Arnd Koch

Professor Arnd Koch is a Full Professor at the University of Augsburg's Faculty of Law, where he holds the Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Risk and Preventive Criminal Law and Contemporary Legal History. His academic work focuses on criminal law, legal history, and political criminal trials, with particular expertise in the history of Bavarian justice systems during the Weimar Republic and post-WWII periods.

His research interests span Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Legal History, Political Criminal Trials, Nazi-era Justice, and Post-war Reappraisal of Nazi Injustice. Professor Koch has supervised numerous doctoral students whose work addresses diverse topics from Turkish self-defense law to Nazi crime prosecutions in Augsburg.

His recent publications focus on the Bavarian People's Courts (1918-1924), including analyses of the Hitler trial and other politically significant cases from the Weimar era. His research reveals moderate sentencing practices by these courts against revolutionaries, contrary to common historical assumptions.

• Co-editor of the Lexicon of Political Criminal Trials (founded 2012)
• Principal investigator for DFG-funded project on Bavarian People's Courts (2023-2026)
• Organizer of annual German-Hungarian Seminar on Criminal Law History since 2006

Professor Koch actively supervises doctoral candidates working on topics including legal pioneers, criminal procedure law, and comparative criminal law. His work bridges historical legal research with contemporary criminal justice issues, particularly regarding how societies process politically sensitive crimes.