Wehrkraftzersetzung

[note 1][1] Wehrkraftzersetzung consolidated and redefined paragraphs already in the military penal code to punish "seditious" acts such as conscientious objection, defeatist statements, self-mutilation, and questioning the Endsieg.

[citation needed] With the introduction of the Wartime Regulations for Criminal Procedures (Kriegsstrafverfahrensordnung or KStVO), those accused under the law were also deprived of the right to appeal, further weakening them at trial.

The extent of the military judge's discretion and the degree of arbitrariness involved are indicated in a 1942 statement by Alfred Fikentscher, an admiral and chief medical officer in the Kriegsmarine.

Protracted submission [of documents] to the Minister of Justice to order a criminal prosecution is unnecessary if you approach the statement as undermining the military, which will be possible in almost every case.

The vague wording of the regulation made it possible to criminalize every type of criticism, also by civilians, deliberately encouraging denunciation as a means to more comprehensively control the population.

That "undermining the war effort" in Nazi Germany was by no means a trivial offense is seen in the 1 November 1944 decree from the head of the National Socialist Secret Service of the Luftwaffe:[citation needed] Among others, examples of subversion given were:[citation needed] Defeatist remarks were not prosecuted under military law, but were tried in military-backed "accelerated trials", such as in the case of Norbert Engel, a physiotherapist, after expressing his regret over the failure of the 20 July plot to a nurse, saying "If it had succeeded, the war would have been over in five days and we'd have been able to go home."

Former Wehrkraftzersetzung-based laws are currently regulated under §§ 109-109k of the German criminal code titled "Crimes against the Defense of the Country" (Straftaten gegen die Landesverteidigung).