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Internal Security in Germany
The German legal system is the product of many centuries of development,
starting with the tribal laws of the first Germans. Those indigenous customs
were influenced and changed under Roman law and later by the laws that
prevailed in the Holy Roman Empire. Feudal law also had a strong influence.
When more formal law and legal institutions appeared in the eighteenth
century, codes of law and police systems were left to the individual territorial
entities. The codes that evolved were mixtures of German, Roman, and ecclesiastical
law.
The drive toward political unification during the nineteenth century
was accompanied by a trend toward legal unification, especially in commercial
matters. In other areas of law, however, the prerogatives of each political
entity still governed. Only after the achievement of political unification
under Prussian dominance in 1871 was a start made on drawing up German
legal codes.
The codes and laws on police and penal institutions adopted after unification
showed in varying degrees the influence of the Napoleonic Code. Patterns
were established that, despite modifications, continued to prevail. The
most important of the early models were the Penal Code of 1871, defining
three classes of imprisonment still in use in 1995; the procedural codes
of 1877; the law of 1877 establishing a unified court system; and the
comprehensive Civil Code, which took effect in its full scope of 2,385
paragraphs in 1900.
Parallel with the courts and laws, there developed a structure of penal
institutions and a police system, both characterized by the efficiency
for which German administrative organs had long been noted. Although their
administration was somewhat relaxed during the Weimar period (1918-33),
these bureaucracies tended toward rigidity. The police and penal authorities
saw their positions and responsibilities as servants of the state as overshadowing
any obligation of service to the people.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they capitalized on the tendencies
of the legal bureaucracy, centralizing control of the police and administration
of the courts and making widespread use of special courts. Ostensibly,
the laws and institutions remained the same. However, the spirit of the
law and the legal system were gradually and totally subverted by the agenda
of the Nazi leadership. When the "sound instincts of the people" demanded
it, as interpreted by the Nazis, the rule of law was completely ignored.
The impact of Nazi ideology was greatest on the Criminal Code and the
Code of Criminal Procedure. The Third Reich greatly broadened the definition
of criminal activity, particularly in the category of crimes against the
state, and made punishment much harsher. The Code of Criminal Procedure
was distorted almost beyond recognition by the activities of the Nazi-inspired
People's Court, in which those convicted of crimes against the state were
often sentenced to death. In twelve years, an extensive network of special
and summary courts of indeterminate jurisdiction was developed.
The police, whose powers and responsibilities were significantly broadened,
became tools of the ruling party under the direct control of the minister
of interior. The regular police--including city and town forces, motorized
gendarmerie in rural areas, and administrative police, who administered
codes and regulations--were supplemented by much more powerful internal
security units. These included the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei),
which incorporated the Criminal Investigation Police and the Border Police,
as well as the newly formed Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei--Gestapo).
Two other of Hitler's organizations, the Storm Troops (Sturmabteilung--SA)
and the Guard Detachment (Schutz-Staffel--SS), in company with the Gestapo,
became infamous as instruments of Nazi brutality.
After World War II, each of the Allied authorities permitted the formation
of West German police forces, although under terms that reflected their
own police structures and traditions. In all three Western zones, however,
the police were decentralized, democratized, and demilitarized. Some restrictions
were lifted within two years as Cold War tensions grew, and certain police
functions necessitated central rather than local direction. The Federal
Border Force was created to handle special functions that overlapped Land
jurisdictions. In addition to this force, federal agencies were created
to handle interstate criminal matters and overall security affairs.
- National
Security
- Early Military
History
- Prussia's
Emergence as a Military Power
- Germany in Two
World Wars
- Bundeswehr
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- Military Justice
- Uniforms, Ranks and
Insignia
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Relations
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- Dissidence
and Terrorist Activity
- Geography (lands and
capitals, climate)
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marriage, urbanization, social structure, immigration)
- Education (elementary,
junior, senior, vocational, higher)
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Miracle, financial system, Bundesbank, business culture)
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the Chancellor, the President, parties, Bundestag)
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radio and TV)
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navy, air forces, police)
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