Wehrkraftzersetzung orZersetzung der Wehrkraft (German for "corroding military strength") was asedition offence inGerman military law during theNazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945.
Wehrkraftzersetzung was enacted in 1938 bydecree as Germany moved closer toWorld War II to suppress criticism of theNazi Party andWehrmacht leadership in the military, and in 1939, a second decree was issued extending the law by defining allGerman people ascivilians subject to service discipline.[1]Wehrkraftzersetzung consolidated and redefined paragraphs already in the militarypenal code to punish "seditious" acts such asconscientious objection,[note 1]defeatist statements,self-mutilation, and questioning theEndsieg. Convictions were punishable by thedeath penalty, heavy sentences inmilitary prisons,concentration camps, orStrafbataillons.
Wehrkraftzersetzung wasde facto abolished in 1945 after Nazi Germany's defeat, but text from the penal code continued to be used by theFederal Republic of Germany. On 25 August 1998 and 23 July 2002, after lengthy debate, theBundestag removed the Nazi-era sentences from the Germancriminal justice system, and all Nazi military sentencing for conscientious objection,desertion, and all other forms ofWehrkraftzersetzung were repealed as unjust. Current German military law neither contains the term "undermining the military" nor its extensive rules, but a few offences included under the umbrella ofWehrkraftzersetzung remain on the statute books in a vague form.
TheGerman phraseWehrkraftzersetzung can be translated intoEnglish in various forms depending on context, and is difficult to translate in its sense used by the Nazi Party.Wehrkraftzersetzung is composed of three parts:Wehr means 'defence' (a cognate of the English word "war");kraft means power, force, strength;zersetzung means decay, decomposition, disintegration, dissolving (especially by acids), but also subversion or corruption.[citation needed] The context ofWehrkraftzersetzung, orZersetzung der Wehrkraft, used by the Nazi Party is typically translated into English as "undermining military force" or "subversion of the war effort" (in reference to the forthcomingwar effort),[1] "undermining military morale",[2] and "sedition and defeatism".[3]
The termZersetzung der Wehrkraft was established inGerman military law by the Wartime Special Penal Code (Kriegssonderstrafrechtsverordnung or KSSVO) on 17 August 1938, whichcriminalized all criticism, dissent and behavior opposed to Nazi political and military leadership, particularly within the Wehrmacht'smilitary justice. The definition of the term is equivalent to theTreachery Act of 1934 but escalates the severity of the crime, with critical remarks by soldiers violating the Treachery Act were previously punished merely with a prison term, but the KSSVO added thedeath penalty, allowing aZuchthaus or prison sentence only in minor cases.[citation needed] With the introduction of the Wartime Regulations for Criminal Procedures (Kriegsstrafverfahrensordnung or KStVO), those accused under the law were also deprived of the right toappeal, further weakening them at trial. The extent of themilitary judge's discretion and the degree of arbitrariness involved are indicated in a 1942 statement byAlfred Fikentscher, anadmiral and chief medical officer in theKriegsmarine. Speaking before military lawyers, he said, "...similar circumstances exist with subversive remarks, which may be seen as violations of the Treachery Act. Protracted submission [of documents] to theMinister of Justice to order a criminal prosecution is unnecessary if you approach the statement as undermining the military, which will be possible in almost every case."[citation needed]
The regulations created by theWehrmacht in the course of preparing forWorld War II served during the war years as an instrument of terror to maintain the soldiers' "will to persevere" through coercion. Especially in the later stages of the war, the Nazi andWehrmacht leadership were greatly afraid of repetition of the events during theGerman Revolution that occurred afterWorld War I. Every act of resistance was to be suppressed so that a reoccurrence of the "stab-in-the-back" be prevented. At the beginning of 1943, the jurisdiction was transferred to thePeople's Court (Volksgerichtshof), though minor cases could be sent to theSondergerichte (special courts) that were originally instituted forpolitical crimes but by this time advanced to be the usual courts against common criminality. TheSondergerichte, not unlike laterdrumhead courts, prioritized hunting-down, notdue process, as their express purpose.
§5 of the KSSVO reads:
The word "openly" provided room for interpretation by authorities, so that even remarks made within one's own family could be used by relatives against the accused. The vague wording of the regulation made it possible to criminalize every type of criticism, also by civilians, deliberately encouraging denunciation as a means to more comprehensively control the population. That "undermining the war effort" in Nazi Germany was by no means a trivial offense is seen in the 1 November 1944 decree from the head of the National Socialist Secret Service of theLuftwaffe:[citation needed]
Among others, examples of subversion given were:[citation needed]
Defeatist remarks were not prosecuted under military law, but were tried in military-backed "accelerated trials", such as in the case of Norbert Engel, aphysiotherapist, after expressing his regret over the failure of the20 July plot to a nurse, saying "If it had succeeded, the war would have been over in five days and we'd have been able to go home." Engel was sentenced to death but escaped the sentence by fleeing to theNetherlands.[5][6]
The introduction of the KSSVO marked a new stage in the persecution of the Nazis' political opponents and many thousands of them were killed. According toWehrmacht criminal statistics, by 30 June 1944 there had been 14,262 convictions forWehrkraftzersetzung, though German military historianManfred Messerschmidt says the number of convictions was likely to have been closer to 30,000. The number of convictions and proportion of death sentences steadily increased towards the end of the war as criticism increased and the awaited "final victory" was pushed further and further into the future. The way the regulation was formulated meant that a conviction generally came from a denunciation by associates, though some convictions came from remarks in letters or slogans written on walls. The nature of denunciations meant the potential accuser could hardly be certain that during the course of the investigation, he would not also be denounced. The fact that every soldier was informed about the consequences of uttering banned speech may have inhibited the number of denunciations.[citation needed]
Nazi Germany surrendered after signing theirInstrument of Surrender on 8 May 1945, and the state was formally dissolved on May 23, effectively abolishingWehrkraftzersetzung in its intended use. TheFederal Republic of Germany (West Germany), established in 1949 from theoccupation zones of the Western Allies, inherited legislation that had been used by Nazi Germany and its predecessors, includingWehrkraftzersetzung. West Germany's military law featured texts and phrases based onWehrkraftzersetzung during its existence and after thereunification of Germany, and was not replaced until military law reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s. FormerWehrkraftzersetzung-based laws are currently regulated under §§ 109-109k of theGerman criminal code titled "Crimes against the Defense of the Country" (Straftaten gegen die Landesverteidigung). Offences such as "Disturbing Propaganda against theBundeswehr" is § 109d, places penalties on untruthful remarks that "disturb the operations of the Bundeswehr", as well as § 109 StGB.[7] Militaryconscription in Germany was suspended in 2011 for an indefinite period of time.[8]
