CK – Law and Administration

2008

CK – Law and Administration

Anwalt ohne Recht: Schicksale jüdischer Anwälte in Deutschland nach 1933 [Lawyers without Justice: Fates of Jewish Attorneys in Germany after 1933] Ed. Simone Ladwig-Winters for the Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer. Berlin: be.bra-Verlag, 2007. 412 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 978-3-89809-074-2: EUR 29.90 [08-1/2-283]
Anwalt ohne Recht: das Schicksal jüdischer Rechtsanwälte in Berlin nach 1933 [ ... in Berlin after 1933]. Ed. Simone Ladwig-Winters for the Rechtsanwaltskammer Berlin. 2d updated and exanded ed. Berlin: be.bra-Verlag, 2007. 309 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 978-3-89809-075-9: EUR 24.90 [08-1/2-284]
Anwalt ohne Recht: Schicksale jüdischer Rechtsanwälte im Bezirk des heutigen Oberlandesgerichts Oldenburg [... in the District of the Present-Day Appeals Court in Oldenburg]. Ed. Mathias Middelberg for the Rechtsanwaltskammer Oldenburg. Oldenburg: Isensee, 2007. 222 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 978-3-89995-415-9: EUR 16 [08-1/2-285]

It is only recently that historians have begun to research the persecution of Jewish professionals and the injustices done to them in Nazi Germany. An example is the volume Jüdische Kinderärtze 1933-1945 (see RREA 13:260). In 1996 the Berlin Bar Association mounted an exhibit about the fates of Jewish attorneys in that city, which was followed in 1998 by the publication of a reference volume. There followed a number of smaller, local exhibits in numerous cities in Germany and abroad, which are described in the first volume under review here. Since these exhibits were organized by the cities’ bar associations, they were strongly tailored to the particular locales. A less advantageous aspect of this local orientation, however, is the uneven quality of the information presented, ranging from a simple list of names and addresses in some chapters (e.g., Stuttgart) to extensive biographical sketches. The book has a useful general introduction, but lacks a name index.

In contrast, the second edition of the volume dedicated to Berlin is purely a biographical reference work. It begins with an extensive introduction and three chapters on the practice of law in the Weimar Republic, the ostracism of Jewish attorneys after the Nazi Party takeover, and their later fates. The main section contains short biographies of 1,807 “non-Aryan” attorneys. Most biographical entries are brief, containing names and titles, dates of birth and death, personal and office addresses, and career milestones. Some articles are accompanied by black-and-white photographs. The appendix contains a list of abbreviations, notes, a bibliography, and a list of primary sources.

The volume on the Oldenburg judicial district draws on the plentiful material provided by the local exhibit, not all of which could be included in the first volume reviewed here. Preceded by no fewer than six introductions, it discusses in considerable detail the fates of eight Jewish lawyers, as well as the later lives of two of their families in exile, and gives brief biographical information about another lawyer. This volume has been challenged on the grounds of a copyright violation and is therefore very difficult to obtain. [sh/as]

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