Hermann Großmann (lawyer)

Hermann Großmann (born August 8, 1878 in Eberswalde ; † June 8, 1960 ) was an imperial judge .

Life

Großmann studied in Berlin. In 1900 he passed the first state examination (“sufficient”) and the second in 1905 (“sufficient”). He became an assessor in 1905. Then in 1909 he was a district judge at the LG Duisburg , in 1915 an assistant judge at the OLG Düsseldorf . In the Weimar Republic , he was 1919 High Court Judge at the Higher Regional Court of Kwidzyn and 1922 Senate President at the Court of Appeal Berlin. His senate was derogatory called the " Republican Senate " because he was a founding member of the Republican Judges' Association . Großmann belonged to the Republican minority like Arnold Freymuth and Alfred Orgler , against whose promotions in 1923 around 100 of 150 judges of the Superior Court protested in a meeting. Großmann was a DDP member for many years . In 1921 he was elected to the provincial parliament of the province of East Prussia . In 1922 he gave up the mandate and Gustav Hermsdorff moved up for him.

He appeared as a candidate for the Reichstag at the election meeting of the DDP. In an election campaign in December 1924 he advocated a decisive “ democratization of the administration of justice ” and accused his conservative colleagues of “ strong bias ” in political processes, because he reckoned with around 5% Republican judges, 15% reactionary and 80% fluctuating. A storm of public indignation broke out and the chairman of the Prussian Judges' Association, Dr. Splendor, thought that Großmann had seriously damaged judges, law, state and people and insulted his professional colleagues in an immeasurable way. The continuing abuse of the German judges by members of their own professional association is no longer acceptable. On July 2, 1926, Großmann was expelled from the Prussian Judges' Association for “ behavior contrary to the association ”. An exclusion process for double membership with the Republican Judges Association (banned since 1925) failed, but Großmann was advised to resign. Otto Landsberg , Otto Nuschke , Walter Schücking and Carl Falck spoke at a sympathy rally for Großmann . Half a year later he reached the resumption. In 1929 Großmann joined the SPD , to which his republican colleagues Freymuth and Orgler belonged.

On April 1, 1930 he was appointed Reich judge. Großmann was in the III. Civil senate of the Reichsgericht active. Großmann was a member of the Reichsbanner and the League for Human Rights . Since he had called for the defense of the Weimar Constitution at a Reichsbanner meeting in November 1932 , the President of the Reich Court, Erwin Bumke , initiated disciplinary proceedings against him, as he "shows a high degree of lack of restraint, as ... expected from a member of the highest court must be ". Justice Minister Franz Gürtner asked him on March 6, 1933 to apply for his immediate retirement, which Grossmann did and thus pre-empted his dismissal under the law for the restoration of the civil service , which was enacted on April 7, 1933. He was able to avert the attempt by the Reich Ministry of Justice to reduce his retirement salary with the affirmation of his national convictions and with the help of Senate President Katluhn .

After the end of the war, he became a judge in Eisenach in 1945, and from 1946 he was chairman of a criminal senate at the Higher Regional Court in Gera and from April 1950 as the Higher Regional Court President in Erfurt. As a judge in the GDR, according to Petra Weber , he displayed " a level of compliance that could hardly be surpassed ." “ Ideological stubbornness, the need for personal support and political naivety combined with increasing senility seem to have been the main reason for Großmann's seemingly embarrassing submission. “In 1952 he left the civil service in the GDR. After his retirement he was active in the National Front , in the district committee of the Peace Council , in the VDJD , in the housing party organization of the SED and in the Groscurth committee for the defense of the German patriots persecuted by the reactionary judiciary in West Germany .

literature

• Friedrich Karl Kaul , History of the Reichsgericht , Volume IV (1933–1945), East Berlin 1971.
• Johann Heinrich Lüth, Uwe Wesel : Arnold Freymuth (1878-1933), Hermann Grossmann (1878-1937 (?)), Alfred Orgler (1876-1943 (?)): Three judges for the republic , in: Controversial jurists: another Tradition: Jürgen Seifert , co-editor of Critical Justice , on his 60th birthday . Baden-Baden: Nomos 1988, ISBN 3-7890-1580-6
• Obituary for “ Dr. Hermann Grossmann August 8, 1878 - June 8, 1960 ”, NJ 1960, p. 406f.
• Norbert Korfmacher: Provisional list of members of the East Prussian Provincial Parliament 1919 to 1933, 2018, p. 21, digitized .

Web links

• German Central Library for Economics - Leibniz Information Center for Economics: “Großmann, Hermann; 1878-1933 "

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lohmann-Altona (DNVP) : Reichstag protocols , vol. 384, 36th seat. P. 1106A , meeting of March 17, 1925; Kurt Rosenfeld : Reichstag protocols, vol. 390, seat 187. p. 6778 , meeting of March 26, 1926
2. ↑ Carl von Ossietzky: “ Communist Law? “, Die Weltbühne on May 21, 1929
3. ↑ Ingo Müller 125 years of judicial independence? On the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Emmerich District Court on July 2, 2004 ( Memento of the original from November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Friedrich Karl Kaul , History of the Reichsgericht, Volume IV (1933–1945), East Berlin 1971, p. 56ff.
5. ^ NJ 1950 p. 171.
6. ↑ Petra Weber: “ Justice and dictatorship. Administration of Justice and Political Criminal Justice in Thuringia 1945-1961 ”, Sources and presentations on contemporary history 46, Munich 2000, p. 268.