The Wendish Research Exchange - Kroh, Peter: The Skala Biography, the Gestapo and the People’s Court. Contemporary Remarks on Files From a Past Era

Lětopis Abstract 2012 1: Kroh, Peter: The Skala Biography, the Gestapo and the People’s Court. Contemporary Remarks on Files From a Past Era

This is the first commentary on files used by the Gestapo and “The People’s Court” to prepare a case for high treason against Jan Skala. For this purpose, he was taken into “preventative detention” on 21 January 1938. The Gestapo produced its final report at the beginning of May. However, Skala remained in total solitary confinement for several months more. On 26 October 1938 he was “declared to be unfit to be kept in prison to avoid danger to his life” as a result of his damaged kidneys and the weakness of his cardiac muscle. The documents show that under these circumstances Skala remained true to his political and moral principles. He remained faithful to his Sorbian people, justified and defended their rights, declared his rejection of National Socialism, stood by his views on minority politics and remained true to his friends and acquaintances. Skala wrote two petitions to the Gestapo to try to escape from the crushing effects of solitary confinement and because of his deteriorating health. They are further proof of how he stood up for himself as a loyal citizen and Sorb in the face of Nazi terror. The Gestapo had to admit that they could not find any proof of their suspicions. The “People’s Court” abandoned the case against him on 1 June 1939 because a trial on the grounds of “preparing to commit high treason did not offer any prospect of success.”