In Hungary, which fell under Soviet influence at the end of World War II, those who had participated in the wartime atrocities were tried by so called people’s courts. This book analyses this process in an objective, quantitative way, contributing to the present timely discussion on the Hungarian war guilt. The authors apply a special focus on the gender aspect of the trials.
Political justice had a specific nature in Hungary. War criminals began to be brought to trial while fighting was still underway in the western part of the country, well before the Nuremberg trials. Not only crimes committed during the war were tried in the same frame but also post-war ones. As far as the post-war period is concerned, legal proceedings regarding these crimes were most often launched on the basis of Act VII of 1946. This act of law concerned “the criminal law protection of the democratic constitutional order and the republic” and its basic aim was to facilitate the creation of a communist dictatorship and to deal with perceived or real enemies of the regime.
Andrea Peto is Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at Central European University, Vienna Austria and a Doctor of Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She is teaching courses on European comparative social and gender history, gender and politics, women’s movements, qualitative methods, oral history, and the Holocaust.
Ildikó Barna is Associate Professor at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
LIST OF FIGURES
FOREWORD
POLITICAL JUSTICE IN EUROPE: THE STATE OF RESEARCH
LEGAL BACKGROUND TO THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNALS AND THEIR OPERATION IN HUNGARY
The System of People’s Tribunals and the Actors in the Process
The Crimes and the Range of Punishments
Controversies Surrounding the Law on People’s Tribunals
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Method of Approach
Preparation Phase
Training of the Encoders
The Final Questionnaire
Research Phase
Several Notes on the Methodology and the Findings
ANALYSIS OF THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL CASES
Types of Cases
Characteristics of the Case Files
Analysis of the Various Actors in the People’s Tribunals
Summary of the Demographics of Defendants and Witnesses in the Various Types of Cases
Characteristics of the People’s Tribunal Cases
A GENDERED ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL JUSTICE IN HUNGARY IN THE AFTERMATH OF WORLD WAR II
Women in Political Justice: Stereotypes and Reality about Women Perpetrators
Witnesses
Court Judgments
Women People’s Judges
Summary: Gender in Political Justice
JEWISH IDENTITY AND THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNALS
Characteristics of the People’s Tribunal Cases
Defendants and Their Characteristics
Witnesses and Their Characteristics
Court Judgments
Jewish Identity and the Practice of Political Justice
SUMMARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
