Walter Buch

Walter Buch (24 October 1883 – 12 September 1949) was a German Nazi jurist who served as Chairman of the Uschla/Supreme Party Court from 1927 to 1945.

Buch was early member of the Nazi Party, the SA, and the SS, a close associate of Adolf Hitler, and a participant in the Beer Hall Putsch. Buch was appointed chief judge of the Uschla in 1925, an important position for settling disputes within the party, despite having no formal legal training. Buch's insistence on prosecuting major Nazi officials for moral issues alienated Hitler and other powerful party members, causing his own power and influence to decline, serving as a figurehead from 1942 until the end of the World War II in 1945. Buch was classified as a major regime functionary in the denazification proceedings in 1948 and released from prison 1949, committing suicide shortly afterwards.

Walter Buch was born on 24 October 1883 in Bruchsal, Grand Duchy of Baden, the son of Hermann Buch, a Senate President at the Karlsruhe Regional Court. Buch graduated from the gymnasium in Konstanz in 1902 and entered the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet. He was promoted to Leutnant in 1904 and Oberleutnant in 1913. Buch served in the First World War, first as a training officer, and then as a company commander, earning the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. In March 1918, he became an instructor at the Döberitz military training area until September when he took up a position at the Prussian War Ministry in Berlin. In November 1918, upon the end of the war, Buch was released from the army as a major when he refused to swear allegiance to the new Weimar Republic. He then ran a chicken farm near Gernsbach and was active in the Baden Veterans' League. From 1919 to 1922, he was a member of the national-conservative German National People's Party (DNVP). He was also manager of the Baden branch of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, the largest, most active, and most influential anti-semitic federation in post-war Germany

On 9 December 1922, Buch joined the Nazi Party (membership number 13,726), attracted by its virulent anti-semitism, and soon became the Ortsgruppenleiter (Local Group Leader) in Karlsruhe. On 1 January 1923, he joined the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. By August of that year, he was leader of the SA in Franconia, which he had helped organise in Nuremberg . In mid-1923, Buch was recruited to the Stoßtrupp-Hitler (Shock Troop-Hitler), a small group of SA members formed for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's personal protection, which would later evolve into the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Buch participated in the Beer Hall Putsch on 9 November 1923, eluding capture as many other Nazi leaders fled Germany to avoid prosecution. Buch came back to Munich as early as 13 November, sent by Hermann Göring – who had fled to Innsbruck in Austria – to ensure that the shaken Party troops' cohesion would not weaken. He built up ties with the now-outlawed SA groups, which could now only operate undercover, and briefly was charged with the leadership of the outlawed SA until arrested in February 1924. Buch maintained regular contact between Hitler, who was incarcerated in Landsberg Prison, and the illegal Nazi leadership in Austria. In the time that followed, Göring's fears that the party had broken up appear to be true until Hitler was released from Landsberg in December 1924. Hitler re-established the Nazi Party on 27 February 1925 and Buch rejoined (membership number 7,733), becoming the SA leader in Munich and serving in that capacity until November 1927.

The Investigation and Settlement Committee (Untersuchungs- und Schlichtungs-Ausschuss or Uschla) had been established in December 1925 by Hitler to settle intra-party problems and disputes using a court headquartered at the Brown House. On 27 November 1927, Hitler named Buch as Acting Chairman of this body, becoming permanent Chairman as of 1 January 1928. In addition to the national organization, there were lower level Uschla components at the Local and Gau levels of the Nazi Party. Their decisions could be appealed to the national Uschla which specifically had the right to cite “higher Party reasons” as the sole justification for refusing to accept a lower level decision. Hitler used this to wield almost total control over intra-Party disputes. Buch did not have any formal legal training and tried to avoid choosing professional lawyers as judges, preferring to rely on Alter Kämpfer because he trusted them to share his outlook for the party. The two other USCHLA members at the time of Buch's becoming chairman were Hans Frank and Ulrich Graf.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, the USCHLA was renamed the Supreme Party Court (Oberste Parteigericht) on 1 January 1934. Buch was retained as its chairman and also given the title of Supreme Party Judge (Oberster Parteirichter). The Court was empowered to conduct investigations, render judgments and take disciplinary actions against Nazi Party members. It could only impose sanctions that affected the accused's relationship with the Party, with punishments ranging from reprimand, to dismissal from Party offices and to the most extreme punishment, expulsion from the Party. If a case involved any criminal activity, the Court would refer the case to the criminal courts for action. Any pronouncements of the Supreme Party Court were non-binding on the criminal courts and needed the concurrence of Hitler to effectuate its decisions, which at times he refused to grant.

In 1934, Buch described the importance of Party tribunals thus: