Friedrich Hofstetter was a German judge who served under the Nazi regime. In 1948, he was charged with crimes against humanity for overseeing the sterilization of political opponents and social "undesirables", and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Biography[]
Friedrich Hofstetter was born in Germany, and he became a judge during the Nazi era. Hofstetter was a staunch patriot who believed in the phrase, "My country, right or wrong," implementing the laws of Nazi Germany without regard to their morality. In that capacity, he oversaw the sterilization of thousands of "undesirables" from the "feeble-minded" to communists and Jews. For this, he was charged with crimes against humanity at the 1948 Nuremberg Trials.
In his closing statement before the court, Hofstetter said, "I have served my country throughout my life, and in whatever position I was assigned to, in faithfulness, with a pure heart and without malice. I followed the concept that I believe to be the highest in my profession: the concept that says, 'To sacrifice one's own sense of justice to the authoritative legal order. To ask only what the law is, and not to ask whether or not it is also justice.' As a judge, I could do no other. I believe your honors will find me, and millions of Germans like me who believed they were doing their duty to their country, to be not guilty." However, he and his fellow defendants, including Justice Minister Ernst Janning, were ultimately found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Within five years, all four of the convicted men were released from prison as a means of building German-American relations as the Cold War escalated.