Sippenhaft

Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung (German: [ˈzɪpənˌhaft(ʊŋ)], kin liability[1]) refers to the principle of a family sharing the responsibility for a crime committed by one of its members, a form of guilt by association. A relative of the perpetrator could thus be punished in place of or in addition to the perpetrator, depending on the circumstances.

As a legal principle, it is derived from Germanic law in the middle ages, there usually in the form of fines and compensations. The same principle is historically found in many pre-Christian European cultures, and in non-Western cultures such as that of China and Japan. In the modern era kin guilt is rarely given legal basis, though it remains common in clan-based societies. In exceptional cases, Sippenhaft-like punishments are used as a deterrent against terrorism, such as in the Russian Federation.

Another form of Sippenhaft distinct from traditional kin liability is the practice of kin punishment, often used in totalitarian states as a form of extortion or harassment, most associated with Nazi Germany towards the end of World War II. Contemporary examples of this form of Sippenhaft include North Korea.[2]

Germany

Medieval

In traditional Germanic law, the law of germanic peoples before the widespread adoption of Roman canon law, it was accepted that the clan of a criminal was liable for offenses committed by one of its members. The law of Germanic (including Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian) peoples distinguished between two forms of justice for severe crimes such as murder: blood revenge, the right to extrajudicially kill a Germanic free-man in the context of clan feuds[3] and blood money, called the weregild, the obligatory pecuniary restitution given to the kin of the victim in accordance with the nature of the crime and the social status of those affected. In adherence to the principle of Sippenhaft (kin liability) the kin of the offender was liable to pay the weregild in addition to or in substitution for the member that committed the crime. Similar laws were also implemented by Celtic peoples.

Nazi Germany

In Nazi Germany, the term was given a new meaning: the punishment of kin (relatives, spouse) for the offense of a family member. In this form of Sippenhaft the relatives of persons accused of crimes against the state were held to share the responsibility for those crimes and subject to arrest and sometimes execution. Many people who had committed no crimes were arrested and punished under Sippenhaft decrees introduced after the failed 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in July 1944.

Examples of Sippenhaft being used as a threat exist within the Wehrmacht from around 1943. Soldiers accused of having 'blood impurities' or soldiers conscripted from areas outside of Germany also began to have their families threatened and punished with Sippenhaft. An example is the case of Panzergrenadier Leiss, who was accused of desertion on the Eastern Front in December 1942. After the Düsseldorf Gestapo discovered supposed 'Polish' links in the Leiss family, in February 1943 his wife, child, two brothers, sister and brother-in-law were arrested and executed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. By 1944, several general and individual directives were ordered within divisions and corps, threatening troops with consequences against their family. After 20 July 1944 these threats were extended to include all German troops and in particular, German commanders. A decree of February 1945 threatened death to the relatives of military commanders who showed what Hitler regarded as cowardice or defeatism in the face of the enemy. After surrendering Königsberg to the Soviets in April 1945, the family of the German commander General Otto Lasch were arrested. These arrests were publicized in the Völkischer Beobachter.[4]

After the failure of the 20 July plot, the SS chief Heinrich Himmler told a meeting of Gauleiters in Posen that he would "introduce absolute responsibility of kin... a very old custom practiced among our forefathers." According to Himmler, this practice had existed among the ancient Teutons. "When they placed a family under the ban and declared it outlawed or when there was a blood feud in the family, they were utterly consistent.... This man has committed treason; his blood is bad; there is traitor's blood in him; that must be wiped out. And in the blood feud the entire clan was wiped out down to the last member. And so, too, will Count Stauffenberg's family be wiped out down to the last member."[5]

Accordingly, the members of the family of Stauffenberg (the one who had planted the bomb that failed to kill Hitler) were all under suspicion. His wife, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp (she survived and lived until 2006). His brother Alexander, who knew nothing of the plot and was serving with the Wehrmacht in Greece, was also sent to a concentration camp. Similar punishments were meted out to the relatives of Carl Goerdeler, Henning von Tresckow, Adam von Trott zu Solz and many other conspirators. The fact that most of these families belonged to the old Prussian aristocracy, a class detested by the Nazis, added to the zeal with which they were persecuted.

After the 20 July plot, numerous families connected to the Soviet sponsored League of German Officers made up of German prisoners of war, such as those of von Seydlitz and Paulus, were also arrested. Unlike a number of the 20 July conspirators families, those arrested for connection to the League were not released after a few months but remained in prison until the end of the war. Younger children of arrested plotters were not jailed but sent to orphanages under new names: Stauffenberg's children were renamed "Meister."[6] Sippenhoft as implemented in Nazi Germany (and later in other authoritarian regimes such as North Korea) is distinguished from the medieval Sippenhaft.

Federal Republic of Germany

The principle of Sippenhaftung is considered incompatible with German Basic Law, and therefore has no legal definition. Implementation of Sippenhaft-like policies by governmental institutions is prosecuted by the courts.[7]

Other examples of Sippenhaft

Further reading (German)

See also

References

  1. The German term Haft—although one meaning is "imprisonment"—does not necessarily imply a prison sentence, but can refer to any form of punishment or enforcement of a civil liability.
  2. ""Escapee Tells of Horrors in North Korean Prison Camp", Washington Post, December 11, 2008". The Washington Post. December 11, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  3. ,
  4. Loeffel, Robert (2012). Family Punishment in Nazi Germany, Sippenhaft, Terror and Myth. Palgrave. pp. 53–88. ISBN 9780230343054.
  5. Fest, Joachim (1996). Plotting Hitler's Death. New York: Henry Holt. p. 303. ISBN 0080504213.
  6. Loeffel, Robert (2007). "Sippenhaft, Terror and Fear in Nazi Germany: Examining One Facet of Terror in the Aftermath of the Plot of 20 July 1944". Contemporary European History 16 (1): 51–69. doi:10.1017/S0960777306003626.
  7. No Sippenhaft Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  8. Welsh tribal law
  9. Bedouin Law from Sinai and the Negev: Justice Without Government
  10. Historical Studies in Japan
  11. ""Escapee Tells of Horrors in North Korean Prison Camp", Washington Post, December 11, 2008". The Washington Post. December 11, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  12. Kaechon internment camp
  13. Sippenhaft wie zu Zeiten Stalins (German)
  14. ""Israels Gerichtshof erlaubt Sippenhaft", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 3, 2002". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. September 30, 2002. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  15. ""Court Says Israel Can Expel 2 of Militant's Kin to Gaza", New York Times, September 4, 2002". New York Times. September 4, 2002. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  16. ""Oppression wird um Sippenhaft angereichert", Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 20, 2014". Süddeutsche Zeitung. November 20, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  17. ""Israel Destroys Homes to Deter Terrorists", ABC News, January 6, 2006". ABC News. September 30, 2002. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  18. "Trump's call to kill families of terrorists is quarter baked". The National Review. December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  19. "Donald Trump: I'd kill family members of terrorists to beat Isis". The Belfast Telegraph. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
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