Download full text
(2.638Mb)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-32218
Exports for your reference manager
Propaganda im Namen des deutschen Volkes: der Volksgerichtshof im Spiegel des Völkischen Beobachters
Propaganda in the name of the German people: the People's Court reflected in the 'Völkischer Beobachter'
[journal article]
Abstract
Kaum ein Gericht erlangte in der Vergangenheit eine derartige Popularität wie der elf Jahre bestehende nationalsozialistische Volksgerichtshof. Um die propagandistische Funktionalisierung des Volksgerichtshofs herauszuarbeiten, wird zunächst die Struktur des nationalsozialistischen Mediensystems mit... view more
Kaum ein Gericht erlangte in der Vergangenheit eine derartige Popularität wie der elf Jahre bestehende nationalsozialistische Volksgerichtshof. Um die propagandistische Funktionalisierung des Volksgerichtshofs herauszuarbeiten, wird zunächst die Struktur des nationalsozialistischen Mediensystems mit seinen Schaltstellen Justizpressestelle, Reichsjustiz- und Propagandaministerium aufgezeigt. Den Schwerpunkt der Analyse bildet im weiteren die Wirklichkeit der Berichterstattung und deren Selektivität. Ein quantitativer Vergleich aller im Völkischen Beobachter thematisierten mit allen vom Volksgerichtshof abgeurteilten Personen verdeutlicht dabei die funktionale Differenzierung des Mediensystems. Nach der hier vorgenommenen Analyse, so der Autor zusammenfassend, stellt sich die Frage nach der Bewertung des Volksgerichtshofs neu. Der Begriff Terrorinstrument ist zu unpräzise, er verhindert den Blick auf die propagandistische Funktion der Todesstrafe. (ICD)... view less
'In the past there was scarcely any Court of Justice of similar popularity as the national socialist 'Volksgerichtshof, which became especially well-known through the publications of the press of the Third Reich. In this article it is investigated what were the reasons for this intentional raising o... view more
'In the past there was scarcely any Court of Justice of similar popularity as the national socialist 'Volksgerichtshof, which became especially well-known through the publications of the press of the Third Reich. In this article it is investigated what were the reasons for this intentional raising of public attention. Those convicted persons whose sentencing could be proved by the existence of the sentence have been listed and in the following a content analysis was made of all those legal proceedings of the 'Volksgerichtshof' published in the 'Völkische Beobachter' Afterwards the convicted persons who had been mentioned in the press have been reidentified in the complete list of the sentenced people. It is thus possible to demonstrate that the publications of the press were meant as legitimations of the political system. To construct this pseudo-reality with the help of these news reports, even German communists and socialists of the pre-war period were included, who had been sentenced to prison for having prepared high-treason activities. Thus they wanted to legitimate the internment of the huge numbers of communists. The announcements of the 'Justizpressestelle', however, were to serve as deterrents. Up to the turning-point of the war in 1943 they wanted to deter from espionage, later in the final phase of war, from any kind of critic of the system.' (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
propaganda; legal proceedings; court; people; daily paper; Nazism; reporting; Third Reich
Classification
Print Media
General History
Criminal Sociology, Sociology of Law
Method
empirical; quantitative empirical
Document language
German
Publication Year
1996
Page/Pages
p. 76-95
Journal
Historical Social Research, 21 (1996) 3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.21.1996.3.76-95
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed