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Otmar Jung
“Jewish” juridical literature on the index in the Third Reich
Keywords: Jüdische Rechtsliteratur, Judenverfolgung, Carl Schmitt, Arnold Freymuth, Reichsschrifttumkammer
Even before the “Nuremberg laws” were issued, a macabre competition had started to put “Jewish” juridical literature on the index, or rather to generally exclude “Jewish” authors. A citizen who owned a long respected publishing house went ahead, several party offices pursued relevant projects, Carl Schmitt ventured forth in this respect on the Berlin “Jews Conference” in 1936, and from 1941 the German Library in Leipzig officially worked on a “Bibliography of Jewish Literature in German”. These competing activities, which were typical for the regime, were fuelled by an oppressive eagerness, and they produced many “lists” and much quarrel, but above all, the whole enterprise was in danger of becoming counter-productive. Those indices that were intended to discriminate against Jewish scholars and that were quite useful to exclude the Jews “made the great achievements and the lasting services of German scholars of Jewish descent to jurisprudence and practical law in Germany obvious to the world” (Horst Göppinger).
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 54, 01/2006
Pages: 25 - 59