;, German-occupied Poland during the Second World War;, Jews.

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Citation rules

Graczyk, K. (2023). Sondergericht Kielce: A “Special Court” in German-Occupied Poland (1939-1945). Zeszyty Prawnicze, 23(1), 79–126. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2023.23.1.04

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