Adolf Berger

This article deals with the legal scholar Adolf Berger. For the Lieutenant General see Adolf Otto Berger ; on the naval officer see Adolph Wilhelm Berger .

Adolf Berger (born March 1, 1882 in Lemberg , Austria-Hungary , † April 8, 1962 in New York ) was an Austrian-American legal scholar and specialist in Roman law .

Life

Adolf Berger grew up in Lemberg, which at that time belonged to the Empire and Kingdom of Austria-Hungary and was influenced by Poland. His origin also determines his connection to Polish culture, which he cultivated and deepened throughout his changeable life.

Berger studied law at the University of Lemberg . Since he passed the exam (like the school leaving examination) with top grades and distinction, he was given the special honor of the Promotion sub auspiciis imperatoris on the occasion of his doctorate (1907) . Equipped with a grant from the Austrian Ministry of Education, he deepened his studies from 1908 to 1909 at the University of Berlin , where Professors Bernhard Kübler and Paul M. Meyer introduced him to the methods of textual criticism and papyrology .

After his return to Lemberg, Berger published his first legal publications in German, Latin and Polish in quick succession. At first he did not tackle the university career. From 1914 to May 1915 he worked as a libero docente at the University of Rome . Italy's entry into the war in 1915 interrupted his academic career: Berger was expelled to Austria-Hungary and involved in the turmoil of the First World War . From 1917 to 1918 he served in the Austrian army . After the end of the war he was a member of the Austrian Armistice Commission.

Berger resumed his scientific work in the Republic of Austria. He did not pursue a university career, but went into the diplomatic field. From 1919 to 1938 he worked as a secretary and legal advisor to the Polish embassy in Vienna.

The " connection of Austria " to National Socialist Germany in the spring of 1938 meant a deep turning point in Berger's life. Together with his wife Malva geb. Sereny he emigrated to France. Although he had lost his extensive private library and was without merit, he was able to continue his academic work within a limited framework. After three unsteady years in France, which he spent in Paris , Toulouse and Nice , he arrived in New York City in February 1942 .

Berger spent the last two decades of his life in New York. From September 1942 he taught Roman law at the École Libre des Hautes Études (French University of New York) founded by French exiles . In the same year he also became a founding member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America . At the invitation of Harvard University , Berger spent 1948 at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library , where he studied Byzantine legal sources. In addition to his teaching post at the École Libre des Hautes Études, Berger was visiting professor at the City College of New York from 1952 . In 1955 the Accademia dei Lincei elected him as a corresponding member.

Fonts (selection)

• On the history of the development of the division suits in classical Roman law. Weimar 1912.

literature

• Max Kaser : In memoriam Adolf Berger . In: Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History. Romance Department. Volume 79, 1963, pp. 526-531.
• Joseph Modrzejewski: In memoriam Adolf Berger (1882–1962). In: The Journal of Juristic Papyrology. Volume 13, 1962, pp. 207-211.
• Matthew M. Fryde: Adolf Berger 1882–1962. In: The Polish Review. Vol. VII, No. 3, New York, NY 1962, pp. 1-13.
• Berger, Adolf. In: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss (Eds.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945. Volume 2.1. Saur, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 85.

Web links

• Literature by Adolf Berger in the catalog of the German National Library