Rudolf Wassermann

Rudolf Wassermann (born January 5, 1925 in Letzlingen ; † June 13, 2008 in Goslar ) was a German lawyer and legal scholar .

Life

From 1931 to 1943 he went to school in Klötze and Gardelegen , from which he graduated with a military diploma. He then had to do military service and was a prisoner of war from May to September 1945. In 1946 he did the Abitur in Gardelegen and then studied law , philosophy and politics in Halle (Saale) and later in West Berlin at the Free University . He passed his first state law examination in 1950 in Halle.

From 1951 he performed his legal preparatory service in the Berlin (West) regional court district , where he passed the second state examination in 1955. There he entered the judge's service in 1955 . In 1959 he was appointed district judge, in 1963 he was appointed judge of the regional court. In 1967 he moved to the Federal Ministry of Justice under Gustav Heinemann and was appointed Ministerialrat . In 1968 he became President of the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court .

When he became President of the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court in 1971 , protests were loud - not only that Braunschweig did not like a foreigner appointed to the head of the Braunschweig judiciary. Above all, it was feared that Wassermann, who became known as an SPD member for his criticism of the conservative judiciary, could limit judicial independence and instrumentalize his office politically.

In fact, Wassermann, with his many legal political statements and impulses for judicial reform, was soon considered to be one of the best-known presidents of higher regional courts in Germany. In contrast to the initial fears, however, it is emphasized today that he not insignificantly increased the reputation of the Braunschweig judiciary. He remained President of the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court until his retirement in 1990. His successor was Manfred Flotho .

Wassermann was second federal chairman from 1969 to 1974 and first federal chairman from 1974 to 1980 of the working group of social democratic lawyers . From 1976 to 1990 he was President of the Lower Saxony State Judicial Examination Office , from 1977 to 2000 a member of the Lower Saxony State Court . He initiated and significantly advanced the one-stage legal training at the University of Hanover, which has since been abandoned . It is therefore also referred to as the “Aquarius model”. In jurisprudence, he has made a name for himself as editor-in-chief of the series of alternative comments by Luchterhand-Verlag.

In 1994 he was one of the authors of the controversial anthology The Self-Confident Nation .

Publications (selection)

Establishment education. Legal training from a critical perspective. Karlsruhe 1969.
Judges, reform, society. Contributions to the renewal of the administration of justice. Karlsruhe 1970.
Action Committee, Judicial Reform. Democracy and the rule of law. Berlin 1970.
The political judge. Munich 1972, ISBN 3-492-00309-5 .
Justice in the social rule of law - Democracy and the rule of law - Critical treatises on the rule of law in the Federal Republic. Darmstadt 1974, ISBN 3-472-61168-5 .
Freedom in social democracy. 4th Legal Policy Congress of the SPD from June 6th to 8th, 1975 in Düsseldorf. Edited with Diether Posser , Karlsruhe 1975.
Terrorism versus rule of law - democracy and rule of law. Critical treatises on the rule of law in the Federal Republic. as publisher, Darmstadt 1976.
The civil social process. On the theory and practice of civil proceedings in a social constitutional state. Berlin 1978.
People in court. Eduard Reifferscheid on his 80th birthday. Darmstadt 1979.
Justice and Media. as publisher, Darmstadt 1980.
Commentary on the Prison Act. (StVollzG) as publisher, Darmstadt 1980.
Justice for the citizen. Challenges, Answers and Perspectives. With Karl Kohlegger, Gerhard Reischl and Hans-Jochen Vogel, Darmstadt 1981.
Isn't Bonn Weimar? On the development of justice after 1945. Neuwied 1983, ISBN 3-472-05101-9 .
Law and language. Contributions to a citizen-friendly judiciary. Karlsruhe 1983.
Continuity or change? Consequences of the Nazi regime for the development of the judiciary after 1945. Hanover 1984.
July 20, 1944 from the perspective of the Braunschweig Remer trial. Braunschweig 1984.
Law, violence, resistance. Lectures and essays. From the series: Politological Studies. Berlin 1985.
Provision for Justice. Legal policy in theory and practice. Bonn 1985.
Judicial power. Power and responsibility of the judge in modern society. Karlsruhe 1985.
Can the rule of law still be saved? On the crisis of legal awareness in our time. Hanover 1985.
Spectator Democracy - The rule of parties, groups, hierarchies and bureaucratization, as well as the need for participant democracy to save the democratic system. Düsseldorf 1986.
Rule of law without legal awareness? Hanover 1988.
Louis Levin - President of the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court 1922–1930, a biographical sketch. City Archives and City Library Braunschweig 1988.
Politically Motivated Violence in Modern Society. Hanover 1989.
Justice through the ages. Festschrift of the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig. Braunschweig 1989.
Even the judiciary cannot get out of history. Study of the history of justice. Baden-Baden 1990.
An epochal upheaval - problems of reunification. Asendorf 1991.
In the wind of change. Political essays on the state of the nation. Asendorf 1993.
German courthouse: from the village linden tree over the palace of justice to the house of law. With Klemens Klemm and Michael Thomas Wessel, Munich 1993.
Disturbed Balance - Critical Essays on Politics and Law. Asendorf 1995, ISBN 3-89182-063-1 .
StPO Commentary on the Code of Criminal Procedure, Volume 3 §§ 276–477. As ed. With Hans Achenbach , Darmstadt 1996.
On the understanding of human rights in the new federal states. Adiuvat 1999.
Kammergericht should stay. A walk through the history of the most famous German dish (1468–1945). Berlin 2004.

literature

Edgar Isermann, Michael Schlüter (ed.): Justice and Lawyers in Braunschweig 1879–2004: 125 years of the Higher Regional Court and the Braunschweig Bar Association. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 2004, ISBN 3-926701-62-5 (therein the articles by Dieter Miosge on Rudolf Wassermann, p. 150 f. And p. 192 ff.)
Christian Broda / Erwin Deutsch a. a. (Ed.): Festschrift for Rudolf Wassermann for his sixtieth birthday , Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1985, ISBN 3-472-05102-7 (with a tabular curriculum vitae and a detailed list of publications)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Aquarius, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH	January 5, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saplings
DATE OF DEATH	June 13, 2008
Place of death	Goslar