Hans-Joachim Rehse

Confirmed findings

• From 1941 he sat as a judge in the First Senate of the People's Court headed by Roland Freisler.
• He signed 231 collegial death sentences; seven became the subject of the postwar indictment, including cases concerning statements critical of the war and the Nazi authorities.
• Berlin Regional Court sentenced him on 3 July 1967 to five years at hard labour for aiding and abetting murder and attempted murder.
• The Federal Court of Justice overturned the first judgment, and after a retrial Berlin Regional Court acquitted Rehse on 6 December 1968; the prosecution's appeal became moot after his death in September 1969.

Place in the chain of responsibility

Rehse explains the repressive justice system as the work of a collegial bench: his signature and vote contributed to the judgment, although he was not its presiding judge. The postwar course of the case also shows the legal barriers to holding Nazi judges accountable.

Key events and mechanisms

• joining the First Senate of the People's Court in 1941
• co-signing 231 death sentences in 1941–1945
• the sentence of five years at hard labour on 3 July 1967 and its reversal by the Federal Court of Justice
• acquittal on 6 December 1968 and termination of the appeal as a result of his death in 1969

Postwar accountability

From 1956 he again worked as a judge in West Germany. In 1967 he was sentenced to five years at hard labour, but the Federal Court of Justice overturned the judgment. He was acquitted on retrial on 6 December 1968; the prosecution's appeal was not heard because he died in September 1969.

Limits of the evidence

Sources

The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.

• lexikon-der-politischen-strafprozesse.de
• berlin.de
• deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de