Prosecuting Indirect Perpetrators of Crimes against Humanity in Western Germany
Prosecuting Indirect Perpetrators of Crimes against Humanity in Western Germany

Summary/Abstract: This work is an examination of the practices and experiences of administering correctional and transitional justice in postwar Germany after 1945, examining the adjudication of informers as indirect perpetrators of crimes against humanity. Allied occupation law allowed for the prosecution of informers retroactively in the German courts through legislation specifically enacted for the purpose of prosecuting crimes against humanity. The implementation of the law and the prosecution of informers in the American, French, British occupation zones under the auspices of the military government administrations, and then later in the Federal Republic of Germany is examined. This work also addresses the theoretical and practical problems associated with the implementation of the law in this attempt to call individuals to account for their crimes against humanity through the use of retroactive legislation.

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