Showdown in Leipzig

Abstract

The Nazis had been placed on the defensive in their own court because of the countertrial, so the emphasis was more on exonerating themselves than convicting the Communists. The fairness of their judicial process was being scrutinized by the world’s media due to the countertrial’s publicity: Could a German court consider the fate of the alleged insurrectionists impartially, or would political considerations turn the defendants into prejudged scapegoats?¹ A right-wing Leipzig newspaper declared: “Only a person with historical perspective can understand the court’s plan. The issue is to deal world communism an annihilating blow.” Ominously, eleven Communists had been sentenced to death on September 7 in two separate cases of alleged attacks on Nazis.²