Alfred Orgler

Alfred Orgler (born April 26, 1876 in Breslau ; died between March 1943 and January 1945 in Auschwitz or in Theresienstadt ) was President of the Senate at the Court of Appeal .

Life

Private life

Orgler completed a law degree in Heidelberg . Graduated in 1898 with the 1st state examination and doctorate to become Dr. jur., then began his legal traineeship.

Alfred Orgler lived with his wife in Berlin from 1923, first at Elßholzstrasse 30-33, then from 1939 at Eisenacher Strasse 98 and finally from 1942 until his deportation in March 1943 at Augsburger Strasse 62. Orgler's marriage was one according to the National Socialist definition "Privileged mixed marriage".

Judge work

Alfred Orgler was first from 1905 district judge and from 1917 district judge in Beuthen OS 1923 he was judge of the chamber judge, 1929 president of the senate at the chamber court. At the beginning of 1933 he took over the chairmanship of the 15th civil senate of the court.

Alongside Arnold Freymuth and Hermann Großmann, Alfred Orgler was one of the three judges at the Supreme Court, who were intended by the Prussian state government of Social Democrats and the Center as a counterweight to the national-conservative superiority of the judges at the Supreme Court. The Prussian Judges' Association protested against the appeal of Orgler and the two other republican judges to the Supreme Court.

The judges of the Weimar Republic

Ingo Müller writes in his book Terrible Jurists :

“With the fall of the empire and the proclamation of the republic [...] a world collapsed for the monarchist judiciary. [...] The judiciary, however, their independence and security of tenure was guaranteed, and judges, who could not agree with her conscience, the Republic held the Emperor to serve, offered the government to all material claims in the while maintaining retirement to be put . However, less than 0.15 percent of the judges made use of this offer. […] The majority of the judges, who now belong to the German National People's Party, which is located on the right edge of the party spectrum, kept their distance from the republic and orientated themselves on what remained of the old values. She willingly adopted the myth cultivated in conservative circles of the army unbeaten in the field, which was only defeated by sabotage on the home front (the notorious ' stab in the back legend ') and devoted itself to eliminating the 'enemy within'. "

Political activity

Alfred Orgler was a founding member of the Republican Judges' Association in 1922 and co-founder of the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold . From 1929 to 1932 he was a member of the SPD and from 1932 a member of the Social Republican Party. For a short time he was also a member of the League for Human Rights .

Journalistic activity

Alfred Orgler published in the Berliner Tageblatt and in the Frankfurter Zeitung . There Alfred Orgler wrote:

“In general, the public has little reason to concern itself with the judiciary. The fact that in Prussia three-quarters of the judges, and nine-tenths of those in senior and presidential posts, belong to the party organizations that negate the Weimar Constitution, and thus form the strongest and most dangerous refuge of the reaction, is seldom properly appreciated. Three years of republican government have not created the slightest change. Sometimes it almost seems as if the personnel policy of the Prussian Ministry of Justice is aimed at overturning the principles of the German and Prussian constitution. "

“If there is no non-political procedural law, there is also no non-political judge. It is a serious error to assume that the finding of a judgment is similar to algebra, in which the unknown X (the judgment) has to be 'calculated' from given quantities (the facts). It is true that the law creates fixed norms, but no factual matter taken from life just completely fills a certain formula. The judge must therefore eavesdrop on the facts of life, just as the doctor must listen to the symptoms of pneumonia from the patient. In this regard, I would like to remind you primarily of the so-called 'internal' facts, such as intent, negligence, awareness of illegality, etc. To assess the facts, a standard is required that is not derived from the law, but from the sum of life experience, i.e. from the political Weltanschauung is taken. In fact, the pre-war judges, who are so fondly referred to as 'apolitical' by the right-wing press, had become so entrenched in the views of the authoritarian state that it was not even necessary to commit to a particular political program. "

Death in the extermination camp

Alfred Orgler was given a forced leave of absence in April 1933 and released from the judiciary on July 20, 1933. The last news about Alfred Orgler is on the deportation lists from March 1943. He was a Jew and came to Auschwitz. He died there or in Theresienstadt.

Honors

On November 11, 2010, combined with a speech by the President of the Court of Appeal, the stumbling blocks in front of the Court of Justice building were laid for Alfred Orgler and four other Jewish judges of the Court of Justice who were deported and murdered.

literature

• Johann Heinrich Lüth, Uwe Wesel: Arnold Freymuth (1878–1933), Hermann Großmann (1878–1937 (?)), Alfred Orgler (1876–1943 (?)), Three judges for the republic. In: Kritische Justiz (Ed.): Controversial jurists. Another tradition. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1988, p. 204 ff.
• Jürgen Kipp : One hundred years. On the history of a building 1913–2013. A reader. BWV, Berlin 2013, p. 163 ff. ( A judges' meeting in the Supreme Court - February 1, 1924 ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alfred Orgler died at an unknown time between March 1943 and January 1945 in Auschwitz or in Theresienstadt , letter from the Berlin Senator for the Interior to the Federal Ministry of Justice of July 19, 1952, communication from the Koblenz Federal Archives of September 12, 1986.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Stolperstein in front of the house at Elßholzstrasse 30–33 from November 11, 2010.
3. ^ Service career of the Prussian judges and public prosecutors, 5th edition 1925.
4. ↑ DJZ 1924, 207/208.
5. ↑ Lüth / Wesel, p. 204.
6. ^ Ingo Müller: Terrible lawyers. The unresolved past of our judiciary. Kindler, Munich 1987, p. 19 ff.
7. ↑ Files for the implementation of the law for the restoration of the professional civil service , GStAB, Rep. 84a / 20356.
8. ↑ Here in particular in the edition of June 10, 1922.
9. ↑ Here in particular in issue No. 27 of January 11, 1924.
10. ↑ Lüth / Wesel, p. 206.
11. ↑ Lüth / Wesel, p. 207 f.
12. ^ Lüth / Wesel, p. 208.