People's jurisdiction and de-nazification in Austria

Claudia Kuretsidis-Haider

The people's courts held between 1945 and 1955 were not just instruments for Austrian post-war justice to avenge violent Nazi crime, but also part of the bureaucratic de-nazification process. A whole row of actions in the people's courts were concerned with membership of the “outlawed” Nazi party before 1938, with acting within some capacity in the Nazi state, as well as offences against the ruling on registration of National Socialists (all high treason).

The purpose of the article is to illustrate and assess both forms of de-nazification under Austrian jurisdiction as well as their relation to one another. It is based on files from the people's courts, which are available in provincial courts or in the respective provincial archives, and are accessible for purposes of academic research.