Convicted Nazi prosecutor: The 1950 case of Josef Abbott Before the Court of Appeals in Gdańsk
Convicted Nazi prosecutor: The 1950 case of Josef Abbott Before the Court of Appeals in Gdańsk

Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to a case study of the Nazi prosecutor Josef Abbott held criminally liable before a Polish court for his activities in the Polish territories occupied by Germany during World War II. In the introduction, the problem of the criminal liability of the Third Reich’s lawyers is outlined, drawing attention to the different approaches used by the German Federal Republic and in the German Democratic Republic. This is followed by a look into Abbott’s life story, and an outline of the Special Court in Gdańsk (before which Abbott was the prosecutor) and of that Court’s president, who, despite the best efforts of Polish authorities, was not extradited. The most important element of this study is the discussion of the process against Abbott, which took place in the years 1949–1950. Special attention has been paid to the evidence gathered and its evaluation by the Polish court, as a result of which the defendant’s line of defence was rejected. The value of the case is that, against the background of the few examples of legally valid convictions of Third Reich lawyers, this one is distinguished by the provisions applied as the legal basis for the conviction and, consequently, by the adopted model of such lawyers’ liability.

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