Supreme Court of East Germany

The Supreme Court of the German Democratic Republic (German: Oberstes Gericht der DDR) was the highest judicial organ of the GDR. It was set up in 1949 and was housed on Scharnhorststraße 6 in Berlin. The building now houses the district court in Berlin, Germany 2 Instance and the District Court Berlin-Mitte. In the early days, 14 judges made up the court.

A trial in absentia of Hans Globke.

Responsibilities

Among the responsibilities of the court included

• The conduct of criminal proceedings in the first body, in which the Supreme Public Prosecutor of the Republic because of the paramount importance of prosecuting cases before the Supreme Court raised
• Cassation in civil and criminal matters
• vocation against decisions of acquittal for annulment actions of Office for invention and patent system in patent invalidity matters.

Later other tasks were added, mainly due to the process of simplification which is attributable to the pace of DDR-Justiz.

A constitutional court and special administrative, social and financial judicial branches did not exist in the GDR.

Notable figures

• President: Kurt Schumann (1949–60, NDPD), Heinrich Toeplitz (1960–86, CDU), Guenter Sarge (1986–1989, SED)
• Vice President: Hilde Benjamin (1949–1953, SED); Vice President and Chairman of the College of Criminal Law: Walter Ziegler, (new 1st Vice President) Guenter Sarge (1977–1986)
• Chairman of the College in civil, family and employment law: Werner Strasberg Mountain
• General Prosecutors: Ernst Melsheimer (1949–1960, SED), Josef Streit (1962–1986), Guenter Wendland (1986–1989), Harri Harland (1989 / 1990), Hans-Juergen Joseph (1-6/1990);