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