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¹³ Studies of Nazism have at different times portrayed the German population as resistant to or complicit with the regime. See Kershaw, Ian, Preface to the Bloomsbury Revelations Edition, in The Nazi Dictatorship Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation (2015).Google Scholar

¹⁴ See generally Hoffman, Peter, History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945 (3d ed. 1996); Hans Mommsen, Alternatives to Hitler: German Resistance Under the Third Reich (2003); Nathan Stoltzfus, Hitler's Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany (2016). See also Germans against Nazism: Nonconformity, Opposition and Resistance in the Third Reich: Essays in Honour of Peter Hoffmann (Nicosia, Francis R. & Stokes, Lawrence D. eds., 2015) (providing a comprehensive overview of the subject).Google Scholar

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¹⁶ See Bernd Rüthers, Verräter, Zufallshelden oder Gewissen der Nation? Facetten des Widerstandes in Deutschland (2008).Google Scholar

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²³ Lothar Kreyssig, Aufsätze, Autobiographie under Dokumente 114 (Hans-Joachim Döring ed. 2011).Google Scholar

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²⁵ Raymond Wacks, Judges and Injustice, 101 S. African L. J. 266, 284 (1984).Google Scholar

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⁴⁰ Wilhelm Niemöller, Macht geht vor Recht Der PROZEß Martin Niemöllers 83 (1952).Google Scholar

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⁴⁹ The presentation of Konrad Morgan and his activities is based on the book by Herlinde Pauer-Studer & David Velleman, Konrad Morgen: The Conscience of a Nazi Judge (2015).Google Scholar

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⁵² One Hundred and Ninety-Eighth Day: Thursday; 8 August 1946, in Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 20, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/08-08-46.asp.Google Scholar

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⁵⁶ An alternative hypothesis might be as follows. After the war, and after learning about the world's reaction to the holocaust, Morgen realized the moral implications of what he had been involved with, or at least he understood the reaction of the rest of the world. At the same time, an important witness implicated him directly in the deportation of Jews from Hungary. He was in American custody and as an SS judge he belonged to the class II, possibly even class I, of offenders on the list of the allies. This would mean that he may have had a real fear of being brought to trial and receiving a severe sentence. To counteract this, he started portraying himself as a resister of the mass killings. Although he was denounced in the early days after the defeat, he was protected by the solidarity of the old network as time passed. This is quite in line with the general experiences. To elaborate: But here enters a socio-psychological element which AMG (American Military Government) was unable to neutralize—the class solidarity of the judiciary, which, subconsciously or consciously, began to balance and outweigh the desire for political cleanliness. In fact, under the impact of the occupation, a certain national solidarity has emerged—not merely in the civil service but among all classes—which tries to save as many colleagues as possible from the clutches of the denazification beast.Google Scholar

Karl Lowenstein (Reconstruction of the Administration of Justice in American-Occupied Germany, 61 Harv. L. Rev. 419, 449 (1948). This illustrates the methodological difficulties present in most of the cases when investigating into instances of resistance. In many cases those that try to resist have to keep this secret in order to be effective and to protect themselves. This counts for a scarcity of sources. At the same time, many may have motives to paint themselves in a better light after the end of an authoritarian regime in order to escape criticism. This puts both the validity and the reliability of sources in doubt.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ See Bohn, Robert, Reichskommissariat Norwegen: “Nationalsozialistische Neuordning” und Kriegswirtschaft 92 (2000).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ See Norsk Retstidende [Norwegian Court Reports] 468 (1947); Norsk Retstidende [Norwegian Court Reports] 1088 (1948).Google Scholar

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⁶⁰ The US Military Tribunal in the case against leaders of the German judicial system expressed an opinion along the same line in saying: The limitations on freedom of speech which were imposed in the enforcement of these laws are revolting to our sense of justice. A court would have no hesitation in condemning them under any free constitution, including that of the Weimar Republic, if the limitations were applied in time of peace; but even under the protection of the Constitution of the United States a citizen is not wholly free to attack the Government or to interfere with its military aims in time of war. In the face of a real and present danger, freedom of speech may be somewhat restricted even in America. Can we then say that in the throes of total war and in the presence of impending disaster those officials who enforced these savage laws in a last desperate effort to stave off defeat were guilty of crimes against humanity?Google Scholar

See Case, The Justice, supra note 1, at 1026. See also the line of reasoning by the famous US Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes in the well-known case on forced sterilization, where he states: We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence.Google Scholar

Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927).Google Scholar

⁶¹ Massnahmen und Bemühungen des Gerichts, supra note 59um die scharfen Tendenzen Terbovens und Rediess' zu mildern, Oslo, Akershus, supra note 59.Google Scholar

⁶² Such an exchange of information had been established in 1939 between the Volksgerichtshof and the Gestapo in Berlin. See Koch, supra note 5, at 87.Google Scholar

⁶³ Ernst Kanter, Erlebnisse als Chefrichter in Dänemark Februar 1943–Mai 1945 (Signatur ZS 1991) 1 Institut für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin Archiv (1991).Google Scholar

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⁶⁵ See Halliday, supra note 29, at 6–9 (providing a description of the concept of a legal complex).Google Scholar

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⁷¹ Hannah Arendt, Responsibility and Judgement 35 (2003).Google Scholar

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⁹⁹ Douglass c. North, Understanding the Process of Economic Change 51 (2005).Google Scholar

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¹⁰² See Bourdieu, Pierre, Outline of a Theory of Practice 72 (1977).Google Scholar

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¹⁰⁹ This is not to say that their approach to law was positivist and that legal positivism can explain the conformity of the German judiciary with the demands and interests of the Nazi rulers. Nevertheless, the famous article of Gustav Radbruch in which he proposed legal positivism as the factor that could account for the atrocities of the German judiciary quickly established itself as a convenient exculpating explanation. For an overview see for an overview Paulson, Stanley L., Lon L. Fuller, Gustav Radbruch, and the “Positivist” Theses, 13 L. & Philosophy 313 (1994). The positivism thesis also established itself within academic literature on the history of Nazi Germany. See for instance Koch 1997 p. 247. It has, however, been solidly refuted after careful studies of official and legal material of the time. See, e.g., Bernd Rüthers, Die unbegrenzte Auslegung, Mohr Siebeck Tübingen 1968 (7th ed. 2012); Herlinde PauerStuder & Julian Fink, Rechtfertigungen des Unrechts Das Rechtsdenken im Nationalsozialismus in Orginaltexten (Surkamp Berlin 2014). One reason why a positivism explanation may seem compelling is that it may be confused with psychological factors that place obedience with authority. The German judges were obedient, but this does not entail that the predominant legal theory and method were positivist. See Graver, supra note 12, at 239–51.Google Scholar