The West German discussion about the abolition of the statutory limit for the national socialism crimes in 1964-1965
Until the middle of the 1960th many trials on the Nazi criminals had been held in the Federal Republic of Germany. According to the criminal code of West Germany the statute of limitation for National Socialism crimes should come into effect on the 8 May 1965 (20 years after the end of crimes). Consequently, national socialists, who had taken part in the exterminations, should be at large either in West Germany or outside its borders. The possibility of the statutory limitation expiration set off a storm of protest in Israel, the USA and European states. The problem of the abolition of the statutory limit became the matter of the political dispute in the FRG in 1964-1965. The main question was, whether the abolition of the statutory limit contradicted the Basic Law of the FRG. The article 103 of the Basic Law forbids passing a retroactive law. The center of the discussion was Bundestag, where debates were held on the 10th and on the 25th of March 1965. The defenders and opponents of the abolition of the statutory limit had they own arguments. One may suspect that the real reason behind the disinclination to prolong the law was the fear of disclosure, because some national socialist criminals were employed in government service in the FRG. The disclosure of such cases damaged West Germanys reputation in the world very strongly. Concerns about West Germanys reputation were also the reason, why some politicians opposed the abolition of the statutory limit. The debates in Bundestag resulted in passing the law that prolonged the statute of limitations for four years. The main part of West Germans didnt support the prolongation of the Nazi criminals prosecution and preferred to put the past behind them, to forget it. One can say the decision of Bundestag contradicted the attitude of the majority of West German and the interests of many deputies and members of government. Therefore the compromise law was passed. The motive of many deputies was to decline all responsibility, to appease the world public opinion.