Hitler's Court Case

 After the Munich Beer Hall Putsch (9 Nov 1923)....there was a mess for the authorities to clean up.

All total....sixteen Nazi Party members died, with four of the Munich police dead.

Hitler at this moment of time....physically, he'd dislocated his shoulder, and emotionally.....he was drained.

For a couple of days....he stayed with associates...in great fear of being arrested or deported back to Vienna.

On the 11th of November....he turned himself in, and went to the Landsburg Prison to be held.

For about six weeks....he stayed there, and the general description of this period (by a prison official, not Hitler) is that he was pretty messed up mentally.  It didn't take much for him to collapse into a fallen mental state or start having fits....yelling and screaming.

The court case?  This finally started on 26 Feb 1924.

What can generally be perceived from the mid-November to late February period.....he mentally recovered from his downfall and emotional collapse. This version of Hitler had confidence in himself, his politics, and had a rational state of mind....for the legal moments required of this case.

The fact that the 'lay judges' on the panel (actually non-judges, simply members of the community)....were pro-Hitler by the end?  Well....this has been openly discussed a good bit.  The lead-judge in the case.....had to continually remind them that they weren't there to help Hitler.

Oddly enough, Hitler went and said the Putsch was entirely on him....no one else.

By the end....the guilty verdict was rendered....both Hitler and Hess were to get five-year sentences in prison, on the charge of treason.  

It should be noted that at this point of time in Bavaria....there were three types of prison that you could be assigned.  One was the Zuckthaus (disciplinary unit where you sent trouble-makers)....the second being Gefängnis (regular jail), and the last being an upgraded place called a Festungshaft....where you could have better food, and guests were acceptable.

As you can imagine....the 'system' allowed Hitler and Hess to enter the Festunshaft.

Instead of the five years....Hitler was released after eight months.  The paperwork simply says he was a model prisoner, and deserved 'time-off'.

Why he was not deported?  Well....this goes back to the judge in this case.  In simple terms....he said that a guy who thinks and feels he's a German....that the laws of the Republic were not to be applied in the case.

Yeah, logically, if this had been held anywhere else in Germany at the time....with the putsch and treason charge....Hitler being a non-German....would have been deported.  

You can sit and spend hours thinking over this moment, and how a simple deportation would have collapsed the Hitler - Nazi Party connection.  Things would have gone in an entirely different direction. 

Was Hitler's attitude different after the prison stay?  Absolutely....from that point on....he was non-putsch and believed that you could influence the republic's voting system....to bring evolution and 'legal' change.