Family Punishment in Nazi Germany

This book examines the Nazi use of the ancient practice of Sippenhaft - "kin liability". In Nazi Germany the crimes of political dissidents were not only their own, instead mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters were all targets for retribution. Sippenhaft is an elusive topic, widely employed during [...]
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This book examines the Nazi use of the ancient practice of Sippenhaft - "kin liability". In Nazi Germany the crimes of political dissidents were not only their own, instead mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters were all targets for retribution. Sippenhaft is an elusive topic, widely employed during the opening months of the Third Reich, it appealed to Nazi ideology with its references to blood and purity, yet it was never enacted into law. Rather it remained a vague threat that defines aspects of the Nazis system of terror-based justice. With the onset of the war, Sippenhaft gained prominence as reprisals against resistance on the home front and desertion and treason in the military. The assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944 reinvigorated its use and ushered in a harrowing final phase of arrests and threats. This book examines the Nazi's use of this collective punishment and the threats and fears it stirred in the German people.