This graph shows the origination of "Rumor" cases before the Special
Court (Sondergericht) located in Darmstadt. The Special Court was
charged with the prosecution of slanders against the National Socialist
regime "Rumor Decree" of 21 March 1933. It suggests the regime's dependence
on voluntary denunciation to isolate and neutralize independent-minded
people in Nazi Germany.
Source: Harald Hirsch, "Politische
Denunziation vor dem Sondergericht Darmstadt im Jahre 1935," in Friso Ross
and Achim Landwehr, eds., Denunziation und Justiz: Historische Dimensionen
eines sozialen Phänomens (Tübingen: edition diskord, 2000),
199-226.