Bernhard Hempen

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Bernhard Hempen (born January 24, 1881 in Meppen , † August 18, 1945 in Landsberg an der Warthe ) was a German lawyer. From 1930 to 1933 he was President of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main .

Career

Hempen was born the son of an authorized signatory and was baptized Catholic. After the first state examination in 1903, he received his doctorate in 1905 at the law faculty of Rostock University. After the assessor examination in 1909 he was accepted into the civil service and in 1913 appointed judge at the Bochum regional court . From August 1914 to January 1919 he did military service in World War I and served as a company commander in an infantry regiment . He was slightly wounded and returned to the judiciary as a first lieutenant in the reserve after his release . In 1920 Hempen was advisor to the regional court in Duisburg , and a year later he was promoted to the higher regional court advisor at the higher regional court in Düsseldorf . In 1925 he was seconded to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, where he headed the personnel department as Ministerialrat . In 1926/1927 he joined the Center Party , to which he belonged until March 31, 1933. On March 1, 1928, he was appointed a member of the State Office for Family Goods in Berlin, which was assigned to the Ministry of Justice.

On April 1, 1930, Hempen was appointed President of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court as the successor to Ernst Dronke . As chairman of the Disciplinary Penal Senate, Hempen allowed judicial officers to work in the NSDAP as early as 1931/1932, which was forbidden at that time. With the seizure of power in early 1933, Hempen became a compliant servant of the National Socialists. On May 1, 1933, Hempen joined the NSDAP . As early as April 6, 1933, he sent a list to Berlin with the names of 36 judges who had been given leave of absence “with regard to their membership of the Jewish race”. In May 1933, he withdrew Jewish notaries' approval due to the “ Law on Admission to the Bar ” of April 7, 1933.

Hempen, however, was mistaken about his own situation. On June 1, he was recalled as President of the Higher Regional Court and on June 1, 1933 , he was transferred to the Berlin Court of Appeal as President of the Senate . According to von Gruenewaldt, Hempen “can be described as a failed opportunist”, the circumstances of his transfer to prison are only partially reconstructable, and his earlier membership in the Center Party certainly played a role. Hempen took over the 23rd civil senate in Berlin and was a member of the state legal examination office.

Only a few documents are available about Hempen's further life. His accession to NS sub-organizations such as the National Socialist Legal Guardian Association (October 1933), the National Socialist People's Welfare (1934) and the NS cultural community in Berlin (1935) suggest that Hempen came to terms with the regime. Zimmer writes that Hempen was arrested during the occupation of Berlin by Soviet troops and taken to the special camp in Landsberg an der Warte , where he died on August 18, 1945.

literature

  • Erhard Zimmer: The history of the higher regional court in Frankfurt am Main. Kramer, Frankfurt am Main. 1976 ISBN 978-3-7829-0174-1
  • Arthur von Gruenewaldt: The judiciary of the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main in the time of National Socialism: The personnel policy and personnel development , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2015 ISBN 978-3-16-153843-8 (also dissertation, University of Kiel) pp. 82-97

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Topic of the dissertation: The contestation of fulfillment and security transactions due to fraudulent disadvantage for creditors .
  2. ↑ General order of the Prussian government of July 9, 1930, which forbade civil servants to be active in a party (such as the KPD or the NSPAP) "... whose aim is the violent overthrow of the existing state order".
  3. ^ Arthur von Gruenewaldt: The judges of the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main in the time of National Socialism: Die Personalpolitik und Personalentwicklung , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2015 ISBN 978-3-16-153843-8 , pp. 96, 97
personal data
SURNAME Hempen, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and court president
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Meppen
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1945
Place of death Landsberg on the Warta