Ulrich Vultejus

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Ulrich Vultejus (born July 12, 1927 , † August 17, 2009 in Berlin ) was a German judge , civil rights activist and journalist critical of justice . He also published under the pseudonyms Urs Tatze and Wally Walfisch .

life and work

Vultejus grew up in a parental home that was liberal and critical of National Socialism , and his father defended defendants as a lawyer. When he was 17, criminal proceedings were brought against him because he had stayed away from service in the Hitler Youth for a year, citing a non-existent medical certificate ; the proceedings were ultimately closed.

After completing his legal training, Vultejus became a judge at the Bad Harzburg District Court , and later became Deputy Director at the Hildesheim District Court . In contrast to the majority of his colleagues, Vultejus was very committed to society: he was a member of the federal judges' committee in the ÖTV trade union , and from 1987 to 1995 he was federal chairman of the civil rights association Humanist Union . Due to the teaching assignments that he held at several universities of applied sciences from 1965 to 1998, Vultejus became an honorary professor.

Vultejus became known in the 1970s and 1980s for his criticism of the West German judiciary, in particular the personal continuities from National Socialism. Because of his critical expressions of opinion, for example on the discussion about the radical decree , his superiors initiated several disciplinary proceedings against him, which met with public response. Vultejus also had a legal controversy with the Wehrmacht lawyer and Professor Erich Schwinge , whom he had proven to have participated in a death sentence; Schwinge's action for an injunction was ultimately dismissed by the Federal Court of Justice.

Vultejus was also active as a journalist. In the magazine "ÖTV in der Rechtspflege" and legal journals such as the Zeitschrift für Rechtssppolitik or the Deutsche Richterzeitung , he published articles in which he objected, for example, to the prohibition of abortion in Section 218 of the Criminal Code or an extension of the security laws to the detriment of civil rights .

His best-known book was published in 1984: in "Combat suit under the robe: Martial law of the Second and Third World Wars ", Vultejus made the preparations for a West German martial law public. The previously secret project by the Ministry of Defense and Justice was then canceled.

Vultejus was awarded the Fritz Bauer Prize in 1981. In his acceptance speech, he warned against a “judiciary as a company geared towards promotion, because a promotion system that grips material desires and personal ambitions is likely to corrupt the judge”.

In the April 11, 2008 issue of the magazine for legal policy, Vultejus stated that he granted women a “women's discount” and therefore generally punished them more leniently than men with the same charge. He justified this with a reference to the apparently similar behavior of his colleagues and because women have a harder time in life.

Quotes

"German lawyers have always been the functionaries of the state and not those of the citizen."

“I have gotten into trouble again and again in criminal proceedings against women and have therefore asked myself what punishment I would impose on a man on the same charge and then recognize this punishment minus a women's discount. […] My colleagues seem to be doing the same thing. […]
A women's discount is justified because women have a harder time in life and punishments are therefore harder for them. "

Publications

  • Preface in: The administration of criminal justice as a fountain of health: the case of Judge de Somoskeoy; a documentation . Konkret Literatur Verlag, 1981
  • Behind the facades. Stories from a German City (co-editor), 1982
  • Combat suit under the robe: Jurisdiction of the Second and Third World Wars . Buntbuch, 1984
  • Texts and pictures against the surveillance laws (co-editor). Buntbuch, 1986
  • Encyclical for the Freedom of Religious Criticism (with Edgar Baeger). Humanist Union brochure, 1989
  • The judgment of Memmingen: from the misery of the indication . Volksbl.-Verlag, 1990
  • In the name of the people: Unfriendly comments on the § 218 judgment of Karlsruhe (with Ursula Neumann). Humanist Union brochure, 1993
  • News from inside the judiciary . Lax Verlag, 1998

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Kramer , Appreciation for his 80th birthday , printed in Betrifft Justiz , No. 91, September 2007, p. 136f, here: p. 137.
  2. ^ "Zeitschrift für Rechtspflege", issue 3/08 of April 11, 2008; Family drama: mother stabbed her children. Why she stays at large anyway. , Hamburger Abendblatt on September 3, 2004

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vultejus, Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German judge and author critical of justice
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1927
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 2009
Place of death Berlin