People's Court (Germany) - Quiz
  • 1. What was the primary goal of the People's Court according to the text?
A) Upholding the rule of law
B) Protecting civil rights
C) Administering impartial justice
D) Supporting Nazi supremacy
  • 2. Who told Freisler that human fate was secondary to the intentions of the state leadership?
A) Thierack
B) Sophie Scholl
C) Wachsmann
D) Räbiger
  • 3. What was the policy regarding retrials in the People's Court during the war?
A) They were strictly forbidden
B) They rarely resulted in the death penalty
C) They were used to grant pardons
D) They almost always increased the severity of punishment
  • 4. How were children treated by the People's Court?
A) They were exempt from trial
B) They were granted juvenile protection
C) They were sent to re-education camps instead of court
D) They were tried as adults
  • 5. What happened to defendants who were acquitted by the People's Court?
A) They were immediately released as free citizens
B) They were often taken into SS protective custody
C) They were given monetary compensation
D) They were offered government positions
  • 6. Which political group received the harshest treatment in pre-war People's Court sentencing?
A) Conservative sympathizers
B) KPD
C) Right-wing organizations
D) Catholic organizations
  • 7. What was the status of verdicts handed down by the People's Court?
A) They were not appealable
B) They could be appealed to the Supreme Court
C) They were appealable only in capital cases
D) They were subject to automatic review
  • 8. What is the approximate acquittal rate of the People's Court in 1944?
A) Almost 20 percent
B) Around 5 percent
C) Almost 12 percent
D) Around 7.3 percent
  • 9. Why were defense lawyers constrained in the People's Court?
A) Mandatory Nazi party membership
B) Threat of arrest or disciplinary action
C) Lack of legal knowledge
D) High salaries for state prosecutors
  • 10. What percentage of defendants were sentenced to death in pre-war years on average?
A) Ten percent
B) Twelve percent
C) Two percent
D) Five percent
  • 11. Which senate handled the most important cases?
A) The first senate
B) The second senate
C) The sixth senate
D) The final senate
  • 12. Who presided over the first senate?
A) The court's president
B) The senior lay judge
C) Adolf Hitler
D) The Minister of Justice
  • 13. How many judges sat in each senate?
A) Seven
B) Five
C) Two
D) Six
  • 14. How many lay judges were in each senate?
A) Two
B) Three
C) Four
D) Five
  • 15. What were the lay judges supposed to represent?
A) The Ministry of Justice
B) The Nazi party leadership
C) The people
D) The German armed forces
  • 16. What fraction of lay judges came from Nazi organizations?
A) Approximately two-thirds
B) One-half
C) Approximately one-third
D) All of them
  • 17. What fraction of lay judges came from the armed forces?
A) Approximately one-third
B) All of them
C) Approximately two-thirds
D) One-fourth
  • 18. Were lay judges chosen directly from the public?
A) Only during the early years
B) No
C) Only for the first senate
D) Yes
  • 19. How long was the initial appointment period for judges?
A) One year
B) Ten years
C) For life
D) Five years
  • 20. What was required for defense lawyers to appear before the court?
A) Membership in the Nazi party
B) Permission
C) A law degree
D) An invitation from the president
  • 21. Who confirmed the appointments of judges?
A) Hitler
B) The senate president
C) The Minister of Justice
D) The Reichstag
  • 22. How many trained judges were there at the court's lifetime peak?
A) 17
B) 173
C) 95
D) 34
  • 23. How many lay judges were there at the court's lifetime peak?
A) 34
B) 95
C) 173
D) 17
  • 24. What was the intended title of the documentary about the 20 July Plot trials?
A) Justice for the Reich
B) The People's Verdict
C) The End of the Resistance
D) Traitors Before the People's Court
  • 25. Who was the documentary originally meant to deter?
A) Foreign invaders
B) Future resistance
C) The judiciary
D) The general public
  • 26. In what month and year did Roland Freisler die?
A) April 1945
B) July 1944
C) March 1945
D) February 1945
  • 27. Which air force attacked Berlin on the day Freisler died?
A) Soviet Air Force
B) British Royal Air Force
C) USAAF Eighth Air Force
D) French Air Force
  • 28. What was Freisler doing when the bombing raid occurred?
A) Visiting the Gestapo headquarters
B) Meeting with Hitler
C) Conducting a Saturday session
D) Reviewing secret documents
  • 29. What did Freisler pause to gather before seeking shelter?
A) Weapons
B) Files
C) Court registry books
D) His personal belongings
  • 30. What was the immediate cause of Freisler's death in the courtroom?
A) Collapsing ceiling
B) Being struck by a beam
C) Fire
D) Explosive shrapnel
  • 31. Where was Freisler's body found?
A) Near the building's exit
B) In the basement shelter
C) In the hallway outside the court
D) Crushed beneath a masonry column
  • 32. What was the alternative version of Freisler's death?
A) A British bomb came through the ceiling
B) He was killed in a car accident
C) He died of a heart attack during the raid
D) He was shot by a prisoner
  • 33. What comment did a worker make when Freisler's body arrived at the hospital?
A) The war is over
B) Justice has been served
C) He was a traitor
D) It is God's verdict
  • 34. Who became acting president after Freisler's death?
A) Harry Haffner
B) Wilhelm Crohne
C) Arthur Nebe
D) Fabian von Schlabrendorff
  • 35. Which prisoner was saved by Freisler's death?
A) Fabian von Schlabrendorff
B) Wilhelm Crohne
C) Alfred Jodl
D) Arthur Nebe
  • 36. Who was appointed president of the court after Wilhelm Crohne?
A) Fabian von Schlabrendorff
B) Harry Haffner
C) Roland Freisler
D) Arthur Nebe
  • 37. What happened to Fabian von Schlabrendorff after the court resumed?
A) He escaped
B) He was acquitted
C) He was exiled
D) He was executed
  • 38. Who was the former head of the Reich Criminal Police tried in 1945?
A) Wilhelm Crohne
B) Roland Freisler
C) Arthur Nebe
D) Harry Haffner
  • 39. When were the last documented trials before the People's Court?
A) May 1945
B) March 1945
C) February 1945
D) April 1945
  • 40. On what date were US occupation forces directed to abolish extraordinary courts?
A) 26 April 1945
B) 11 March 1945
C) 4 February 1945
D) 3 February 1945
  • 41. Who issued the laws implementing the abolition of the People's Court?
A) The Allied Control Council
B) The US Occupation Forces
C) The German government
D) The United Nations
  • 42. What principle did the People's Court follow instead of liberal legal principles?
A) Constitutional monarchy
B) Parliamentary sovereignty
C) Führerprinzip
D) Democratic centralization
  • 43. Which newspaper described the People's Court as an expression of National Socialist basic concepts?
A) Berliner Tageblatt
B) Frankfurter Zeitung
C) Der Stürmer
D) Völkischer Beobachter
  • 44. How many death sentences did the People's Court hand down in 1934?
A) Nine
B) Four
C) Eighteen
D) Twenty-five
  • 45. How many death sentences did the People's Court hand down in 1935?
A) Nine
B) Four
C) Eighteen
D) Thirty
  • 46. Who was the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice and a driving force behind the People's Court?
A) Roland Freisler
B) Adolf Hitler
C) Joseph Goebbels
D) Otto Georg Thierack
  • 47. Which court did Roland Freisler intend for the People's Court to supersede?
A) Reichsgericht
B) Supreme Court of Prussia
C) Federal Constitutional Court
D) International Military Tribunal
  • 48. In what year was the People's Court established in Nazi Germany?
A) 1932
B) 1936
C) 1934
D) 1939
  • 49. What specific event influenced the creation of the People's Court?
A) The Nuremberg Rallies
B) Acquittals in the Reichstag fire trial
C) The Munich Putsch
D) The Night of the Long Knives
  • 50. What percentage of defendants were executed under Roland Freisler?
A) 5%
B) 46%
C) 80%
D) 15%
  • 51. Which principle did the People's Court prioritize over defined laws?
A) Punishing criminal mentality
B) The right to a fair trial
C) Strict adherence to legal precedents
D) Equality before the law
  • 52. Which act provided a foundation for the court's authority?
A) The Weimar Constitution
B) The Nuremberg Laws
C) The Treaty of Versailles
D) The Enabling Act
  • 53. How many cases did the court hear between 1937 and 1945?
A) Over 5,000
B) Over 14,000
C) Under 1,000
D) Over 100,000
  • 54. What myth suggested that Germany lost World War I due to treason and revolution on the home-front?
A) The Führerprinzip myth
B) The Feme Court myth
C) The Stab-in-the-back myth
D) The Weimar Republic myth
  • 55. What term describes Hitler's process of maintaining a facade of legality while acting outside of it?
A) Autocratic legalism
B) Judicial leniency
C) Legislative constraint
D) Democratic means
  • 56. Which historical entities does Robert D. Rachlin cite as antecedents to the People's Court?
A) International tribunals
B) Feme Courts
C) Reichstag committees
D) Military commissions
  • 57. How did the Weimar Republic judiciary typically treat right-wing and anti-Jewish crimes compared to left-wing crimes?
A) With equal severity
B) More leniently
C) More strictly
D) With immediate execution
  • 58. What were previous Sondergericht and Volksgerichte generally set up to respond to?
A) Economic inflation
B) Civil disturbances
C) Foreign invasions
D) Constitutional reform
  • 59. When were the Bavarian People's Courts established?
A) November 1923
B) May 1924
C) November 1918
D) January 1933
  • 60. When were the Bavarian People's Courts abolished?
A) May 1924
B) November 1923
C) January 1933
D) November 1918
  • 61. Which notable trial was conducted by the Bavarian People's Court?
A) The Weimar Republic architects
B) The Reichstag fire conspirators
C) The Versailles Treaty negotiators
D) The Beer Hall Putsch conspirators
  • 62. Which German constitution defined high treason in Articles 80–92 of the Imperial Penal Code?
A) Basic Law
B) Weimar Constitution
C) Frankfurt Constitution
D) Bismarck Constitution
  • 63. According to the 'Reichstag Fire Decree', what was the mandatory punishment for acts of treason?
A) Forced labor
B) Deportation
C) Capital offence
D) Life imprisonment
  • 64. In his 23 March 1933 speech, who did Hitler say must be the focus of legal concern?
A) The Volk
B) The individual
C) The Reich Chancellor
D) The Judiciary
  • 65. Where did Hitler first pronounce the necessity for a 'national tribunal'?
A) Mein Kampf
B) The Reichstag Fire Decree
C) The Reichstag
D) The Weimar Constitution
  • 66. Which of these was NOT a crime transferred to the jurisdiction of the People's Court?
A) Assassination of government members
B) Tax evasion
C) High treason
D) Major cases of sabotage
  • 67. Who was the first president of the People's Court?
A) Fritz Rehn
B) Heinrich Himmler
C) Adolf Hitler
D) Joseph Goebbels
  • 68. Which of these was NOT listed as an area of increased jurisdiction for the court?
A) Misprision of treason
B) Traffic violations
C) Economic sabotage
D) Espionage
  • 69. Who described the People's Court as a 'task force for combating and defeating all attacks on the external and internal security of the Reich'?
A) Adolf Hitler
B) Franz Gürtner
C) Thierack
D) The chief prosecutor
  • 70. According to Müller, what was the standard punishment for remarks about undermining morale?
A) Death
B) Fine and imprisonment
C) Hard labor
D) Loss of civil rights
  • 71. In what year was Roland Freisler appointed as President of the People's Court?
A) 1942
B) 1944
C) 1941
D) 1940
  • 72. Since what year had Roland Freisler been a member of the Nazi Party?
A) 1923
B) 1939
C) 1942
D) 1933
  • 73. Who was the Nazi propaganda minister that commented on Freisler's presidency?
A) Joseph Goebbels
B) Ernst Kaltenbrunner
C) Thierack
D) Roland Freisler
  • 74. How many cases were referred to the People’s Court under the Nacht und Nebel programme?
A) 1,200
B) 200
C) 800
D) 2,000
  • 75. Which Soviet prosecutor's practice of heaping abuse on defendants did Freisler copy?
A) Leon Trotsky
B) Andrey Vyshinsky
C) Joseph Stalin
D) Vyacheslav Molotov
  • 76. Where were the death sentences carried out after the August 1944 trials?
A) Elßholzstrasse
B) Plötzensee Prison
C) A concentration camp
D) The People's Court basement
  • 77. What term did Freisler use to insult Erich Hoepner during his trial?
A) Traitor
B) Coward
C) Schweinehund
D) Saboteur
  • 78. What is currently located at the former site of the court at Bellevuestrasse 15?
A) The Center Potsdamer Platz
B) The Royal Wilhelm Gymnasium
C) The Prussian House of Lords
D) The Berlin high court
  • 79. Which organization typically funneled cases to the People's Court?
A) The Supreme Court
B) The Gestapo
C) The Academy for German Law
D) The Ministry of Justice
  • 80. Who decided whether to bring an indictment to the People's Court?
A) The Gestapo
B) The Führer
C) The prosecuting authority
D) The judges of the People's Court
  • 81. Who instructed judges in 1936 to ask how the Führer would decide in their place?
A) Hans Frank
B) The Gestapo leadership
C) Curt Rothenberger
D) The Minister of Justice
  • 82. What term was broadly expanded to facilitate the prosecution of opposition?
A) Preparation for high treason
B) Negligence
C) Disorderly conduct
D) Criminal mentality
  • 83. Which of these was mentioned as an action considered 'trifling' but punishable by the court?
A) Armed rebellion
B) Espionage
C) Anti-Nazi jokes
D) Financial fraud
  • 84. What is the phrase used to describe the court's stance on punishable preparation for a crime?
A) Intent to commit
B) Preparation for a preparation
C) The first phase of treason
D) Conspiracy to act
  • 85. How many death sentences were handed down by the People's and Special Courts between 1939 and 1940?
A) 1,292
B) 5,336
C) 929
D) 99
  • 86. Who was the judge responsible for defeatism cases after the Battle of Stalingrad?
A) Roland Freisler
B) Hans Fallada
C) Leopold Felsen
D) Oswald Rothaug
  • 87. What was the specific accusation against Leopold Felsen in 1944?
A) Wehrkraftzersetzung
B) High treason
C) Distributing pamphlets
D) Listening to foreign broadcasts
  • 88. Who was the youngest opponent of Nazi Germany executed by the People's Court?
A) Karlrobert Kreiten
B) Helmuth Hübener
C) Heinz Kapelle
D) Sophie Scholl
  • 89. What profession was Maria Restituta Kafka?
A) Journalist
B) Catholic nun and surgical nurse
C) Pianist
D) Politician
  • 90. Which novel was based on the story of Otto and Elise Hampel?
A) Una Sancta
B) All Quiet on the Western Front
C) Every Man Dies Alone
D) The White Rose
  • 91. How was the Czechoslovak journalist Julius Fučík executed?
A) Hanging
B) Beheading
C) Guillotine
D) Firing squad
  • 92. Who denounced the pianist Karlrobert Kreiten for negative remarks about Hitler?
A) Roland Freisler
B) Leopold Felsen
C) Ellen Ott-Monecke
D) Max Sievers
  • 93. What was the specific charge against Elfriede Scholz?
A) Listening to foreign broadcasts
B) Wehrkraftzersetzung
C) High treason
D) Distributing pamphlets
  • 94. Elfriede Scholz was the younger sister of which famous author?
A) Max Planck
B) Erich Maria Remarque
C) Hans Fallada
D) Julius Fučík
  • 95. What information did the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier pass on to the Allies?
A) Hitler's daily schedule
B) V-2 rocket plans
C) The location of the 20 July conspirators
D) False propaganda reports
  • 96. How was Arthur Nebe allegedly executed?
A) Poison
B) Firing squad
C) With piano wire
D) Guillotine
  • 97. What was the occupation of Joseph Müller, who was executed for an anti-Nazi joke?
A) Journalist
B) Priest
C) Politician
D) Jurist
  • 98. Which former People's Court member blamed Roland Freisler for the court's excesses?
A) Hans-Joachim Rehse
B) Otto Georg Thierack
C) Oswald Rothaug
D) Ernst Lautz
  • 99. How many judges from the People's Court were successfully prosecuted by the West German justice system?
A) None
B) Twenty-nine
C) Five
D) Sixty-nine
  • 100. What is the Richterprivileg?
A) A pardon granted to all prosecutors
B) A requirement for judges to join the Nazi party
C) A judicial privilege protecting judges from prosecution
D) A law mandating life sentences for resistance members
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