Academy for German Law

Law on the Academy for German Law of July 11, 1934

The Academy of German Law was in the era of National Socialism a scientific institution under the supervision of Reichsjustiz- and the Reich Interior Ministry .

history

The academy was founded in Munich on June 26, 1933 , and proclaimed on October 2, 1933 by the Reich Commissioner for the Coordination of Justice, Hans Frank, at the German Lawyers 'Conference of the National Socialist Lawyers' Association in Leipzig . Through the Reich Law of July 11, 1934, it became a public corporation of the Reich with its seat in Munich and the legal task of “promoting the reorganization of German legal life and, in conjunction with the bodies responsible for legislation, the National Socialist program in the entire area of ​​the Realize right ”. As a result of the war , the academy ceased its work in August 1944, but formally continued to exist until the end of Nazi rule.

Although the academy took up scientific operations, it was unable to fulfill its legal and political mandate.

Organization and tasks

The organs of the academy were the President (until 1942 Hans Frank, from 1942 to 1944 Otto Thierack), who was appointed by the Reich Chancellor , and the Presidium, which supported and advised the President in his tasks. The academy comprised ordinary, extraordinary, supporting and corresponding members. The members were appointed for a period of four years.

The statutory tasks of the academy were mainly:

1. The elaboration, suggestion, assessment and preparation of draft laws,
2. participation in the redesign and standardization of legal and political education,
3. editing and supporting scientific publications,
4. the financial support of practical scientific work that served to research special areas of law and economics,
5. the organization of scientific conferences and the establishment of teaching courses,
6. maintaining relationships with similar institutions abroad.

The academy published the “Journal of the Academy for German Law” (from 1934).

From 1939 the Academy for German Law dealt with the development of a People's Code .

Well-known members included Wilhelm Arendts , Horst Bartholomeyczik , Max Hildebert Boehm , Carl Bosch , Ernst Hugo Correll , Carl Duisberg , Karl August Eckhardt , Hans Frank , Roland Freisler , Joseph Goebbels , Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , Hermann Göring , Friedrich Grimm , Karl Haushofer , Martin Heidegger , Karl Maria Hettlage , Heinrich Himmler , Karl Christian von Loesch , Herbert Meyer , Friedrich Minoux , Franz von Papen , Johannes Popitz , Eberhard Schmidt , Carl Schmitt , Wolfgang Siebert , Werner Sombart , Otto Georg Thierack , Franz Wieacker , Hans Würdinger .

In 1941, Willi Weyer , who later became Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and President of the German Sports Confederation, worked as an assistant in the academy. Werner Best was the chairman of the “Committee for Police Law” . The chair of the " Committee of Legal Philosophy " was Carl August Emge held, the "Committee on colonial law" Axel von Freytagh Loringhoven .

The academy was based in the House of German Law in Munich, Ludwigstrasse 28, built by Oswald Bieber between 1936 and 1939 .

Writings published by the Academy

• Work reports
• Yearbook of the Academy for German Law (1.1933 / 34–6 / 7.1939 / 40)
• Writings of the Academy for German Law
  • Legal history group
    • Germanic rights. Texts and translations
  • Roman Law and Foreign Rights Group
  • Legal Foundations and Legal Philosophy Group
  • Group Law of Obligations
  • Constitutional and Administrative Law Group
  • Group Commercial and Business Law
  • International Law Group
  • Economics group
    • Special budget series
• Journal of the Academy for German Law , ZAkDR (1.1934–11.1944)
• Journal of Defense Law

Archival material

The academy's files, including the personnel files of its members, are in the Federal Archives in Berlin-Lichterfelde .

materials

• Werner Schubert (Ed.): Academy for German Law 1933–1945. Minutes of the committees. Peter Lang Verlag , Frankfurt am Main et al. 1986 ff.

literature

• Susanne Adlberger: Useful Cooperation - The Law Faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University and the Academy for German Law. In: Elisabeth Kraus (Ed.): The University of Munich in the Third Reich. Essays. Part I. Herbert Utz, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8316-0639-0 , pp. 405-430.
• Hans Hattenhauer : The Academy for German Law. In: Juristische Schulung (JuS) 1986, pp. 680–684.
• Detlef Peitz: Parliamentary Stenographers and Nazi Dictatorship. Part 3: Logging Right and Wrong. In: Neue Stenografische Praxis , 63rd year, 2015, issue 1, pp. 10-14.
• Hans-Rainer Pichinot: The Academy for German Law. Establishment and development of a public corporation of the Third Reich. Kiel, Univ.-Diss. 1981.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ § 2 of the law on the Academy for German Law of July 11, 1934, RGBl. 1934, p. 605. Austrian National Library, Historical Legal and Legal Texts Online, accessed on November 3, 2017.
2. ^ Daniela Rüther: The resistance of July 20 on the way to the social market economy. The economic policy ideas of the bourgeois opposition to Hitler , Paderborn, Munich 2002, p. 148 : “Even when the work of the academy was completely stopped in August 1944 due to the 'intensification of the total war', there was no intention of a final dissolution of the academy , but was specifically stipulated that it was intended to resume the work of the academy as soon as the situation allowed, ”m. Note 41: Otto Thierack to Hans Heinrich Lammers , August 12, 1944 (Bundesarchiv Berlin, R 43 / II 1510a, p. 151).
3. ↑ Martin Rath: Academy for German Law: The legal travesty of Dr. Frank . In: Legal Tribune Online , October 7, 2012.
4. ↑ § 1 of the statutes of the Academy for German Law, RGBl. 1934, p. 605. Annex to the law on the Academy for German Law.
5. ↑ Who is who? The German Who's Who , 13th edition 1958, p. 1366.