Otto Koellreutter

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Otto Koellreutter (born November 26, 1883 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † February 23, 1972 ibid) was a German legal scholar and National Socialist.

Life

After attending a humanistic grammar school, Otto Koellreutter studied law at the universities of Rome , Grenoble , Berlin and Freiburg . In 1905 he became a trainee lawyer before starting in 1908 with the thesis “ Richter und Master . A contribution to the appreciation of the English civil procedure "at Freiburg University doctorate . A year later he was appointed government assessor. Also at the University of Freiburg , he completed his habilitation in 1912 with a study on " Administrative Law and Administrative Jurisprudence in Modern England ".

During the First World War Koellreuter served (most recently as Captain of the Reserve) on the Western Front in the Field Artillery Regiment 80 and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class, the Knight's Cross of the Zähringer Lion and the Knight's Cross of the Karl Friedrich Order of Merit.

After the war, Koellreutter became an associate professor in Freiburg in 1918 and then in Halle in 1920. The appointment of local full professor of Heads of State and Administrative Law happened in the same year. In 1921 he followed a call to the University of Jena ; from 1923 he also worked as a part-time judge at the Thuringian Higher Administrative Court .

Even in the Weimar Republic before the time of National Socialism , Koellreutter was critical of the democratic system and particularly of the party state and advocated strengthening the power of the Reich President. From 1921 to 1926 he was a member of the Stahlhelm , from 1928 to 1930 he was a member of the DVP .

The Reichstag elections of September 14, 1930 led Koellreutter as a sympathizer "to the side of National Socialism". On the occasion of the election result, which brought an increase in the NSDAP's share of the vote from 2.6 to 18.3 percent, Koellreutter wrote: The elections contained “the rebellion, especially of the younger generation [...] against a system that knows no state idea and which has failed more and more in practice. ”He also expressed himself anti-Semitic in the scriptures. He shared the view of Rudolf Smend that the “Eastern Jews” “are essentially unsuitable for an integrating function [in Germany]” and furthermore criticizes the admission of their immigration as opening up “further [r] possibility” to “political and economic exploitation of the German people ”.

However, Koellreutter still showed a partial distance from National Socialism.

In the summer of 1932 Koellreutter was one of the signatories of a call by university lecturers to vote for the NSDAP in the upcoming Reichstag election.

On May 1, 1933, Koellreutter was admitted to the NSDAP with the party number 2,199,595. He was also a member of SA Reserve II and some other subsidiary organizations of the NSDAP. Koellreutter himself claimed - in the context of his competition with Carl Schmitt - to have been a member of the NSDAP as early as mid-April 1933. Koellreutter and Schmitt were leading actors in the National Socialist discussion about the self-designation of NS as a constitutional state (Koellreutter was clearly in favor; Schmitt temporarily considered abandoning the term).

Under the National Socialist regime Koellreutter was a loyal and active supporter of the Nazi ideology and advanced to become one of the leading constitutional law teachers. In 1933 he received a chair in Munich and became dean there . He also became a member of the National Socialist Academy for German Law . In 1934 he published as "Theoretician of the Führer State", according to Ernst Klee , the treatise The German Führer State and, in 1936, an outline of the general doctrine of the state . In it he wrote, among other things: “The national constitutional state as a völkisch way of life is based on the people, their preservation in their race. . . is the basis of every political and cultural upward development. "

After a stay in Japan from 1938 to 1939 Koellreutter published several essays on the structure of the state and the political development of Japan. It was only in the last years of the Second World War that his attitude towards the Nazi regime became more critical, not least because an uncle by marriage had been deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp . Since Koellreutter turned to the Viennese Gauleiter Baldur von Schirach for this reason in 1944 , there were investigations against Koellreutter, in the course of which he had to submit a statement.

After the end of the Second World War, Koellreutter was initially removed from office in 1945 on the instructions of the American military government.

In 1946, 13 of his works from the Nazi era were included in the list of literature to be sorted out in the SBZ , and in 1948 three additional works by Koellreutter: The meaning of the Reichstag elections of September 14, 1930 and the tasks of German political theory. (Mohr, Tübingen 1930), People and State in the Constitutional Crisis ( Junker and Dünnhaupt , Berlin 1933) and The Shaping of German Political Unity. (Schweitzer, Munich / Berlin / Leipzig 1934), in the GDR 1952 also leadership and administration (Frommann, Jena 1938), German administrative law (Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1938) and the political face of Japan (Heymann, Berlin 1943).

In a Bavarian denazification process, Koellreutter was initially classified by a preliminary examination committee in Group III (less exposed). Since he did not want to accept the two-year probation period imposed on him and a monetary atonement (which should be deemed to have already been paid due to his impeachment), there was a trial chamber in which Koellreutter was now the main culprit sentenced to five years in a labor camp, among other things. Thereupon he was arrested in June 1947 and released after 13 months - due to an appeal by Koellreutter, which finally led to a classification in group IV (fellow travelers). In the following year (1949) Koellreutter's impeachment was reversed and he was given normal retirement due to the age limit that had meanwhile been reached; finally (1952) his formal retirement followed .

From 1950 Koellreutter published again, including essays on civil servants, administrative law and two books on constitutional law. He also commented on decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court . The essays appeared mainly in the training magazine Der Jurist , but also in respected specialist journals such as Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt , Die public administration and Zeitschrift für Politik ; his books were published by publishers Kohlhammer and Heymann, among others.

Koellreutter was involved as an appraiser for the revanchist GB / BHE and as a litigator for the General Civil Protection Association against denazification regulations and described the Bavarian chambers as "contaminated by communism".

In the academic literature, Koellreutter's post-war writings, while at the same time suppressing his past, were received largely benevolently to approvingly; Theodor Maunz praised Koellreutter's "refreshing clarity". Only since the 1980s have "differentiated" or critical voices to be found.

literature

  • Jörg Schmidt : Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / New York / Paris / Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-631-48087-3 . (See also: Diss. Uni. Munich, 1994)
  • Michael Stolleis:  Koellreutter, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Gabor Hamza: The idea of ​​the “Third Reich” in German philosophical and political thinking of the 20th century. Journal of the Savigny Foundation for Legal History (Germ. Abt.) 118 (2001) pp. 321–336.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Stolleis :  Koellreutter, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ↑ See below.
  3. ↑ Overall on the above: Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / New York / Paris / Vienna 1995, pp. 1–4, 139; Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  4. ↑ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis (without mentioning the title of the Habil. Writing); Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 5; Michael Stolleis :  Koellreutter, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ). (with mentioning of the title, but different dating [1920]). - Koellreutters “ Administrative Law and Administrative Jurisprudence in Modern England . A comparative law study ”(Mohr, Tübingen) actually appeared in 1912, but was not listed as a habil. Text in library catalogs.
  5. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 7.
  6. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  7. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 10, 11.
  8. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 11 (without specifying the subject areas); Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  9. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 11 (without mentioning the part-time work); Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis ; all in all of the above, but without mentioning the extraordinary professorships: Michael Stolleis:  Koellreutter, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ).
  10. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  11. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2nd, updated edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 325. - Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 13; dates DVP membership from 1926 to 1930 and does not mention a Stahlhelm membership.
  12. ↑ Michael Stolleis:  Koellreutter, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 324 f. ( Digitized version ).
  13. ^ Otto Koellreutter: Reichstag elections and state theory. (= Law and State in Past and Present. Volume 76). Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1930, p. 5.
  14. ↑ Ibid., P. 19 (for the first part of the sentence with reference to Rudolf Smend, Constitution and Constitutional Law , 1928, p. 29).
  15. ^ Otto Koellreutter: Reichstag elections and state theory. (= Law and State in Past and Present. Volume 76). Mohr (Siebeck), Tübingen 1930, p. 11 with FN 20 on p. 45 and p. 18 above (“more than doubtful”).
  16. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2005, p. 325; Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work. 1995, p. 13 f. - Koellreutter himself later spoke of a “call for the election of Hitler” (ibid., 14, FN 60; Andreas Koenen: The case of Carl Schmitt. His rise to “Crown lawyer of the Third Reich”. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995, p. 528 , FN 89); then it would have to have been a call on the occasion of the presidential election , which had already taken place in the spring of the same year .
  17. ↑ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis (only mentioning the year and the number); Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 71 (also mention the exact date).
  18. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  19. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 72.
  20. ^ Andreas Koenen: The case of Carl Schmitt. His rise to the position of “Crown Lawyer of the Third Reich”. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1995, p. 528, FN 89.
  21. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2005, p. 325; Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 72.
  22. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. 2005, p. 325.
  23. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2005, p. 325.
  24. ↑ Quoted from Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. 2005, p. 325.
  25. ↑ See in detail on Koellreutter's works from this period: Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 83-132.
  26. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis ; for more details on the stay in Japan and the Japan writings: Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 126-130.
  27. ↑ Cf. Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis . Jörg Schmidt's assessment is more reserved: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 110 ("There are, however, statements that speak against Koellreutter's change of heart.") And 170 ("His alleged departure from National Socialism after his return from Japan seems [...] at least not to have become visible to the outside world") .
  28. ↑ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis : “massive criticism from the Ministry of Science”. Reticent Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 75 f. The proceedings were discontinued after the end of the war without any previous sanctions apparently beyond the requested (and submitted) statement (“I was always strangers to any 'Jew-friendly' attitude”).
  29. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 76.
  30. ^ List of literature to be sorted out 1946 .
  31. ^ List of literature to be sorted out, addendum 1948 .
  32. ^ List of literature to be sorted out, addendum 1952/53 .
  33. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  34. ↑ On the whole paragraph: Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 135-137.
  35. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 186, 194-195 (bibliography).
  36. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  37. ^ Koellreutter in the Catalogus professorum Halensis .
  38. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 137.
  39. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, p. 194 f.
  40. ↑ OPAC of the DNB .
  41. ↑ See the article Leo Killy .
  42. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 138, 144-148.
  43. ^ Jörg Schmidt: Otto Koellreutter 1883–1972. His life, his work, his time. 1995, pp. 174-180 (175 [Maunz quotation], 177 [summarized for the 1950s]).
personal data
SURNAME Koellreutter, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German legal scholar
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1972
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau