Overview

While we often tend to think of the Third Reich as a zone of lawlessness, the Nazi dictatorship and its policies of persecution rested on a legal foundation set in place and maintained by judges, lawyers, and civil servants trained in the law. This volume offers a concise and compelling account of how these intelligent and welleducated legal professionals lent their skills and knowledge to a system of oppression and domination. The chapters address why German lawyers and jurists were attracted to Nazism; how their support of the regime resulted from a combination of ideological conviction, careerist opportunism, and legalistic selfdelusion; and whether they were held accountable for their Nazi-era actions after 1945. This book also examines the experiences of Jewish lawyers who fell victim to anti-Semitic measures. The volume will appeal to scholars, students, and other readers with an interest in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and the history of jurisprudence.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alan E. Steinweis ,  Robert D. Rachlin
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.449kg
ISBN:  

9780857457806

ISBN 10:   0857457802
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   01 March 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface List of Illustrations Introduction: The Law in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust Alan E. Steinweis and Robert D. Rachlin Chapter 1. The Conundrum of Complicity: German Professionals and the Final Solution Konrad H. Jarausch Chapter 2. Civil Service Lawyers and the Holocaust: The Case of Wilhelm Stuckart Hans-Christian Jasch Chapter 3. Roland Freisler and the Volksgerichtshof: The Court as an Instrument of Terror Robert D. Rachlin Chapter 4. Guilt, Shame, Anger, Indignation: Nazi Law and Nazi Morals Raphael Gross Chapter 5. Discrimination, Degradation, Defiance: Jewish Lawyers under Nazism Douglas G. Morris Chapter 6. Evading Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity: Murderous Lawyers at Nuremberg Harry Reicher Chapter 7. Judging German Judges in the Third Reich: Excusing and Confronting the Past Kenneth F. Ledford Appendices Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, 11 August 1919 Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and State (Reichstag Fire Decree), 28 February 1933 Law to Remove the Distress of the People and the State (The Enabling Act), 23 March 1933 Hitler’s Call for a Nazi Lawyers’ League, 12 September 1928 Circular No. 8/1938 from Dr. Karl Leitmeyer, League of National Socialist Guardians of the Law, 4 March 1938 Law Amending Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure (Excerpts), 24 April 1934 White Rose - Leaflet 5, February 1943 The Sentencing of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, 22 February 1943 The Fate of Markus Luftglass: Excerpt from the Record of the Nuremberg Justice Case, October 1941 Opinion and Sentence of the Nuremberg Special Court in the Case of Leo Katzenberger, 13 March 1942 Testimony of Curt Rothenberger at the Nuremberg Justice Case (Excerpts), 1947 Gustav Radbruch, “Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law” (excerpt), 1946 Contributors Select Bibliography Index

Reviews

These essays offer a significant contribution to our understanding of the role of one of the most important professions in underpinning the National Socialist regime and enabling its leaders to proceed with its murderous agenda. * Geoffrey J Giles, University of Florida

Author Information

Alan E. Steinweis is the Miller Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies and Director of the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont. His books include Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany: The Reich Chambers of Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts (1993); Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany (2006); and Kristallnacht 1938 (2009). In 2011 he held the visiting professorship in Interdisciplinary Holocaust Studies and German-Jewish History at the Fritz Bauer Institute at the University of Frankfurt, Germany.

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