Günter Oettinger, prime minister of the south -western german state of Baden-Würtemberg just wanted to deliver a funeral speech for his pre- pre- predecessor Hans Filbinger who was forced to resign in 1978, because his role during the Nazi years was revealed. Oettinger ended up labelling a judge who had issued death sentences under Nazi law as an enemy of the regime , and kicked off a new debate making waves till Berlin, about resistance, "inner distance" and "silent support" in a dictatorship......

Revising History: Politician Under Fire for Praising Former Nazi Judge - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

I think I do not have the full overview over this controversy.

Why is it crystal clear that this Nazi judge wasn't a person who did not identify with the regime and also tried to soften its actions in his sphere of competence. (According to the way of thought, that if he does not do the job in the least cruel way it is possible within the frames the regime set, someone else who really executes everything in the out most cruel way might do it)

I do not want to suggest this Filbinger really thought this way, but I somehow missed it in the news to discuss this point a bit more.

I saw just a few weeks ago a docu about a man who was in the SS and responsible for Zyklon B as scientist and developer. He joined the SS only with the aim to collect prove of the Holocaust and send it to the allied forces as soon as possible what he actually also did. His proofs might have belonged to the first ones who gave the allied powers knowledge of the Holocaust in its full width.
After the war, however he was brought to trial for distributing Zyklon B to Vernichtungslager, an action he did in reality only to get it out of the way in the Lager it was initially aimed to be used, and under the clear declaration that it is spoiled and should be used for desinfection purposes only due to this.
He was sure that the allied forces will have no problems to make out his position against the regime as an infiltrant within the inner circles of the regime. Well, he erred. They wanted to try him for the Zyklon B, which lead to the suicide of the man.

I just bring this example because I want to show that it is not entirely impossible that someone was an opponent of the regime even though he was in its inner circle. Even though it is quite unlikely it is not impossible. Thats why I would have liked to have a bit more information about Filbinger in the news.

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[quote=Slartibartfas;28726]I think I do not have the full overview over this controversy.

Why is it crystal clear that this Nazi judge wasn't a person who did not identify with the regime and also tried to soften its actions in his sphere of competence. (According to the way of thought, that if he does not do the job in the least cruel way it is possible within the frames the regime set, someone else who really executes everything in the out most cruel way might do it)

I do not want to suggest this Filbinger really thought this way, but I somehow missed it in the news to discuss this point a bit more.

I saw just a few weeks ago a docu about a man who was in the SS and responsible for Zyklon B as scientist and developer. He joined the SS only with the aim to collect prove of the Holocaust and send it to the allied forces as soon as possible what he actually also did. His proofs might have belonged to the first ones who gave the allied powers knowledge of the Holocaust in its full width.
After the war, however he was brought to trial for distributing Zyklon B to Vernichtungslager, an action he did in reality only to get it out of the way in the Lager it was initially aimed to be used, and under the clear declaration that it is spoiled and should be used for desinfection purposes only due to this.
He was sure that the allied forces will have no problems to make out his position against the regime as an infiltrant within the inner circles of the regime. Well, he erred. They wanted to try him for the Zyklon B, which lead to the suicide of the man.

I just bring this example because I want to show that it is not entirely impossible that someone was an opponent of the regime even though he was in its inner circle. Even though it is quite unlikely it is not impossible. Thats why I would have liked to have a bit more information about Filbinger in the news.












Well, the german media seem to be more or less united in the view, that Filbinger indeed wasn´t somebody who didn´t identify with the regime, let alone its enemy.
Firstly the Nazis didn´t leave anybody in the judicial service whom THEY considered to be an enemy. Many judges or attorneys resigned from their posts after 1933 either voluntarily or were sacked. Not so Filbinger, who was also an SA member since 1932.
And Filbinger didn´t give the Nazis many reasons to doubt his loyalty. He even handed out death sentences when the war was almost over , for example for simply voicing the opinion "the Nazis drove us into this mess."
There are examples of judges who tried not to use the ultimate penalty, if possible, there were even judges who refused to go along with Nazi directives and the worst thing that happened to them was to be sacked from their posts. There is not one recorded example where members of the Nazi judicial service were punished more severely for judgements.
If Hans Filbinger had indeed been an enemy of the regime he would have had more ways to show that like real resistance fighters did.
But what is most striking in his case is his total lack of regret. He finally disqualified himself from a public post in democratic Germany with the quote : "What was right then can´t be wrong now." ( " Was damals recht war, kann heute nicht unrecht sein), and never at least apologized to the familys of these poor young guys whom he ordered to be shot and who didn´t have the opportunity to die in their beds at over ninety like he did.
Filbinger is still a hero for many nationalist right wingers in Germany, because he represents the "silent majority". Those who were "just doing what they had to do" and later ,awaking in the ruins of 1945, discovered that they actually had been enemies from the beginning, if they only had known the outcome. Therefore Oettingers speech shows an amazing disregard of the real resistance fighters , who often lost their lifes under horrifying conditions, and is a slap in the face of the real victims , by portraying a war criminal as somebody at least close to them. The right wing conclusion is accordingly that the "majority" must have been innocent and only stood under pressure. Therefore Germans should get read of their "guilt" syndrome.
And finally, a state governor in Germany fishing for right wing votes like that has also disqualified himself from his post. That is a view widely shared among commentators these days, and even Angela Merkel distanced herself from the governor of Baden- Würtemberg ( who is a member of her own party). So the funeral speech for Filbinger could also mark Oettingers political funeral.

Well, just because the German media is united, doesn't mean that the view is well-founded. Apart from the papers that attacked the man thirty years ago, some have their own axes to grind while others just join in because they don't know the facts or fear the backlash of going against the grain. Look at what happened to Oettinger for his speech. "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" apparently does not apply in this case.

But what are the facts:

*Filbinger was a conscripted into the German navy and, much against his own preferences, ordered to work in the legal branch, as a judge and as a prosecutor (Nazi judge is already a not very accurate term). He was stationed in occupied Norway.
*Filbinger was involved in 200something cases, of which six were of a capital nature. In three cases he was the prosecutor, in two the judge, in one he interfered from outside.
*In 1945, Filbinger as a judge condemned two groups of sailors that had deserted to Sweden (one of the groups had killed their captain) to death. Both groups were out of reach of the German military and thus the verdicts were never executed (though the killer of the captain later returned to Germany and was sentenced to prison for this deed) - Filbinger later said he had forgotten about those "phantom verdicts".
*In one case - the most discussed one - he was the prosecutor in the second trial against a deserter. The sailor had tried to desert and the court martial found him guilty and sentenced him to imprisonment (Filbinger was not involved yet). The commanding officer overseeing the proceedings was not satisfied and ordered a second trial, ordering the initial prosecutor to plead for the death penalty. The prosecutor then was prevented from attending the trial and Filbinger at the least minute filled his place, did as he was ordered: he pleaded for the death penalty and the judge condemned the sailor to death. Filbinger, as prosecutor, oversaw the execution.
*In two cases Filbinger saved opponents of the regime from execution: he interfered in the case of a military chaplain, who was already sentenced to death, and as prosecutor he softened the verdict against a lieutenant who had expressed sympathy for the plot of July 20th.
*In another case as a judge he conmned an unruly soldier in a camp to imprisonment (not to death, as it is sometimes falsely alleged). This is controversial because it happened after the capitulation. The allies had kept the German officers in charge.

Now, helping these two guy doesn't sound like a Nazi fanatic. It is true that Filbinger joined the Nazi party in the mid-thirties, but that was clearly for opportunistic reasons. He also had contacts to literary circles opposed to the regime and some of the conspirators of July 20 had recommended him.

Now Filbinger certainly was no hero, no fighter in any resistance. He was internally opposed to the regime and its ideology but nonetheless served in Germany's army and thus also worked for the regime.

Filbinger did not issue death sentence for anti-Nazi comments (in fact in two cases he saved people that had done this) - he "participated" in three death sentences against deserters (one involving murder), one of which was a late involvement as prosecutor (bound by commands).

Now, currently people may think desertion as no big deal and consider the death penalty barbaric in itself. But in 1945 things were quite different. Desertion was punishable by death in most countries, including the US or the UK. So this was hardly a Nazi law.

And it was this pre-Nazi German law, the military penal code of 1972 that Filbinger commented on when he said "Was damals Recht war ..."

So if Filbinger is not guilty of the things he is accused of or if the things he did cannot be construed as a guilt, how can he apologize? Demanding that is forcing the conscience of a man who thinks that he has done no wrong. (and looking at the evidence, I tend to agree with him).

And Oettinger not joining in the attacks (for whatever reasons) at least on the man's grave is not slap in the face of anyone. It is rather defending a man living in troublesome time against the pack-like attacks. One wonder where the attackers would have stood prior to 1945 if they cannot leave a dead man in peace.

Thanks for this informative respond.

I somehow did not find it anywhere in the media. Perhaps I overlooked it? Well I would have wished that this argumentation would have been a bit more present instead of simply writing "scandal" but then dont elaborate why in detail.

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