Court of Military Honour

The Court of Military Honour (German: Ehrenhof) was a drumhead court-martial in Nazi Germany, composed of high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht, which was formed by a Führer decree (Führererlass) on 2 August 1944.[1]

The court had the express task of identifying and expelling officers of the German Army who, according to the Gestapo,[2] had participated in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler. The aim of the decree was to avoid having to bring the leaders of the military resistance to the Nazi regime before a military trial of the Reich Court-Martial (Reichskriegsgericht), in accordance with German military law. Instead, they were brought before a show trial of the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof).

  1. ^ (in German) Führererlass „Bildung eines Ehrenhofes zur Überprüfung der Beteiligten am Attentat vom 20.7.1944“, Adolf Hitler, 2. August 1944, dokumentiert in: Martin Moll: Führer-Erlasse 1939–1945. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1997.
  2. ^ (in German) Gerhard Weinberg: Rollen- und Selbstverständnis des Offizierskorps der Wehrmacht im NS-Staat In Rolf-Dieter Müller, Hans-Erich Volkmann (Hrsg.): Die Wehrmacht. Mythos und Realität. Verlag Oldenbourg, München 1999.