The West German discussion about the abolition of the statutory limit for the national socialism crimesin 1964-1965

Until the middle of the 1960th many trials on the Nazi criminals had beenheld in the Federal Republic of Germany. According to the criminal code of West Germany the statute of limitation for National Socialismcrimes should come into effect on the 8 May 1965 (20 years after the end of crimes). Consequently, national socialists, who had taken part inthe exterminations, should be at large either in West Germany or outside its borders. The possibility of the statutory limitation expiration setoff a storm of protest in Israel, the USA and European states. The problem of the abolition of the statutory limit became the matter of thepolitical dispute in the FRG in 1964-1965. The main question was, whether the abolition of the statutory limit contradicted the Basic Law ofthe FRG. The article 103 of the Basic Law forbids passing a retroactive law. The center of the discussion was Bundestag, where debates wereheld on the 10th and on the 25th of March 1965. The defenders and opponents of the abolition of the statutory limit had they own arguments.One may suspect that the real reason behind the disinclination to prolong the law was the fear of disclosure, because some national socialistcriminals were employed in government service in the FRG. The disclosure of such cases damaged West Germanys reputation in the worldvery strongly. Concerns about West Germanys reputation were also the reason, why some politicians opposed the abolition of the statutorylimit. The debates in Bundestag resulted in passing the law that prolonged the statute of limitations for four years. The main part of WestGermans didnt support the prolongation of the Nazi criminals prosecution and preferred to put the past behind them, to forget it. One cansay the decision of Bundestag contradicted the attitude of the majority of West German and the interests of many deputies and members ofgovernment. Therefore the compromise law was passed. The motive of many deputies was to decline all responsibility, to appease the worldpublic opinion.

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