Volksgerichte#

Volksgerichte, (People´s Courts), Austrian special criminal courts consisting of 2 professional judges and 3 lay judges, established in 1945 to prosecute criminal offences under the War Criminals and Prohibition Act (prohibition of "Wiederbetaetigung", i.e. revival of Nazism, high treason, war-mongering, violation of human dignity, expulsion from the home country, denunciation, etc.). Offences were punishable by death and forfeiture of property; in case of extenuating circumstances offenders were sentenced to prison terms. Criminal proceedings were instituted against 130,000 persons, 60% were dismissed, 13,597 ended with a conviction, 43 death sentences were passed, of which 30 were executed. The people´s courts were abolished in 1955 as part of the Denazification programme which affected around 40,000 politically incriminated persons and around 480,000 less incriminated persons (fines, loss of public office, disqualification from voting, suspension from practising a profession, etc.). These legal consequences were repealed by amnesties between 1948 and 1957.

Literature#