The massive concrete building on Nymphenburger Straße has been a fixture in Uwe Vater’s life for 22 years. “The building and I were never really close friends. But we learned to live together,” he says, as he begins one of his last shifts in the building. Vater knows every corner here, but in just a few days, the judicial security inspector will have to find his way around new premises.
A Half-Century of German Legal History
The Munich Criminal Justice Center is moving to a new building. The old structure is dilapidated, and a renovation is deemed unprofitable. Yet, this unadorned concrete block from the 1970s has been one of the most important venues in German legal history for decades. Not only have numerous celebrities sat in the dock, but also murderers, war criminals, and terrorists have faced judges here.
The Oetker Kidnapping: A Thrilling Trial
Lawyer Steffen Ufer, 85, a prominent criminal defense attorney in Germany, witnessed many cases here. “It’s a building where you lose all hope just by walking in,” he says. In 1979, he handled the high-profile Oetker kidnapping case at the Criminal Justice Center. “It was one of the most exciting trials I’ve ever experienced,” he recalls today. Two years prior, entrepreneur Richard Oetker was kidnapped and mistreated. His family paid a ransom of 21 million DM, and the perpetrator was sentenced to the maximum 15 years in a sensational trial.
The Sedlmayr Case: Media Exploitation
Gisela Friedrichsen, a former Spiegel court reporter, also remembers countless spectacular trials she covered at the Munich Justice Center during her career. Among them was the murder of actor Walter Sedlmayr. The trial revealed Sedlmayr’s homosexuality. “The media exploited this image change in a way that was simply disgusting,” Friedrichsen recalls.
Boris Becker in the Infamous Room A101
In 2002, Boris Becker found himself in the dock for tax evasion. The trial against the tennis legend took place in Room A101, the most famous room in the building. Windowless, with artificial light – a gem for those who appreciate brutalist architecture, but for former court reporter Friedrichsen, “…a dreadful room.”
The NSU Trial: Germany’s Largest Terror Trial
Room A101 also hosted the NSU trial, the largest and longest proceeding in recent years. It took 438 days of hearings until the right-wing terrorist Beate Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial concerning the National Socialist Underground became the largest terror trial in German history, involving, among other things, nine murders of migrants. “That really cost us strength and energy,” recalls judicial security inspector Uwe Vater. His job was to safely escort incarcerated defendants to the courtrooms and ensure that no contact occurred that could influence witnesses, for example. He also had to ensure no one escaped.
Tears, Emotions, Cheers
“We have conducted truly historic trials here over the last 50 years,” says Laurent Lafleur, a judge at the Higher Regional Court. He too has covered trials at the Criminal Justice Center for decades, including as a prosecuting attorney in the Dominik Brunner case, and is now a press spokesperson. The square in front of the concrete building is particularly etched in his memory. “Sometimes, when you look out of the building, you see people crying, breaking down. Sometimes also true jubilant cheers, when people perhaps got off too lightly or were simply rightly acquitted. In that respect, this place has also experienced a lot of emotions in the last 50 years,” he says in the “Kontrovers – Die Story” report.
Soon, it will be over forever. The Munich criminal justice system is moving to a new building in the Neuhausen district. The old building from the 1970s is to be sold and possibly demolished.
Source: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/muenchner-strafjustizzentrum-blick-zurueck-auf-legendaere-prozesse,VMnCABX
