Fonds BArch, R 61 - Academy for German Law (inventory)

Identity area

Reference code

BArch, R 61

Title

Academy for German Law (inventory)

Date(s)

  • 1927-1945 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

706 Aufbewahrungseinheiten

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Akademie für Deutsches Recht (ADR), 1933-1945

Content and structure area

Scope and content

History of the Inventory Designer: Founded in 1933, since 1934 as a public corporation of the Reich subject to the supervision of Reichsju‧stizministers and Reich Minister of the Interior, responsible for the promotion and Ver‧wirklichung of the "National Socialist Program in the Entire Field of Law" Long Text: Founding and Legal Foundations The Academy for German Law was constituted on 26 March 1933. The constituent meeting was attended by the Reich Secretary of the Federation of National Socialist German Lawyers Dr. Heuber, Professors Dr. Wilhelm Kisch and Dr. von Zwiedineck-Südenhorst, the General Director of the Munich Reinsurance Company Kißkalt, two representatives of the business community and the future Director Dr. Karl Lasch. On 22 September 1933 a Bavarian law was passed (Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt No. 37, p. 277), the only article of which granted the Academy the status of a public corporation. The articles of association were attached as an annex, according to which the provisional seat was to be Munich and which outlined the tasks of the new corporation as follows: By "applying proven scientific methods" it should "promote the reform of German legal life (...) and implement the National Socialist programme in the entire field of law and economics (...) in close and permanent liaison with the bodies responsible for legislation". In detail, her sphere of activity included cooperation in drafting laws, in the reform of legal and political science education, in scientific publications and the financial support of practical scientific work for the research of special fields of law and economics, the organisation of scientific conferences and teaching courses as well as the cultivation of relations with similar institutions abroad. The office of the Führer of the Academy was to be held in personal union by the head of the Reichsrechtsamt of the NSDAP; he was responsible for the external representation of the ADR, its internal management, all personnel decisions and the decision on amendments to the statutes as well as the dissolution in agreement with the Führer of the NSDAP. As auxiliary organs a deputy, a leader staff and a treasurer as well as the department heads of the specialized departments to be created were intended. The Bavarian State Ministry of Justice should be responsible for supervision. The members of the Academy, whose number should not exceed two hundred, were to be appointed for four years; ordinary, extraordinary, sponsoring and corresponding members were distinguished. At the first German Lawyers' Day in Leipzig, the establishment of the Academy for German Law was solemnly proclaimed on 2 October 1933. This already showed that Frank was striving to turn the Academy into an institution of the Reich, which would give him the opportunity to influence the Gleichschaltung der Justitz in the Länder even after he had completed his work as Reich Commissioner for the Unification of the Justitz. On 18 June 1934, the draft of a law on the Academy for German Law was sent to the head of the Reich Chancellery for submission to the cabinet (BA, R 43 II/1509). The Reich Minister of Justice agreed after it had been clarified that the Academy should receive its own funds and not burden the Reich, the Länder or the communities. At the request of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the draft was amended to provide for joint supervision of the Academy by the Reich Ministry of Justice and the Reich Ministry of the Interior. After adoption in the cabinet meeting of 3 July 1934, the law was passed on 11 July 1934 (RGBl. I. S. 605), with which the Academy for German Law became the public corporation of the Reich; a new statute was attached. With this law, the Academy's tasks changed only to the extent that the responsibility for the reorganization of German legal life in the field of business ceased to exist. The headquarters remained in Munich. The Führer of the Academy became an honorary president, whose appointment was made by the Reich Chancellor. The binding of the office to the management of the Reichsrechtsamt of the NSDAP ceased. As an organ of the Academy, in addition to the President, a Presidium also provided support and advice. The maximum number of members was set at 300. Committees were set up to carry out the practical work of the Academy. The law of 11 July 1934 was not amended until 1945. In November 1934 a change was planned, which provided for a salary for the president according to the regulations for Reich officials. However, the draft was removed from the agenda of the cabinet meeting of 4 December 1934 (BA, R 22/198, R 43 II/1509) on Hitler's instructions. On the other hand, two amendments were made to the statutes, first on 16 October 1935 (RGBl. I. p. 1250). It provided that, in the event of the dissolution of the Academy, its assets would fall to the Reich, due to the taking up of a high mortgage, which the Academy had taken up to expand its Berlin house. More serious in its significance was the second amendment of 9 June 1943 (Reichs- und Staatsanzeiger of 9 June 1943). It was initiated by the new President, Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Otto Thierack. He prohibited the acceptance of private donations for the Academy and abolished the office of treasurer. The new constitution submitted to the Reich Ministry of Justice by the director of the Academy Gaeb on 10 December 1942 was to take this into account and at the same time streamline the provisions (BA, R 22/199). After consultations in the participating Reich ministries, the new constitution was finally formulated in a meeting on 8 June 1943 between representatives of the Reich Ministry of Justice, the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the Academy, signed on 9 July 1943 and published on the same day. In addition to the abolition of the office of treasurer and the institution of supporting members, the main changes were the inclusion of provisions on the President's auxiliary organs and the scientific structure of the Academy, which had previously been included in the structure regulations and the administrative regulations, as well as in a clear arrangement. The aforementioned Aufbauordnung had been issued on 15 December 1936 as an order of the President concerning the reorganization of the scientific work of the Akademie für Deutsches Recht (Zeitschrift der Akademie für Deutsches Recht 1937, p. 23). It defined the structure of the scientific apparatus of the Academy. The first of these, the Honorary Senate, was of little importance, while the other two, the Department of Legal Policy for Legal Policy and the Department of Legal Research for Scientific Research, were of decisive importance. It also dealt with the future centre of the Academy, the "House of German Law", for which the foundation stone had been laid a few months earlier and which was to house the research and educational facilities of the Academy. On April 1, 1937, the President had supplemented and extended the Academy's administrative regulations (Zeitschrift der ADR, p. 405f.) by enacting them, which outlined in more detail the tasks of the individual organs, namely the treasurer and the director, who were responsible for the financial and general administration of the Academy, the director of scientific and legal policy work, the committee chairmen, and the class secretaries entrusted with the direction of the classes. Eight administrative units were also listed, one each for the Legal and Legal Research, Personnel and Legal Office, Organisation, Libraries, Periodicals and Press, International Transport and Cash and Accounting departments. After the amendment of the statutes of 9 June 1943, on 10 June 1943 there was also an amendment to the administrative regulations (Zeitschrift der ADR 1943, p. 37f.), in which the provisions on the treasurer's office were completely omitted and the explanations on the administration were greatly shortened. The extensive information on the administrative departments has been replaced by brief information on the division of units, which has existed for a long time. Organisation and staffing The President of the Academy possessed extensive powers - apart from his ties to the supervisory ministries. His appointment by Hitler and the honorary position, which presupposed a further office securing its holder financially, could give him weight vis-à-vis the authorities and party offices. Its founder, Dr. Hans Frank, was appointed the first President on August 1, 1934. In his memoirs "In the Face of the Gallows" he confesses that the Academy was to be an important means of shaping law for him, especially since the Reichsrechtsamt, of which he had been head since 1929 and which secured him a place in the highest party hierarchy, lost more and more of its importance in the period after the assumption of power, and the NS-Rechtswahrerbund, of which he had held the leadership since 1928, offered only little scope for influencing legislation. Frank's ideas were acknowledged when, after his assignment as Reich Commissioner for the Gleichschaltung der Justiz in den Ländern had ended, he was dismissed by Hitler on 19 March. In the letter of appointment, the Akademie für Deutsches Recht was described as an institution which enabled him "to participate in the implementation of the National Socialist ideology in all areas of law without restriction to the judiciary in the narrower sense", i.e. an expansion of the scope of duties beyond the framework of law-making into the other areas of legal life, which in this form emanating from Hitler represented an important expansion of power. Frank could thus see himself in possession of a kind of special ministry for National Socialist legal formation in competition with Gürtner's Reich Ministry of Justice. In the years up to 1939, Frank, whose ministerial office moved from his first residence at Voßstraße 5 in Berlin to the Berlin building of the Academy at Leipziger Platz 15 on July 3, 1935, remained closely involved with the work of the Academy and legal policy. His attempt in 1939 to free himself from the annoying supervision of the Reich Ministry of Justice and the Reich Ministry of the Interior, which made him dependent on Gürtner and Frick above all with regard to possible changes to the statutes, but also in financial matters, and to subordinate the Academy to his supervision as minister remained unsuccessful (BA, R 2/24103). Frank's presidency ended in August 1942, after his appointment as Governor General in Poland on 12 October 1939, when business had been conducted practically by the Deputy President. Hitler released Frank from his office as President of the Academy with a deed of August 20. It was not true, however, when Frank told his deputy Professor Emge that the reason for the dismissal was the "overcrowded and ever increasing burden" of his duties in the Generalgouvernement. On the contrary, Frank had aroused Hitler's displeasure because between 9 June and 21 July 1942 he had defended law, judicial independence, personal freedom and humanity against the police state in four speeches at the universities of Berlin, Munich and Heidelberg as well as at the Academy of Sciences in Vienna (cf. H. Weinkauff, Die deutsche Justitz und der Nationalsozialismus, 1968, p. 74, 161f.) This solo effort, which was directed primarily against Himmler and Bormann, also led to a ban on speaking and the loss of his position as Reichsrechtsführer and head of the Reichsrechtsamt, which was dissolved. This also involved a change in the office of deputy president, which had to be appointed by the president according to the statutes of 1934 and confirmed by both supervisory ministries. Frank had been represented since 1937 by Dr. Carl Emge, Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Berlin, after the Vice-President Privy Councillor Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Kisch, Professor of Civil Procedure and German Civil Law at the University of Munich, who had been appointed in 1933, had resigned for health reasons from his office. Emges was replaced in November 1942 by the State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Justice, Dr. Rothenberger. Whether after Rothenberger's dismissal (January 1944) his successor, Herbert Klemm, was also appointed deputy president of the academy after Rothenberger's dismissal as state secretary cannot be determined. The second organ of the Academy, besides the President, was the Presidium. Emerging from the Führerrat of the Academy provided for in the 1933 Law, it had the task of supporting and advising the President, determining the budget and carrying out the preliminary audit of the budget account. According to the administrative regulations issued in 1937, the president, his deputy, the treasurer and the head of the scientific and legal-political work belonged to him by virtue of office. For this purpose, the President could appoint further members of the Academy to the Presidium, which should meet at least once a year. In accordance with the new administrative regulations of 10 June 1943, the Reich Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs joined as new permanent members. The Reich Minister and head of the Reich Chancellery Lammers also belonged to the Presidium. The actual work of the Academy in the fields of legal policy and legal research was directed by the Head of Scientific and Legal Policy Work, who was appointed by the President from among the members and who gave guidelines and assigned tasks to the Legal Structuring and Research Departments. This office, which was particularly important for the work of the Academy after the strong use of Frank by his tasks in the Generalgouvernement, was initially held by State Secretary Freisler, later by the Deputy President. As long as the Academy was supported entirely or to a considerable extent by the voluntary donations of its supporting members, the Treasurer was of great importance. He was responsible for all financial and property management, in particular the supervision of the budget and all contracts affecting the Academy's finances. From the beginning, the function was held by a close confidant of Frank, General Director Arendt, who kept it until its abolition in 1942. However, the treasurer had already lost influence in 1939, since the Reich made an ever larger subsidy to the academy budget and its control thus became stronger and stronger. The general questions of organization, administration, and human resources of the Academy for German Law, as well as the liaison with the Reich authorities, lay with the Director of the Academy. Dr. Karl Lasch held this post from 1933 until his appointment as governor of the Radom district in 1939, after which Dr. Gaeb took over the post as deputy director of the Diplomvolkswirt, which he held until 1945. The members of the Academy were divided into different groups according to their rights and tasks. The core consisted of 300 full members, initially appointed for four years; the number was maintained in 1943, and membership was extended to 10 years. According to Frank, the limitation to a relatively small number should emphasize the elitist character of the academy and awaken an elite consciousness among its members. In addition to legal, political and economic scientists, lawyers and senior civil servants, there were also some corporate members, including the law and political science faculties of the universities, which were represented by their deans. Extraordinary members by virtue of office were the Reich Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs. Foreigners who were interested in the Academy's work and were willing and qualified to contribute to it were accepted as corresponding members. The sponsoring members should maintain the Academy financially. These were mostly commercial enterprises, some of which were actively established and were prepared to make a contribution that varied according to their financial means for the honour of formally belonging to the Academy. The disadvantage of this financing system was that it created a financial dependence on the donations and could arouse suspicion that the donors were influencing the work of the Academy. It was eliminated by prohibiting any acceptance of donations in 1942. The work of the Academy was carried out in the Departments of Legal Design and Legal Research. All ordinary members of the Academy were organised, supervised and directed by the head of scientific and legal policy work. The Legal Department, to which all full members belonged, had to bear the main burden. In numerous (up to over 70) committees which changed over the years, often divided into main, sub and special committees as well as working groups or central committees, it discussed current questions of legal policy and participated in the legislative preparations of the ministries through proposals, statements, expert opinions and drafts. At the Academy's tenth anniversary in June 1943, Thierack was able to point to a considerable number of laws in which it had played a significant role until 1941, including the German Community Code and the 1935 Wehrgesetz (Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - Wehrgesetz - 1935, the 1937 German Civil Service and Stock Corporation Laws, the 1938 Youth Protection and Marriage Laws, the 1939 Law on the Introduction of Compulsory Insurance, and the 1939 Law on the Introduction of Legal Structure, which dealt particularly intensively with the reform of criminal law and the creation of a new People's Code. After the beginning of the war, numerous committees were suspended and, as the war lasted longer, dissolved. Nevertheless, the work did not come to a standstill. Only the emphasis shifted to all matters related to the war, e.g. air-raid protection law and, above all, nationality and international law. The relevant committees dealt in detail with issues relating to the reorganisation of the European continent, but also with maritime and land warfare and relations with the USA. At Frank's request, the Academy also took a stand on questions of German politics in the East and a reorganisation of the Generalgouvernement; it issued a secret report in January 1940: "Rechtsgestaltung deutscher Polenpolitik nach volkspolitischen Gesichtspunkten" (BA, R 61/243, Document 661-PS of the Nuremberg Trial against the Chief War Criminals). In 1942 the Academy still had 76 committees with eleven subcommittees. After all committees that had dealt with peace issues had been gradually suspended or completed their work, by the end of 1943 only committees with directly war-related tasks remained, including the committees on social security and international law. The committees involved in the drafting of the planned National Code also suspended their work, with the exception of the main committee, which only continued the necessary work. The scientific work was carried out within the Academy of German Law by the Department of Legal Research. Only scientists have been appointed to this department. Her task was to research the history, methodology and knowledge of the law and later also of the economy; she met in working groups, which were grouped into classes. First there were three classes, of which class I dealt with the study of the history and basic questions of law, class II with the study of the law of "people and empire" and class III with the study of the "people's federal" legal life. Each class was headed by a class leader. The management was carried out by a class secretary. The offices were initially filled as follows: Class I: Chairman: Prof. Dr. Heymann, Secretary: Prof. Dr. Felgentraeger Class II: Chairman: Prof. Dr. von Freytag-Loringhoven, Secretary: Prof. Dr. Weber Class III: Chairman: Prof. Dr. Weber Dr. Hedemann, Secretary: Prof. Dr. Lange After the war began, there were only class secretaries left, namely for Class I Prof. Dr. Heymann, for Class II Prof. Dr. Gleispach, for Class III Prof. Dr. Hueck. The Department for Legal Research published the series of publications, the working reports and the yearbook of the Academy for German Law and from 1941 also "Das deutsche Rechtsschrifttum". She was also in charge of the quarterly "Deutsche Rechtswissenschaft" and the collection of non-German penal codes. Within the framework of the department there was a committee for the examination of the law study regulations, which in 1939 presented its results to the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and People's Education. In 1940 a fourth class came into being with increasing importance of economic questions, which was responsible for the research of the "national economy" and which was to make the results of economic science accessible to the authorities and offices for the execution of practical tasks. In August 1944, on the instructions of the President, the work of the remaining committees and working groups was discontinued "for the further duration of the war" as well as the promotion of the individual members of special research commissions (letter from Thierack to Lammers of 12 August 1944, BA, R 43 II/1510a). The Academy maintained close contact with foreign countries through its corresponding members. Visits by foreign scientists, students, but also politicians were frequent. In addition, the German sections of various foreign institutions were affiliated to it. On the other hand, efforts were made to expand the Academy's sphere of influence by establishing new companies or maintaining close contact with existing companies in Germany. For the work abroad, there was a separate department in the administration of the Academy, which looked after the associations; as far as purely German organisations were concerned, the support was provided by the specialist departments of the Legal Structuring Department. In the period of its existence the following associations were affiliated to the Academy of German Law: 1. German Section of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences 2. German National Group of the International Law Association 3. German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property and Copyright 4. International Association for Financial and Tax Law 5. German Society for Financial and Tax Law 6. German Society for Prisoners (affiliated since 1935) 7. Society for Legal and Political Sciences in Vienna 8th Society for German Criminal Law 9th Working Groups: a) for the German-Bulgarian legal relations b) for the German-Italian legal relations c) for the German-Polish legal relations (until 1939) d) for the German-Hungarian legal relations Library and Publications The establishment of a reference library for academics working in the Academy began early on. It was Frank's aim to develop this library into a central collection point for all important legal literature and related areas. The basis was the purchase of the library of the legal historian Prof. Karl von Amira, who died in 1930; later the library of the Munich jurist Prof. Konrad Beyerle was also acquired. Further accesses from various sources, mostly through taxes from authorities (e.g. the library of the former R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t , the duplicate holdings of the R e i c h s c h s a r k a m e in Potsdam as well as duplicates of foreign law collections and periodicals from the R e i c h s t a g s a l bibliothek) brought the holdings to around 60,000 publications by 1937. Although the library was primarily intended to serve the Academy, it was basically open to any qualified interested party. An "archive" was attached to the library, which, on Frank's instructions, created 1. a "card index of Jewish legal authors", which "eradicated Jewish literature from the library or from the library". The aim was to remove the works of Jewish authors from all public libraries or libraries serving study purposes and to transfer them to their own departments "which were to indicate the activities of the Jews and the Jewish people"; 2. to edit a card index of general legal writers by author and by work. In addition, a collection of portraits of lawyers, a collection of press clippings on the topics "Law in the Press" and "Academy in the Press" as well as a collection of journal articles from the entire body of jurisprudential literature were in the works. The first library director, Utschlag, also designed a large exhibition on legal history and law in general, which the Academy organized in conjunction with the Faculty of Law of the University of Munich on the occasion of the 1936 Annual Conference in Munich under the title "Das Recht" (The Law). The journal of the Akademie für Deutsches Recht, founded in 1934, provided information on the ongoing work of the Academy and on current legal issues. It was initially supervised by the Academy's own office for writing and finally transferred to the C-H. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung in 1937, where it was published until 1944. In addition to detailed reports on the representative events of the Academy (often also as special supplements or commemorative editions), it produced essays, news on organisational changes and the activities of the Academy's working committees, as well as book reviews. In addition, the journal published court decisions of a fundamental nature from 1935 onwards. The decisions were forwarded to the Academy by the courts via the Reich Ministry of Justice. The President acted as editor, the main editor was initially Director Dr. Lasch, then Kammergerichtsrat Dr. Lauterbacher. From 1 January 1939, Deutsche Rechtswissenschaft was published quarterly as the second journal. With the consent of the Reich Minister for Science, Education and Popular Learning, it was transferred from the previous editor Prof. Dr. Karl August Eckhardt to the Department of Legal Research. They brought treatises, contributions and book reviews. The Academy also published the Zeitschrift für Wehrrecht and was involved in the publication of the Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz, the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, the Blätter für Gefängniskunde and the Gerichtssaal. The yearbook of the Academy for German Law should give an overview of the work within one year. It was also published by the President and in its first editions offered a good overview of the most important events in the Academy and its committee work, while later larger treatises on individual issues predominated. In the first years, detailed information on the committee's activities could be obtained from the work reports, which were produced in small print runs using the transfer printing process and were intended only for the confidential information of party offices and authorities and were not to be circulated further. In addition, there was another - public - series of working reports of the Academy for German Law, in which the chairmen published the results of their committees. For more extensive scholarly work that had emerged from the Academy, the series was to serve the Akademie für Deutsches Recht, of which about 80 volumes were published; it was divided into individual groups according to subject areas. Finally, the Academy continued the collection of non-German penal codes organized by the editor of the Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft and published individual writings on special occasions, e.g. on the occasion of the opening of the House of German Law. Financing and assets In his memoirs of 1946, Frank emphasized the financing of the Academy for German Law, which was independent of the "Reich, State, and Party," with which he had hoped to preserve the actual non-partisanship of his institute. In fact, in the first years of its existence, the Academy was almost entirely maintained by donations from third parties, the supporting members, which included both private individuals and business enterprises. The Reichsjustizministerium had also made its approval of the transfer to the Reich dependent on the academy having to carry itself. In the accounting year 1935/36, donations reached the record level of over 1 million RM, and in 1936, 70 donors raised just over 500,000 RM. This was sufficient to cover the expenses, especially since the Reich Ministry for Science, Education and Popular Education had made available a one-time sum of 250,000 RM for the promotion of scientific work. On the other hand, already in 1937, despite a donation volume of almost 700,000 RM by 94 donors, there was a shortfall which had to be covered by donations for the accounting year 1938. In March 1938, General Director Arendts, the Treasurer of the Academy, declared in a meeting with the responsible adviser of the Reich Ministry of Finance, in which also Director Lasch took part, "that the Academy would strive for its entire budget of about 750 - 800,000 RM to be gradually fully supported by contributions from the Reich over the course of about three years," and justified this with the "aim of developing it into a legislative institution of the Reich. In its audit report for the years 1936-1937 of 24 March 1939, the Court of Audit of the German Reich also took the view that a continuation of the previous method of financing was not compatible with the reputation of the Reich; it was the duty of the Reich to "place the financing of the tasks on a sound basis" (BA, R 2/24103). This became indispensable after the Reich Minister of the Interior, in agreement with the deputy Führer, finally rejected a collection permit for the Academy in July 1939 on the basis of the Collection Act of 5 November 1934. This also meant that advertising had to be discontinued for which the company had used its own advertising specialist. In the accounting year 1939/40, the donations fell to 290,000 RM, and for the first time a subsidy from the Reich of about 480,000 RM was granted towards the running costs, so that these were now predominantly borne by the Reich. Although in 1940/41 the income from donations increased again somewhat, the donations already received for 1942 were transferred to the Dankspendenstiftung des Deutschen Volkes on Thierack's instructions. The Academy for German Law was now financed entirely from the Reich's budget. The Akademie für Deutsches Recht used considerable financial resources to provide representative accommodation. On 6 June 1935, the Lachmann-Mosse trust administration acquired the house and property at Leipziger Platz 15 from a foreclosure sale for the Berlin office at a price of RM 1.25 million. Of the purchase amount, one million RM was raised by eight mortgages of a group of insurance institutions, for which the Reich took over the interest and redemption service at the expense of the budget of the Reich Ministry of Justice; this was the reason for the amendment of the statutes that, in the event of the dissolution of the Academy, its assets would fall to the Reich. The annual contribution to be paid by the Reich was 50,000 RM for a period of 25 years. The remaining purchase price of 250,000 RM was to be paid interest-free in five annual instalments of 50,000 RM, which were to be raised from donations. Much more elaborate was the construction of a "House of German Law" at the Academy's headquarters in Munich. The first plans from January to June 1936 provided for three components, for which over 5.3 million RM were estimated. In the course of the negotiations, the mammoth project shrank to two construction phases. On October 24, 1936, on the occasion of the second annual conference of the Academy, Reichsminister Rust laid the foundation stone for Building I, front building and reading hall. The costs were to amount to RM 2,2 million, raised by a loan from the Reich Insurance Institution for Employees, the interest and repayment service of which was taken over by the Reich. Already on 31 October 1937 the academy could celebrate the topping-out ceremony, on 13 May 1939 the opening of the building unit I. The former Max-Joseph-Stift, which was to be renovated and extended by a festival hall, was acquired as Building II for a price of more than RM 1.3 million; in June 1938, the Reichsversicherungsanstalt took out a further loan of RM 2.2 million, the remainder of which was frozen at RM 900,000, however, when construction work was stopped after the outbreak of the war. Administration and registry The administrative apparatus of the Academy gradually developed from July 1934. Initially, most of the service operations were carried out in the Berlin office building; in addition, there was a small office mainly for the construction of the planned extensive library at the headquarters in Munich. It was only after the completion of Building I of the House of German Law in 1939 that the construction of a larger, structured office began, the management of which was placed in the hands of a speaker of its own. According to the rules of procedure, which the Academy submitted to the Reich Ministry of Justice in September 1935 (BA, R 22/198), the administration was divided into departments, headed by a speaker, assisted by an assistant. The speakers were assessors or younger officials on leave in the starting positions of their careers, provided they had knowledge of economics. The president used a presidential chancellery as his personal office. The management of the entire service operation was the responsibility of the Director of the Academy, who had a personal consultant at his disposal. The Director was also in charge of the Organisation Division, which was responsible for the preparation and implementation of the events. The office service was headed by a personnel officer who, in addition to personnel processing, was also in charge of registry and law offices, house and property administration as well as budget monitoring tasks. Other speakers assisted the committee chairmen of the Legal Department, generally one for four committees. In contrast, only assistants were assigned to the secretaries of the three research classes. For the entire financial and asset management, the preparation of the budget, the cash and bookkeeping, accounting, for the conclusion of contracts and the remaining budget management, the treasurer provided the necessary forces free of charge with the exception of an advertising expert and an assistant. The foreign department, which in addition to maintaining foreign contacts also supervised foreign publications, the exchange of journals and literature and the management of the affiliated international societies and associations, was relatively well staffed with a speaker and his deputy, a scientific assistant, an interpreter and a (part-time) unskilled worker for Slavic languages. The administrative regulations of the Academy of 1937 combined the previous organizational forms into nine administrative offices, which in January 1938 comprised one to seven departments, depending on the area of responsibility. These units corresponded to the previous departments. The most extensive was the Administrative Office for Legal Structuring with seven units (I - VII). The administrative office for magazines and press had two (X, XI), the others (legal research, libraries and international transport) had only one each (VIII, IX, XII), as did the administrative offices for cash and accounting (XIV), organisation (XV) and human resources and law firms (XIII), which, however, were also grouped under a central unit. In addition, there was a unit XVI (Legal Office) as the "Legal Office of the ADR". This organization continued to exist in principle even during the war, but with the resulting drastic personnel restrictions, which in the beginning practically paralyzed the entire academy apparatus, but later allowed it to remain in operation. After the closure of the Academy's work, whose offices were moved to the Reich Ministry of Justice building at Wilhelmstraße 65 on 10 January 1944, most of the staff was released at the end of 1944, but parts (finance) continued to work until March 1945. The files produced during the Academy's activities were initially kept in so-called departmental registries, i.e. the written records of the individual speakers. It was not until 1938 that the at least partial compilation of the written material produced so far began in a central registry. The consultant responsible for the law firm was in charge of the execution. At first, the registry business of the Legal Department was taken over, later that of the main administrative office (without the personnel files). The Department of Legal Research initially refrained from handing over its records to the Central Registry. The registry of the foreign department remained independent. Nothing significant could be ascertained about later changes in the registry system. During the establishment of the House of German Law in Munich, a registry was also set up there. It is certain that since the merger of the registries in 1938 the corresponding files have been filed according to a uniform and systematically structured file plan. As of 1940, this plan (BA, R 61/34) comprised seven main areas divided into three groups and sub-groups. The file plan was structured according to the decimal system with four-digit digits, to which an additional digit and a year could be added by slash if necessary. In addition to the documents produced in the course of administrative activities, an extensive complex of documents, characteristic of the Academy and its work, has emerged in the form of minutes of meetings of the committees and other specialist bodies, some of which are based on extensive stenographic notes. Copies were kept in the registry and in the "archive" of the magazines and press department. They form the most important part of the stock. Timetable on the history of the Academy 1933 June 26 Constitution in the Bavarian Ministry of Justice September 22 Granting of the rights of a public corporation in Bavaria by Bavarian law October 2 Ceremonial proclamation of the Academy for German Law at the German Lawyers' Day in Leipzig November 5 1st 1st plenary session in Berlin 1934 January 1st opening of the Berlin offices January 29th 2nd plenary session March 17th 3rd plenary session May 26th founding of the journal of the Academy for German Law 26th founding of the journal of the Academy for German Law in Berlin June 1st Annual Meeting in Munich, at the same time 4th plenary session July 11 elevation to public corporation of the Reich by Reich Law August 9 appointment of Dr. Hans Frank, former leader of the Academy, as President November 13 5th plenary session in Berlin November 18-22 trip to Bulgaria Frank December 19 appointment of Frank as Reich Minister without portfolio 1935 February 27 6th plenary session June 26-28 2nd Annual Meeting with ceremony in the presence of Hitler, at the same time session 21 August Celebratory session on the occasion of the XI International Congress on Criminal Law and Prison Law, also 8th plenary session 15 October Inauguration of the building in Berlin, Leipziger Platz 15 16 October Amendment to the Statutes 30 November 9 plenary session 1936 28 February 10 plenary session 12-17 March Poland trip Frank at the invitation of the University of Warsaw 2-8 April Visit Frank to Rome 2 June Celebratory session on the occasion of the International Congress on Industrial Property 21-24 October 3rd Annual Meeting, also 11th plenary session May 17 Opening of the Chair of German Law at the University of Sofia by Director Lasch June 19 Constituting the Department of Legal Research of the Academy of German Law (with 1st class session) October 28-31 4th 4th Annual Meeting in Munich, also 13th plenary session and event of the Association of Foreign Friends of the Academy of German Law 2nd Annual Meeting in Munich, at the same time 13th plenary session and event of the Association of Foreign Friends of the Academy of German Law at the University of Sofia. November Foundation of the Association for German-Italian Legal Relations December Competition: "State and Party in Italy" 1938 1 June Opening of a series of guest lectures at the University of Vienna 16-18 June 5th Annual Conference in Munich, at the same time 14th Plenary Session 1939 13 May Inauguration of the House of German Law July Prohibition on further donations 12 October Appointment of Frank as Governor General for the Occupied Polish Territories 13 October Appointment of Director Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Lasch becomes district governor in Radom and is represented by Dr. Gaeb 1940 10 January Establishment of the IV class (research of the national economy) in the Department of Legal Research 22-24 November 7th Annual Conference in Munich with plenary session 1942 9. June to July 21 Speeches by Frank in Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Heidelberg against the police state August 20 Dismissal of Frank as President and Appointment of the Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Thierack October Resignation of the Deputy President Prof. Dr. Emge 3. November State Secretary Dr. Rothenberger appointed Deputy President 1943 9 June Announcement of a new constitution of the Academy for German Law 1944 10-12 January Transfer of the Berlin office to the Reich Ministry of Justice 12 August Closure of all legal-political and scholarly work Inventory description: Inventory history Like many of the holdings of the Federal Archives, the documents of the Academy for German Law are only incompletely handed down and divided as a result of war losses. The division began as early as 1943, when the two offices moved files, books and inventory to smaller towns in the area to protect them from air raids, the Munich office to Altötting, Griesbach and Wegscheid (district court), the Berlin offices primarily to the Feldberg (Mecklenburg), Havelberg, Prenzlau, Zehdenick and probably also Templin storage sites also used by the Reich Ministry of Justice, and the Cochem Castle. Some of the files removed from Berlin were confiscated by Russian troops. Since 1957 they have been in the Central State Archives in Potsdam, where they formed the holdings 30.13 (Overview of the holdings of the German Central Archives 1957, p. 86). This had a volume of 155 volumes from the period 1933-1942, 33 of which refer to the activities of the committees and 31 of which apparently originate from the foreign department of the Academy; the holdings include files of the Association for the Improvement of Prisoners (25 volumes) and the German Society for Prison Science. In the hands of American troops fell, in addition to Munich files, the documents still available in the Berlin office at the end of the war, as well as files that had apparently still been brought from Zehdenick to Thuringia in 1945. Most of this stock was transferred via the Ministerial Collecting Center near Kassel to the World War II Records Division of the American National Archives in Alexandria, Va., where it formed the Record Group 1036 with other German documents. A smaller part was handed over to the Federal Ministry of Justice at the beginning of the 1950s, and the file of lawyers and economists remained with a branch of the US Army in Germany. In Alexandria the files were filmed in 1958 by the American Historical Association and described in 1959 in volume 6 of the Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va., pp. 14-27. In 1960 this part of the collection was transferred to the Federal Archives, which in 1962 was also able to take over the remaining files from the Federal Ministry of Justice and the aforementioned index. In a final return, the Federal Archives received documents from the Academy in 1973 from the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Some files of the Committee for German-Italian Legal Relations had been transferred to the Institut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie in Amsterdam after the end of the war; they were also made available to the Federal Archives by the latter in 1974 for further completion of the R 61 collection, which had meanwhile been formed from the existing files. Finally, the Institute for Contemporary History, Munich, which had been able to acquire some of the copies of the minutes of the committee meetings collected in Munich and the reference files of the ordinary professor Dr. jur. Hermann Krause (1939-1944 member of the main committee of the academy), also left its documents to the Federal Archives; and in March 1976, it was able to acquire the reference files of Reg. Dir. a.D. and then member of the board of Deutsche Centralbodenkredit AG, Oesterlink, member of the Mortgage Legal Committee of the Academy, will close a lore gap in this area. Thus all surviving traditions of the Academy for German Law outside the GDR were probably brought together in inventory R 61. In 1990, the part of the archive that had been preserved in the Central State Archives of the GDR was merged with R 61. Archivische Bewertung und Bearbeitung (only old stock R 61, without ZStA 30.13) The written material of the Akademie für Deutsches Recht consists essentially of two parts which are already clearly separated from each other. In addition to an extensive collection of factual and correspondence files, the "Archive" of the Press and Periodicals Office contains a considerable part of the collection of minutes and minutes of meetings, some of which can also be found in the files of the Legal Department. From 1938, with a few exceptions, the Academy's documents were filed in a central registry according to a systematic file plan. The filing was done chronologically from bottom to top, but was often disturbed afterwards. In order to eliminate the - often severe - irregularities and to improve the usability of the holdings, all subject units and individual processes were placed in an official filing system (from top to bottom) when the holdings in the Federal Archives were organized and listed in 1967, and torn file units were reunited in the process. Loose written material was reformed after factual matters. The files are therefore no longer in the same condition as they were when they were filmed in the USA, so that an identity between the volumes with the American signatures ADR 1 to ADR 238, some of which also referred to documents of other provenances, and the volumes signed in the Federal Archives exists only rarely; as far as possible, however, the corresponding American signatures were noted, and in addition the concordance between the signatures of the Federal Archives and the role designations of the microfilm T-82 (below pp. 87-90) makes a comparison possible. Cassations were primarily carried out in subject groups, most of which have been preserved in their entirety in the Federal Archives. In addition to the removal of numerous duplicates, administrative documents in particular were freed from all insignificant correspondence. Most of the submissions to committees on private legal matters of no general importance were also largely destroyed. Since the records and minutes were originally also available in the registry of the Academy, the reorganization of the status quo, which is not, moreover, based on the old file plan scheme, attempted to restore the old unit of records and minutes of the individual committees and other working bodies of the Academy of German Law as far as possible, whereby the internal "provenance" (registry or "archive") in the file directory is expressed only by the old signature. The records filed in the registry shall bear the letter "P" in front of the file number, unless they are in correspondence, and the "archive" copies shall not bear a signature. In order to indicate the separation of the holdings into the partial provenances of Berlin and Munich, the place of origin has also been entered in the Remarks column, as far as determined. In addition, the structure of the holdings in simplified form is based on the structure of the Academy. Content characterisation: Part 1 (formerly: ZStA, 30.13): Legal bases, organisation, service administration, librarianship and Veröffentli‧chungen 1933-1945 (68), Jurisprudence - Department of Legal Research 1936-1945 (47), Legal Policy - Department of Legal Structuring General committee files 1935-1943 (6), individual committees 1933-1944 (365) Part 2 (formerly: BArch, R 61): Committees 1933-1940 (36), foreign countries 1934-1942 (34), international congresses, conferences 1935-1941 (16), journal of the Academy for German Law 1935-1939 (10), Sitzungsan‧gelegenheiten, invitations, minutes 1935-1939 (7), reference files, internals, individual items 1934-1944 (26), association for the improvement of prisoners 1934-1942 (26), German Ge‧sellschaft for prison science 1927-1939 (7) state of development: Publication Findbuch: Werhan, Walter; Fensch, Elsa: Akademie für Deutsches Recht (fonds R 61) (Findbücher zu Bestände des Bundesarchivs, Bd. 9), 2nd up, Koblenz 1976; find card index citation method: BArch, R 61/...

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Federal Archives (Archivtektonik) >> North German Confederation and German Reich (1867/1871-1945) >> Justiz

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Rechteinformation beim Datenlieferanten zu klären.

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  • German

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This description was automatically translated with the help of www.DeepL.com. Translation errors are possible. Please note that the document itself has not been translated.

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Schriftgut

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Verwandtes Archivgut im Bundesarchiv: <br />
Das Entstehen und Wirken der Akademie wird außer aus ihrem eigenen Schriftgut vor allem durch im Bundesarchiv aufbewahrte Akten des Reichs- justizministeriums belegt. Sie betreffen die Akademie im allgemeinen (R 22/198 und 199) und bieten zahlreiche Unterlagen über ihre Tätigkeit bei der Gesetzesvorbereitung. Es handelt sich wesentlich um Unterlagen aus folgenden Gebieten: Richter und Rechtspflege (R 22/3764); Vertrags- und Schadenersatzrecht (345, 346); Seerecht (581); Muster- und Modellschutz (640); Zivilprozessreform (646, 647); Jugendrecht (1180-1182, 1184, 1194, 1195); Luftrecht (2042) und Luftschutzrecht (2337); Bürgerliche Rechtspflege (646, 647); Freiwillige Gerichtsbarkeit (735); eheliches Güterrecht (471); Fahrnisrecht (422); Erbrecht (502).<br />
Weiteres Material zur Entwicklung der Akademie enthält das Schriftgut der Reichskanzlei (R 43 II, 1509, 1510a), daneben auch zu Fragen der personellen Besetzung der Spitzenpositionen (Präsident und Stellvertreter) in den Akten über Reichsminister Frank (139 c) und die Neubesetzung des Reichsjustizministeriums 1942 (1145a). Schließlich ist ihre Mitwirkung bei der Gesetzgebung in der Gruppe Justiz der Reichskanzleiakten dokumentiert.<br />
Informationen über die Haushalts- und Vermögensangelegenheiten der Akademie für den Zeitraum 1934-1945 bieten in den Akten des Reichsfinanzministeriums die Bände R 2/24103 und 24048. Diese Unterlagen enthalten in Rechnungsprüfungsberichten des Rechnungshofes des Deutschen Reiches auch Aussagen über die Verwaltungspraxis der Akademie.<br />
Aussagen von Dr. Hans Frank über seine Wirksamkeit als Präsident der Akademie finden sich in den Protokollen und Dokumenten des Internationalen Militärgerichtshofs in Nürnberg (Bestand All.Proz. 1), in seinem Tagebuch als Generalgouverneur (Kopie in R 52 II) sowie in seinen Erinnerungen: Im Angesicht des Galgens (Eigenverlag Brigitte Frank 1955, S. 166ff.).
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Amtliche Druckschriften: <br />
Zeitschrift der Akademie für Deutsches Recht, 1934-1942; Jahrbuch der Akademie für Deutsches Recht, 1933-1940; Schriften der Akademie für Deutsches Recht, 1934-1942; Deutsche Rechtswisssenschaft, 1939-1941
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Literatur: <br />
Inventar archivalischer Quellen des NS-Staates, hg. v. Heinz Boberach, Teil 1, München 1991, S. 186
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Edition: <br />
Akademie für Deutsches Recht 1933-1945. Protokolle der Ausschüsse, hg. v. Werner Schubert (u.a.), Bd. 1-18, Frankfurt am Main (u.a.) 1986-2009

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DE-1958_6cceee5f-fec0-4956-8174-7855b76ef270

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