Photograph

OMGUS MILITARY TRIBUNAL - Case 3, Nurnberg, Germany OMT-III-D-56

1946-1948

The defendant Ernst Lautz, flanked by two U.S.Army guards, stands at attention in the dock that formerly held the 21 defendants of the International Military Tribunal, as the Tribunal pronounces his sentence of ten years imprisonment. He was convicted for his leadership in the Nazi judicial process in Germany. A member of the NSDAP from 1933, he served as Chief Prosecutor of the People's Court in Berlin from 1939 until the Nazi collapse. These courts dealt mainly with cases which had to do with sabotage, high treason, attempted escapes from the Reich by Poles and other foreigners, and trial of foreign nationals brought to Germany for prosecution on political charges. The Tribunal found that Lautz was criminally implicated in enforcing the law against those races, and that he participated in the perversion of laws relating to treason. Under those laws, Poles who were guilty of petty offenses were executed. If German law was Lautz's defense, the Tribunal stated, many of his acts would be excusable. The defendant was found guilty under counts two and three of the indictment which charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although a member of the Nazi party he did not belong to the criminal organizations, the SS, the SA, or the SD.

Inscription

OMGUS MILITARY TRIBUNAL - Case 3, Nurnberg, Germany OMT-III-D-56 / The defendant Ernst Lautz, flanked by two U.S.Army guards, stands at attention in the dock that formerly held the 21 defendants of the International Military Tribunal, as the Tribunal pronounces his sentence of ten years imprisonment. He was convicted for his leadership in the Nazi judicial process in Germany. A member of the NSDAP from 1933, he served as Chief Prosecutor of the People's Court in Berlin from 1939 until the Nazi collapse. These courts dealt mainly with cases which had to do with sabotage, high treason, attempted escapes from the Reich by Poles and other foreigners, and trial of foreign nationals brought to Germany for prosecution on political charges. The Tribunal found that Lautz was criminally implicated in enforcing the law against those races, and that he participated in the perversion of laws relating to treason. Under those laws, Poles who were guilty of petty offenses were executed. If German law was Lautz's defense, the Tribunal stated, many of his acts would be excusable. The defendant was found guilty under counts two and three of the indictment which charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although a member of the Nazi party he did not belong to the criminal organizations, the SS, the SA, or the SD.

Archive ID: olvwork376077

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