Society for International Law in the German Democratic Republic

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The Society for International Law in the German Democratic Republic was a legal association in the GDR. It was founded on January 13, 1965 in East Berlin in the Senate Hall of the Humboldt University and existed until the reunification of Germany .

Historical background

The GDR had developed a two-state theory on the German question after 1945 . At the end of the 1960s, however, the position of the GDR under international law outside the socialist camp was controversial. The Federal Republic of Germany was able to defend its claim to sole representation on the basis of the Hallstein Doctrine so successfully that the GDR only had diplomatic relations with eleven Eastern Bloc states at the beginning of 1969. It was only in 1969 that the GDR managed to establish full diplomatic relations with six other Third World states that were politically and economically dependent on the Soviet Union .

The law was in the GDR materially from the intra-German relations embossed and the desire for international recognition. In the year the society was founded, Foreign Minister Otto Winzer spoke at a conference in the presence of President Rudolf Arzinger that

"The road to reunification can only begin with the gradual implementation of the basic principles of Potsdam in the areas of disarmament, peacekeeping and the normalization of relations between the two German states as well as real democratization in West Germany"

and "the national unity of Germany cannot be separated from its peaceful and democratic prerequisites". In September 1967 an international colloquium was held in Potsdam together with the German Academy for Political Science and Law on the "international status of both German states and its importance for European security" .

In addition, GDR international law dealt with the consequences of the “ Third Reich ”, for example the Nuremberg trial of major war criminals .

task

The task of the newly created organization was mainly to advise on policy . It was decided,

"To make a contribution to the maintenance of peace and the safeguarding of the right to self-determination by supporting the codification of the principles of peaceful coexistence under international law and promoting their implementation."

The founders elected the international law expert Rudolf Arzinger, who has been teaching at Leipzig University since 1955, as president .

The objectives anchored in the statutes were adjusted several times in accordance with political requirements, especially after the two German states were admitted to the United Nations in 1973. On February 10, 1977, the plenary assembly decided on a new version of the statutes, which the society as a "scientific association of citizens of the GDR ",

"Who are active in teaching, research and practice in the field of international law, international business law and international private law."

In addition, honorary membership could be awarded “to foreign citizens”, including to German international law experts “who had achieved special merits in the development of international law or in cooperation with scientists from the GDR”. From the outset, the company endeavored to maintain close contacts with the International Law Association (ILA). Wolfgang Seiffert in particular became a member of the GDR section of the ILA, which was later founded.

The plenary assembly was the highest organ in society. It had to be convened at least once within four years. Between the plenary sessions, a board of directors elected by the plenary assembly, the so-called executive council, exercised the duties and rights of the company. This consisted of the President, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary General and his Deputy, and a Treasurer. The last president of the Society for International Law in the GDR before the reunification of Germany was the international law expert Reinhard Müller (* 1954) from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg . Müller succeeded the international lawyer Harry Wünsche (1929–2008), who was president of the Society for International Law in the GDR after the death of Rudolf Arzinger in 1973.

Members

Relevant members who had distinguished themselves in international law in the GDR were in particular Rudolf Arzinger , Bernhard Graefrath , Herbert Kröger , Reinhard Müller, Joachim Peck, Walter Poeggel , Gerhard Reintanz , Wolfgang Seiffert , Hans Spiller , Peter Alfons Steiniger and Harry wishes . You exercised a leading position in society, partly as President and partly as Vice-President or previously as Secretary General like Harry Wünsche, who was already a member of the Executive Council of the Society for International Law in the GDR in this position . After the executive council was constituted , Hans Nathan , professor for civil and international private law and, since 1963, head of the Institute for Invention and Copyright at the Humboldt University in Berlin and Joachim Schulz, professor for international law at the Potsdam Academy for legal and international law, worked Political Science of the GDR (ASR), in this governing body.

Vice-President Wolfgang Seiffert was no longer publicly mentioned after his criticism of the changed goals of the Socialist Unity Party in Germany's policy after 1974.

activity

The Society for International Law organized conferences at which developments in the areas of international law, international commercial law and international private law were discussed and reported.

On the occasion of Hugo Grotius' 400th birthday , she held an academic conference in the Baltic Sea city on March 15 and 16, 1983, together with the Rostock University , the GDR section of the International Association for Legal and Social Philosophy and the Society for the Law of the Sea of ​​the GDR by. Together with the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, the society held an honorary colloquium in Halle (Saale) in 1988 on the occasion of Hans Spiller's 65th birthday .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , January 14, 1965, p. 2
  2. ↑ Seppo Hentilä: The influence of the GDR Finland lecture on 16 June 2005 at the Foundation Archives of Parties and Mass Organizations of the GDR in the Federal Archives , Berlin
  3. ↑ Neues Deutschland, August 3, 1965, pp. 1/2
  4. ^ Chronicle of the GDR 1967 GDR Lexicon, accessed on April 8, 2017
  5. ↑ Nuremberg Trial, yesterday and today: international scientific conference on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg Trial of Major War Criminals , organized by the Law Faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin and the Society for International Law in the GDR on December 3, 1965
  6. ↑ Neue Zeit newspaper of December 4, 1965, p. 1
  7. ^ Statutes of the Society for International Law in the German Democratic Republic in the version approved by the plenary assembly on February 10, 1977. DNB 208474706
  8. ^ Handbook of social organizations in the GDR , ed. Academy for Political Science and Law of the GDR Potsdam-Babelsberg, Berlin 1985, keyword: Society for International Law in the GDR , p. 87. DNB 850743540
  9. ^ Handbook of social organizations in the GDR , ed. Academy for Political Science and Law of the GDR Potsdam-Babelsberg, Berlin 1985, keyword: Society for International Law in the GDR , p. 88
  10. ↑ "Comrade, we need you ..." Der Spiegel , May 15, 1978
  11. ^ Michael Stolleis : Constitutional and Administrative Law Studies in West and East 1945–1990 (= History of Public Law in Germany, Volume 4). Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2012, p. 583. ISBN 978-3-406-63203-7
  12. ↑ Bock, S. / Muth, I./Schwiesau, H .: GDR foreign policy. An overview. Data, facts; Personen (III) , Berlin, 2010, p. 368; ISBN 978-3-643-10559-2
  13. ^ Temporary Vice President, born November 30, 1915 in Bromberg, died December 4, 1979; Catalogus professorum lipsiensium
  14. ↑ Professor catalog of the University of Leipzig catalogus professorum lipsiensium Period: 1945-1968; Faculty of Law
  15. ^ Curriculum vitae Chemnitz history: Prof. Harry Wünsche
  16. ↑ Neues Deutschland, January 15, 1966, p. 6
  17. ↑ According to "Zeit online", his "scientific honesty" was his undoing; Interview with Joachim Schulz 1990 .
  18. ^ Message from ADN, published in the daily newspaper Neues Deutschland on March 19, 1983, p. 13
  19. ↑ Topic: "International economic, financial and currency law and economic security"; Editor of the publication: Reinhard Müller; ISBN 978-3-86010-201-5