ABSTRACT
Beginning in the summer of 1944, Hungarian Jews were carried off to today's Austria as forced laborers. The prosecution of war criminals fell under the jurisdiction of the Austrian people's courts as well as special military courts of the Allied occupation powers. Some important research has already been presented concerning British and US military justice in the Austrian occupation period, but we still know very little about the French and Soviet tribunals. The American courts in Austria did not claim jurisdiction over such crimes, either, because no US citizens or other Allied subjects were involved. The British occupation authorities established their own military courts in their zone to deal with war crimes. They doubted that the Austrian courts, which had just started their activities and were understaffed and overworked, would be able to handle such large and complex trials. The British military government contemplated the alternative of establishing an international military tribunal like in Nuremberg or a British court martial.
