Activities of the Legal Department of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (1945–1949)

The paper identifies and characterizes the principal areas of activity of the Legal Department of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. These areas include legislative activity, the German judicial authorities reorganization, denazification of German judicial bodies and German legislation, oversight over the activities of  German judicial and investigative institutions, supervision over the execution of sentences and the operations of the prison administration, and Nazi and war criminals extradition. All of these functions required the engagement of highly qualified personnel, and the Legal Department successfully implemented the training of such staff. The work of the Legal Department can be divided into two main periods: 1945–1947 and 1948–1949. In its activities, the Legal Department relied upon Soviet experience in legislative drafting and law enforcement, a practice that was often viewed unfavorably by German jurists. The Legal Department’s role was inherently dual: it both exercised supervisory authority over the operation of German judicial bodies and maintained a position of oversight above them; on the other hand, it served as a political instrument, indicating the subordination and dependence of Soviet law upon the governing authorities. 

1. Bespal'ko G. N. Sovremennaya istoriografiya processov organizacii sovetskogo okkupacionnogo rezhima na territorii Germanii (1945–1949) // Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal'nogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i social'nye nauki. – 2024. – T. 24, № 6. – S. 28–39. – DOI 10.37482/2687-1505-V386.

2. Kalinin A. Sovetskaya voennaya administraciya v Germanii i ee deyatel'nost' po demilitarizacii Sovetskoj zony okkupacii v 1945-1949 gg. (istoriografiya problemy) // Vlast'. – 2011. – № 6. – S. 161–163.

3. Kodincev A.Ya. Pravovoj otdel (otdelenie) Sovetskoj chasti Soyuznoj kontrol'noj komissii v Avstrii v 1945-1955 gg. // Voenno-yuridicheskij zhurnal. – 2012. – № 10. – S. 24–28.

4. Kodincev A.Ya. Pravovoj otdel Sovetskoj voennoj administracii i pravovoj otdel (otdelenie) Sovetskoj kontrol'noj komissii v Germanii v 1945 - 1955 godah // Voenno-yuridicheskij zhurnal. – 2012. – № 9. – S. 18–22.

5. Lozhkin A. G. Pravo pobeditelej: pravovaya deyatel'nost' Sovet. voen. administracii v Germanii, 1945-1949 gg. – M.: AIRO-XXI, 2006. – 143 s.

6. Russkij arhiv: Velikaya Otechestvennaya. T. 15 (4-5). Bitva za Berlin (Krasnaya Armiya v poverzhennoj Germanii): Dok. i materialy. M.: Terra, 1995. 616 s.

7. SVAG i nemeckie organy samoupravleniya, 1945-1949: sbornik dokumentov / otv. red. i sost.: N. V. Petrov. – M.: ROSSPEN, 2006. – 759 s.

8. Semiryaga M. I. Kak my upravlyali Germaniej: Politika i zhizn'. – M.: Ros. polit. encikl., 1995. – 349 s.

9. Sovetskaya voennaya administraciya v Germanii. 1945-1949: spravochnik / avt.: B. Cisla, D. N. Filippovyh [i dr.]. – M.: ROSSPEN, 2009. – 1031 s.

10.