Chapter 4
In: Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions
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Abstract
This contribution discusses a specific example of the late prosecution of Nazi crimes, namely the trial against Bruno Dey which took place in Hamburg, Germany, in 2019 and 2020. The accused was convicted as an accessory to first-degree murder in more than 5,000 cases in connection with his role as an SS guard at the Stutthof concentration camp. With a special focus on the theatrical dimension of the events that played out in the Hamburg courtroom, we propose to classify the ‘roles’ of the Dey trial’s participants and compare them to other late prosecution cases. We then explore the question of how the respective ‘performances’ have impacted the legitimacy of the proceedings.