Today the highest court in the state of Berlin, the Kammergericht gained notoriety during the Nazi years when it hosted more than 20 show trials of the Nazi Volksgerichthof (People's Court) against participants – real and alleged – in the July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. About 110 people were handed their death sentences in this connection by the fanatical Volksgerichthof ruling judge Roland Freisler.
Freisler himself was crushed to death by a falling beam when the court building was hit during an air raid on 3 February 1945, thereby avoiding what would undoubtedly have been a starring role at the Nuremberg trials.
