Family in early Germanic culture

Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung (, kin liability) is a German term for the idea that a family or clan shares the responsibility for a crime or act committed by one of its members, justifying collective punishment. As a legal principle, it was derived from Germanic law in the Middle Ages, usually in the form of fines and compensations. It was adopted by Nazi Germany to justify the punishment of kin (relatives, spouse) for the offence of a family member. Punishment often involved imprisonment and execution, and was applied to relatives of the conspirators of the failed 1944 bomb plot to assassinate

Scandanavian lineage

legal relationship

Sippe is German for "clan, kindred, extended family" (Frisian Sibbe, Norse Sifjar).