This volume contains 20 contributions that look at the reactions of the German public in East and West to the important trials against the Nazi leaders in both Allied and German courtrooms which took place during the Allied Occupation and in the early days of the two German states. They point out the differences and interactions that occurred between the prosecution in East and West and show how the public perception developed over time. The methods employed in the West zones were marked by many contradictions, whereas in the Soviet Occupied Territory, following an initial laxness, the courts and public came to serve the purposes of the East German Communist Party (SED).

Dr. Clemens Vollnhals ist Stellvertretender Direktor des Hannah-Arendt-Instituts für Totalitarismusforschung e.V. und Lehrbeauftragter für Zeitgeschichte an der Technischen Universität Dresden.