Linz People's Court

Claudia Kuretsidis-Haider – Winfried R. Garscha

The Linz People’s Court was active in the Provincial Criminal Court in Linz from 1946 to 1955 (excluding temporary external senates in Ried/Innkreis and in Salzburg.) This was part of the work of the Austrian People’s Court, which initiated preliminary legal proceedings against an estimated 110,000 to 120,000 people suspected of having committed violent crimes under the National Socialists and crimes against the Nazi-Prohibition law.

The People’s Courts in Vienna, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck reached 23,477 verdicts, of which 13,607 were convictions.

This contribution describes the activities of the Linz People’s Court. Among other things the aim is to demonstrate the largely forgotten and until now unresearched contribution of the Justice and Security Departments in the investigation and punishment of Nazi crimes in the Provincial High Court Area Linz.

In addition to the statistical data, which has remained unseen until now, the important trials of the People’s Court in Linz are described (a total of three death sentences were pronounced, of which one was carried out, as well as two life sentences) and the court records are analysed with particular criticism of sources. The court records can be found in the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives.