Zbrodnia i kara jako rytuał. Gdański proces stutthofskich zbrodniarzy

Abstrakt

This article attempts to analyse the trials held against the guards of the Stutthof concentration camp and the public execution of eleven criminals sentenced to death. The proceedings were held before the Special Criminal Court in Gdansk from 25 April to 31 May 1946. The sentence was carried out on a hill called Biskupia Górka (Stolzenberg) on 4 July of that year, in the presence of a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands of people. These events are shown as a ritual, which did not only punish Nazi perpetrators, but also fulfilled important social and political functions. Attention is also paid to the role of the city of Gdansk, which was undergoing another transformation in its history after the end of World War II, in the process of the settlement of the Nazi crimes.