Injustice the Regime
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INJUSTICE THE REGIME Documentary Evidence of the Systematic Violation of Legal Rights in the Soviet Zone of Germany 1954 — 1958 Verlag fur Internationalen Kulturaustausch Berlin - Zehlendorf - West INJUSTICE THE REGIME Documentary Evidence of the Systematic Violation of Legal Rights in the Soviet Zone of Germany 1954 — 1958 The documents contained herein were selected and compiled under the cooperation of: Constitutional and Administrative Law: Friedrich Heller Dr. Hans-Joachim Maurer BernhardOhlsen Horst Weis Court Constitution and Bar: Walther Rosenthal Criminal Law: Horst Hildebrand, Solicitor The present English edition of “Injustice The Regime”, is an extract of the document collection “Unrecht als System", III. Part, which contains 408 documents. The document numbers used in the German edition have been added (in brackets) to each document in order to facilitate reference to further relevant documents in the German edition. “Unrecht als System", Teil III, will be supplied on substan tiated request for scientific and official use, by Biiro Bonner Berichte, Bonn, Joachimstrasse 10 Druck: Rudolf Otto, Berlin W 35 The first two volumes of the Document Collection “Injustice The Regime”, compiled by the Investigating Committee of Free Jurists in West Berlin and published by the German Federal Ministry for All-German Problems in the years 1952 and 1954, are now followed by the third collection of documents which the Investigating Committee of Free Jurists submits to the public, and especially to the jurists in the whole world, in order to call their attention again to the abuse of law and violations of fun damental rights perpretrated by administrative and judicial authorities of the Soviet Zone of Germany under directives of those possessing the political power in Middle Germany. After the III. Conference of the Socialist Unit Party (SED) of the Soviet Zone in the spring of 1956, we had hoped in the interest of the Middle German population that there would be no more reason to publish another volume of documents to give evidence of the methods by which, and the manner how the Soviet Zone regime trespasses the principles of the rule of law in order to achieve their political aims. Competent functionaries of the party, state, and jurisdiction of the Soviet Zone had admitted, during and immediately after the III. Party Con ference, the illegal measures and violations of fundamental rights proved by the documents in the first two parts of this Collection. Although the inhabitants of the Soviet Zone hesitated to believe in the promises made to them that more attention should be paid to civilian rights, they still fostered the hope that these promises would be carried into effect. These hopes were thoroughly destroyed by the resolutions taken at the 30th and 33rd plenary sessions of the Central Committee of the SED. The party then ordered all “tendencies of liberalisation” to be done away with; and in compliance with this order all suggestions which might have resulted in the principles of the rule of law being observed, were sharply rejected. The 35th plenary session of the SED then led to the application of con siderably sharper methods aimed at the “building of socialism” which culminated in the demands set up at the V. Party Rally of the SED in July, 1958. The consequences of this policy which was carried out strictly without regard to law and justice, expressed themselves in the terrific increase in the number of refugees from the Soviet Zone. It is with great concern and deep sympathy that this development is witnessed not only by the Federal Republic of Germany, but by the entire free world. The Document Collection “Injustice The Regime” reveals the causes of this stream of refugees constantly flowing to the west. It makes it clear especially to the jurists, what almost unimaginable consequences result from the abuse of law as a means for the achievement of political aims. Statements made by administrative offices, courts, and leading persona lities of the Soviet Zone are reproduced herein to deliver an objective report on the judicial and administrative practice of the Soviet Zone, and to help the reader in gaining a true impression of a system of law, whose representatives assiduously ignore the violations of law and arbitrary actions committed in the name of “socialist justice” which they so eagerly propagate. Walther Rosenthal CONTENTS X. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW Page The Buie of the SED ....................................................................................... 11 SED claims Leadership ........................................................................... 11 Justification of the SED Regime ........................................................... 15 State Organs subordinated under the Party...................................... 20 Principal Forms of the Party Rule .................................................. 23 Violations of Fundamental Bights.......................... ............^.................. 27 Free Elections Prevented .................... ............................................... 27 Single List of Candidates to Eliminate Opposition.......................... 27 Elections are Supervised and their Results Corrected................... 29 Violation of the Bight to Freedom and Personal Safety............... 31 Recruiting and Activities of Secret Informers............ .................. 31 Organisation of Additional Informer Systems.................................. 32 Recruiting and Employment of Secret Informers.......................... 37 Bemoval of the Freedom of Press and Information and of the Postal Secret ............................................................................................... 40 Controlled Press ........................................................................................... 41 Jammers ....................................................................................................... 47 Control of Letters and Parcels ........................................................... 48 Violation of the Bight to Freedom of Movement and Residence .. 54 Settling over practically made impossible ...................................... 54 Expulsions ............................................................................................... 60 Hindrances to Intra-German Traffic.................................................. 61 Violation of the Right to Education .................................................. 66 Social and Political Conduct of the Parents made a Criterion for Admission to Grammar Schools and High Schools........................... 66 “Western Education” as a Punishable Offence................................... 72 Social-Political Activity a prerequisite for visiting a school .... 76 Relatives Fleeing from the Republic as Reason for Discharge .. 78 Admissions to Universities Controlled by the P arty...................... 79 Page The Party as the Ultimate Instance deciding on Admissions .. 83 Scholarships as a Means of Political Pressure ............................... 85 Measures against Private P rop erty ....................................................... 87 Seizure of Refugees’ Property and Compulsory Administration of Western Property even upon cancellation of the legal basis .. 88 II. COURT CONSTITUTION AND BAR Abolition of the Independence and Impartiality of Courts.......... 95 Law as an Instrument of Politics........................................................... 85 The Principle of Partiality ....................................................................... 96 Control and Directives to Jurisdiction................................................... 103 Abolition of the Freedom of the Bar ............................ ...................... 113 III. CRIMINAL LAW Political Criminal Law to strengthen the SED Rule...................... 125 “Agitation Inimical to the State” ....................................................... 125 Punishment for the Import of Western Press Products and Pam phlets .................. ............................................................................................ 134 Punishment after Post Control ............................................................... 135 Defamation of the State ........................................................................... 136 Punishment of Class Enemies ............................................................... 139 Incitement to Leave the Soviet Zone as a Political Offence...... 143 “Flight from the Republic” — Betrayal of the Class .................. 150 Criminal Prosecution for the Enforcement of Economico-Political Aims ............................................................................................................... 157 Seizure of Property ................................................................................... 157 Research for Persons to be made responsible for Faults of the Economic System ....................................................................................... 162 Hard Punishment for the Import and Export of Goods.............. 175 Businessmen of West Berlin punished for having sold Goods to Customers from East Berlin ................................................................... 179 Punishment for “Crimes against the Currency”.............................. 181 List of Abbreviations ABV .............. Section commissioner of the People’s Police AZKW .......... Office for Customs and Control of Merchandise Trans ports BDVP .......... District