Volksgerichtshof

The Volksgerichtshof (German for "People's Court") was a court established by Hitler after the Reichstag fire to handle those accused of political criminal offences, such as treason.

Victims of the Volksgerichtshof

• Helmuth Hübener. At the age of seventeen, he was the youngest opponent of the Third Reich to be executed by the Volksgerichtshof.
• Julius Fu?ík, a Czechoslovakian journalist, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia leader, and a leader in the forefront of the anti-Nazi resistance. On August 25, 1943 in Berlin, he was accused of high treason in connection with his political activities. Julius was found guilty, and he was beheaded two weeks later on September 8, 1943 in Plötzensee prison in Berlin.
• Erwin von Witzleben, a German Generalfeldmarschall. He was a Wehrmacht conspirator in the July 20th Bomb Plot conspiracy. Witzleben, who would have been Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht in the planned post-coup government, arrived at OKH-HQ (Oberkommando des Heeres Headquarters) in Berlin on July 20 to assume command of the coup forces. He was arrested the next day and tried by the People's Court on August 8. He was sentenced to death and executed (hanged naked) the same day in Plötzensee prison.
• Karlrobert Kreiten, a German pianist. Nazi Ellen Ott-Monecke who notified the Gestapo about Kreiten making negative remarks about Adolf Hitler and the war effort. He was indicted at the Volksgerichtshof, with Roland Freisler presiding, and condemned to death. Friends and family frantically tried to save his life, but to no avail. The family was never notified officially about the judgement, and only accidentally learned that Karlrobert had been executed, with 185 other inmates, at Plötzensee prison.
• Johanna "Hanna" Kirchner.
• Lieutenant-Colonel Caesar von Hofacker, a member of a resistance group in Nazi Germany whose goal was to overthrow Hitler.
• The White Rose resistance movement.