 Logo of theSS | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | c.1933 |
| Preceding agency |
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| Dissolved | 8 May 1945 |
| Jurisdiction |  GermanyOccupied Europe |
| Headquarters | Hauptamt SS-Gericht, Karlstraße,Munich 48°8′35.07″N11°33′58.10″E / 48.1430750°N 11.5661389°E /48.1430750; 11.5661389 |
| Employees | 650 |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Allgemeine-SS |
TheSS Court Main Office (German:Hauptamt SS-Gericht) - one of the 12SS main departments - was the legal department of the SS inNazi Germany. It was responsible for formulating the laws and codes for the SS and various other groups of the police, conducting investigations and trials, as well as administering the SS and Police Courts andpenal systems.[1]
Early in the Nazi regime, SS personnel were charged with breaking the law through the performance of their duties at theDachau concentration camp in 1934. Under such circumstances, theNazi Party realised it would be expedient to remove the SS and police units from the jurisdiction of the civilian courts. This was achieved through an ordinance by theCouncil of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich in 1939.[2]
This legal status meant all SS personnel were only accountable to theHauptamt SS Gericht. This effectively placed the SS above German law and able to live by its own rules and conventions.[3]
The SS Court Main Office was an extension of theSS Gericht (SS Court), an organization that administered surveys of the SS and police forces and their codes of honor. The organisation had four departments (German:Ämter or Amtsgruppe):[4]
The SS Court Main Office headquarters were the high court offices inMunich. The organisation had over 600 lawyers that passed sentences on members of the German armed forces and SS, thoughReichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler, would intervene as he saw fit when it came to conviction and the sentencing phase.[5] By 1944, the number of the "SS Main Offices" within Germany had grown from 8 to 12.
The SS Court Main Office administered also 38 regional SS courts throughoutNazi Germany under legal jurisdiction which superseded civilian courts. These laws extended to all SS and police force members operating in Germany or throughout occupied Europe.[6]
The SS and Police Courts were the only authority that could try SS personnel for criminal behaviour. The different SS and Police Courts were as follows:
The one exception to the SS and Police Courts jurisdiction involved members of the SS who were serving on active duty in theWehrmacht (armed forces). In such cases, the SS member in question was subject to military law and could face charges before a standard military tribunal.[7]
In 1943 SS-SturmbannführerGeorg Konrad Morgen, from the SS Court Main Office, began investigating corruption and criminal activity within theNazi concentration camps system. He eventually prosecuted so many SS officers that by April 1944, Himmler personally ordered him to restrain his cases. Among the people he investigated wasKarl Otto Koch, the commandant ofBuchenwald andMajdanek, and husband ofIlse Koch — as well as Buchenwald's concentration camp doctorWaldemar Hoven, who was accused of murdering both inmates and camp guards who threatened to testify against Koch.
In 1944, while investigating theAuschwitz commander,Rudolf Höss, Morgen's assistant SS-Hauptscharführer Gerhard Putsch disappeared. Some theorized this was a warning for Morgen to ease up on his investigations as the building where his files were stored was burned down shortly thereafter.[8]
Morgen, who had been an SS judge and investigator, later testified at theNuremberg trials. He claimed that he fought for justice during the Nazi era and cited his list of 800 investigations into criminal activity atconcentration camps during his two years of activity.[9]
