Umgekehrtes Kreuz

An IF line inspired by a dream.

These trials were the so-called Waldheim trials ( Waldheimer Prozesse) - a series of show-trials. They took place in Waldheim prison in Saxony and handed down previously prepared and overly long sentences. The trials often lasted only a few minutes and took place behind closed doors. The judges refused to admit evidence for the accused. The sentences were based on the original NKVD arrest protocols, which often involved torture. By June 1950 over 3,000 had been condemned to various additional prison sentences. Many of the convicted had already spent over four years interned in the special camps, and more than half were emaciated and sick. The Waldheim trials introduced the vigorous use of the judicial system as an instrument of political repression of all dissident elements in the GDR. Many of these sentences were revised in 1952.