Justice in transition - prosecution and amnesty in Germany and South Africa

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, transitions from dictatorship to democracy became familiar occurrences. In most of the former dictatorships, serious human rights violations had been an everyday event. Thus the new democratic systems faced similar questions in their processes of transition: Is a confrontation with the past necessary, and how should it be carried out? Should the new democracies punish the wrongs of the past, especially severe violations of human rights? Or are amnesties necessary, in the interests of reconciliation and domestic peace? Does society need exposure and official recognition of the injustices of the past? How can the victims of human rights violations be helped, and how can their dignity be restored? Similar questions arise not only after transitions from dictatorship to democracy, but generally in all post-conflict situations once armed conflict ends. Following completion of criminal prosecutions in Germany and the end of the South African amnesty process, the contributions in this book take stock of prosecution and amnesty in Germany and South Africa from a comparative perspective. Against this backdrop, they take up new challenges and suggest new answers. This is especially true for the delicate relationship between efforts to deal with the past on the national level and international criminal justice. These issues are explored in interdisciplinary and practice-oriented fashion by practitioners from national and international criminal justice systems as well as legal scholars, political scientists and theologians.