Max Hirschberg

Max Hirschberg (born November 13, 1883 in Munich , † June 21, 1964 in New York , NY ) was a German lawyer of Jewish descent. In the Weimar Republic he became known through two political trials in which he appeared as a criminal defense lawyer. He also made an important categorization of sources of error in case law ("Genealogy of case law").

Life

Hirschberg was born the son of a commercial councilor. After graduating from high school in 1902 at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich , he initially served as a volunteer in the artillery for a year . Following this, he studied in Munich , Berlin and Leipzig Jura . In 1910 he passed his second state examination and was admitted to the bar in 1911. He initially worked in Traunstein , later he settled in Munich . In 1914 he was drafted into the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment "Prince Regent Luitpold" .

In the early 1920s, Max Hirschberg defended Felix Fechenbach , the secretary of the murdered Bavarian Prime Minister Kurt Eisner . Fechenbach was sentenced to eleven years in prison for treason in 1922 for forwarding documents on the war guilt of the German Reich . After a two-year trial before the Munich People's Court , he was pardoned and released by the Bavarian state government in 1924, not least because Hirschberg had generated massive public pressure in a nationwide campaign.

In the so-called stab in the back trial in 1925, Hirschberg defended Martin Gruber , the editor of the social democratic daily newspaper Münchener Post . Gruber was accused of insulting the press after branding the legend of the stab in the back as a falsification of history .

The defense of the political persecuted brought him before the court of honor , because of the statement " Standgerichte are shame courts ", which he explained in detail. Eventually, after a long process, he was acquitted. Hirschberg had a law firm with Philipp Loewenfeld , Ludwig Regensteiner and Elisabeth Kohn .

As a committed opponent of Hitler , Hirschberg was taken into “protective custody” for more than five months in March 1933 . In 1934 he fled to Milan with his wife Bessie and son Erich , where he worked for an Italian lawyer. In 1938 he was expatriated from the German Reich, in 1939 the Munich University withdrew his doctorate from him. In March 1939 he emigrated to New York.

Causes of misjudgments in the criminal justice system

In his work The Misjudgment in Criminal Trials , Hirschberg names the six most important "causes of misjudgments in the criminal justice system":

1. Uncritical assessment of the confession . Hirschberg's examples: Rudolf Sheeler case, John A. "Dogskin" Johnson (alleged child murder, fear of lynching), Johann Gawenda , Franz Bratuscha and the Leon Sanchez - Gregorio Calero case. The cases of Josef Jakubowski , Timothy Evans , Albert Ziethen, Behrendt, Huberth Ranneth and Josef Auer, Egon Zylla, Erich Rebitzer , Fotsch, Case Gross , Theo Weber, Annamaria B., Oettiker, Gaston Dominici , Marinus van der Lubbe are further examples and serve more cases.
2. Uncritical assessment of the burden by the co-defendant . Hirschberg's examples: Albert Ziethen and Peter Messer (also called the “wheat theft” case). Further examples are the cases of Wallner, Andreas Herrmann, Barbara Graham (the case was filmed with Let Me Live in 1958, won an Oscar and was filmed again in 1983), Giovanni Conti, Isidor Zimmermann, Jim Lowell, Stielow-Green, Sheeler, Taff, Brown, Herbert Schön, Hahnfeld, Jakob, Settimo Piconi and Sindjelic serve.
3. Uncritical evaluation of the witness statements . Hirschberg's example: Cauvin / Marie Michel case (murder of the “Blancarde”). The cases Briegleb, Rudolf Rechberger , Wimmer, Verdin, Johann Monka, Antioco Satgia, Ugo Lazzeri, Seidel, Kaczmarczyk, Jausion-Crammont-Colard, Josef Hasler, the witch hunt of Salem , Anna Göldi , Felix Fechenbach , Lee Harvey are further examples Oswald and many other cases serve.
4. False recognition . Hirschberg's examples: Joseph Lesurques , Adolph Beck , Herbert T. Andrews , the Hilsner case, the "Nebraska" case (erroneous testimony), Irving Greenwald (PDF; 426 kB), and the "baker's wife" case. Other examples may include Billy Armstrong (case won by Abraham Lincoln as a young lawyer), Lord Smith (miscarriage of justice that led to the establishment of the Court of Criminal Appeal in England), Mandel Beilis , Franziska Deutelmoser, Burkert, Slater, Silas Rogers, Sacco and Vanzetti , Joe Hill , Caryl Chessman , Crump, Pitts & Lee, Labat & Poret, Charles Townsend, James Hanratty , Dickman, Otto Adam, Möller, Fenaroli-Ghiani , Wilhelm Gratzl , Antonio Spano, Salvatore Gallo, Antonio Giusti, John Artis, Clarence Boggies, British and Bill Keys, Vance Hardy, Jerome Frank, Edmund Galley, Will Purvis and more serving cases.
5. The lie as proof of guilt . Examples of Hirschberg: Johann Leister (bricklayer, who was acquitted in Eisenach in 1928), the Gietzinger and Harter case . The cases of Bonmartini (baroness), Marguerite Steinheil , Harry Hoffmann (cinema operator), Leo Frank , Sam Sheppard , Richard Roe, Heinrich Meußdoerffer (spouse murder), Fred Senff, Dr. Carl Coppolino, Dr. Finch, Mossler (banker), Kamphausen, Dr. Hoflehner, Dr. Verdirame, Buchholz, Leister, Gerard Wentzel, Colemann (traveling salesman), Bernard (farmer), Carl Hau , Karl Stauffer, Detlef Mohr, Winter and Ronald Light serve.
6. Uncritical evaluation of the expert reports . Hirschberg's examples: the “noble lady” case, William Broughton , Charles J. Guiteau , “young lawyer” case, “Ludwig Steiner” case, “pickpocket” case, “Lefebvre” case, “ Johann Pfeuffer ” case and “ Otto Goetz ” case ". The cases of Rudolf Rechberger, Arnould, Dr. Demme, Dr. Riedel-Guala, Margarethe Wolsiffer, Maria Rohrbach , Maria Zechmeister, Stretz, Pfeiffer, Dr. Vierling, Hellwinkel (chief building officer), Irwing Höglund, Antoniewicz-Hallowell-Parks, Armand Rohard, Roger Desmond, Dieter Derz, Annemarie Schmitz, Marie Petzold, Hans Näf, Violette Nozières and many other cases serve.

Hans Martin Sutermeister adds:

• Single track preliminary investigation . Examples include the cases of Vera Brühne , Josef Issels , Bruno Gröning , Adolf Bolliger, "Case G." (regarding postal robbery in 1963 in the canton of Bern), Meier 19 , Heinrich Pütjer (Berlin Telecommunications Office; acquittal in 1970) and Robert Vogel ("European Court “In Wiesbaden).
• Suggestibility and emotional logic of the jury. Psychological mistakes of the judges . Examples include the cases of Berthold Klein (hairdresser), Dr. Anton Weissteiner, Dr. Scheu (pediatrician), Struve (riding instructor; murder of Jewish children), the Oliveira couple, Tevellis (arsonists), Roger Izoard, Emma Balog & Kathy Steiner, Seznec, Chung Yi Miao, Omar Kehouadj, Jesse Hill Ford and other cases serve.
• Wrong decisions in the area of ​​"public morality" (in the areas of "sexual offenses, eugenics, euthanasia, war crimes, emergency law, martial law, conscientious objectors, death penalty, abortion, prostitution, adultery, racial discrimination, traffic offenses, economic crimes, freedom of the press, pre-trial detention, forced internment"). The cases of Arlene Del Favo, Josefine X., Lorene Williams, Gabriele Roussier, Madame Caillaux, Pauline Dubuisson, Jacques Deneire and many other cases may serve as examples.

Works

• The Wrong Judgment in Criminal Procedure: On the Pathology of Jurisprudence. 200 p., Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1960, Fischer Bücherei 1962. (The unabridged edition is available in the German National Library in Frankfurt a. M. under signature: D 62/16646 or in Leipzig with signature: SA 13483 - 492 )
• Jew and Democrat: Memories of a Munich attorney 1883 to 1939. Munich 1998, ISBN 3-486-56367-X .
• "The American and German Criminal Procedure in a Comparative Legal Perspective" by Dr. Max Hirschberg (Edited by Senate President Prof. Dr. Heinitz and Prof. Dr. Kielwein, Editing: Dr. Ulrich, Verlag Luchterhand Volume 6 Criminal Law - Criminal Proceedings - Criminology 1963)

literature

• Douglas G. Morris: Justice Imperiled: The Anti-Nazi Lawyer Max Hirschberg in Weimar Germany . University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2005, ISBN 978-0-472-11476-4 .
• Stefanie Harrecker: Degraded doctors: the revocation of the doctorate at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich during the time of National Socialism , Munich: Utz, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8316-0691-7 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Max Hirschberg in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Max Friedlaender: "Memories of Life"; Manuscript as PDF on the BRAK website , p. 76.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} "On the genealogy of the legal miscarriage: The Hirschberg test" In: Hans Martin Sutermeister. Summa Iniuria: A pitaval of errors of justice - five hundred cases of human error in the area of ​​justice from a criminal and social psychological point of view . Chapter V. Basel: Elfenau, 1976, p.124-707.
3. ↑ See also : Meinrad Suter, “Der Bolliger-Handel”. In: Meinrad Suter. Kantonspolizei Zürich 1804-2004 ( Memento of the original of October 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Zurich canton police 2004.