The term
Zersetzung der Wehrkraft was established in
German military law by the Wartime Special Penal Code (
Kriegssonderstrafrechtsverordnung or KSSVO) on 17 August 1938, which
criminalized all criticism, dissent and behavior opposed to Nazi political and military leadership, particularly within the Wehrmacht's
military justice. The definition of the term is equivalent to the
Treachery Act of 1934 but escalates the severity of the crime, with critical remarks by soldiers violating the Treachery Act were previously punished merely with a prison term, but the KSSVO added the
death penalty, allowing a
Zuchthaus or prison sentence only in minor cases. With the introduction of the Wartime Regulations for Criminal Procedures (
Kriegsstrafverfahrensordnung or KStVO), those accused under the law were also deprived of the right to
appeal, further weakening them at trial. The extent of the
military judge's discretion and the degree of arbitrariness involved are indicated in a 1942 statement by
Alfred Fikentscher, an
admiral and chief medical officer in the
Kriegsmarine. Speaking before military lawyers, he said, "...similar circumstances exist with subversive remarks, which may be seen as violations of the Treachery Act. Protracted submission [of documents] to the
Minister of Justice to order a criminal prosecution is unnecessary if you approach the statement as undermining the military, which will be possible in almost every case." The regulations created by the
Wehrmacht in the course of preparing for
World War II served during the war years as an instrument of terror to maintain the soldiers' "will to persevere" through coercion. Especially in the later stages of the war, the Nazi and
Wehrmacht leadership were greatly afraid of repetition of the events during the
German Revolution that occurred after
World War I. Every act of resistance was to be suppressed so that a reoccurrence of the "
stab-in-the-back" be prevented. At the beginning of 1943, the jurisdiction was transferred to the
People's Court (
Volksgerichtshof), though minor cases could be sent to the
Sondergerichte (
special courts) that were originally instituted for
political crimes but by this time advanced to be the usual courts against common criminality. The
Sondergerichte, not unlike later
drumhead courts, prioritized hunting-down, not
due process, as their express purpose.
Interpretation §5 of the KSSVO reads: :Whoever openly challenges or incites others to refuse to fulfill their duty to serve in the German armed forces or their allies, or otherwise openly tries to self-assertively put up a fight to cripple or subvert the will of the German people or their allies ... will be sentenced to death for undermining the military. The word "openly" provided room for interpretation by authorities, so that even remarks made within one's own family could be used by relatives against the accused. The vague wording of the regulation made it possible to criminalize every type of criticism, also by civilians, deliberately encouraging denunciation as a means to more comprehensively control the population. That "undermining the war effort" in Nazi Germany was by no means a trivial offense is seen in the 1 November 1944 decree from the head of the National Socialist Secret Service of the
Luftwaffe: :"It has long been self-evident that whoever expresses doubt about the
Führer, criticizes him and his actions, spreads disparaging news or vilifies him, is without honor and worthy of death. Neither standing nor rank, nor personal circumstances or other grounds can exculpate such a case. In the most difficult, deciding period of the war, whoever expresses doubt about the final victory and thereby causes others to waver, has likewise forfeited his life!" Among others, examples of subversion given were: • Remarks in opposition to Nazi ideology • Doubt about the legitimacy of the struggle for survival imposed on us [...] • Dissemination of news about
battle fatigue and German soldiers
deserting • Doubt about military reports • Cultivating private contact with prisoners of war • Disparaging that important weapon in war: German propaganda • Discussing contingencies in the event of defeat • The assertion, that
Bolshevism "is not so bad or that the democracy of our western neighbors could be contemplated".
Defeatist remarks were not prosecuted under military law, but were tried in military-backed "
accelerated trials", such as in the case of Norbert Engel, a
physiotherapist, after expressing his regret over the failure of the
20 July plot to a nurse, saying "If it had succeeded, the war would have been over in five days and we'd have been able to go home." Engel was sentenced to death but escaped the sentence by fleeing to the
Netherlands. The introduction of the KSSVO marked a new stage in the persecution of the Nazis' political opponents and many thousands of them were killed. According to
Wehrmacht criminal statistics, by 30 June 1944 there had been 14,262 convictions for
Wehrkraftzersetzung, though German military historian
Manfred Messerschmidt says the number of convictions was likely to have been closer to 30,000. The number of convictions and proportion of death sentences steadily increased towards the end of the war as criticism increased and the awaited "final victory" was pushed further and further into the future. The way the regulation was formulated meant that a conviction generally came from a denunciation by associates, though some convictions came from remarks in letters or slogans written on walls. The nature of denunciations meant the potential accuser could hardly be certain that during the course of the investigation, he would not also be denounced. The fact that every soldier was informed about the consequences of uttering banned speech may have inhibited the number of denunciations. == Use in the Federal Republic of Germany ==