Jurists Uprooted: German-speaking Émigré Lawyers in Twentieth Century Britain
 
The flow of ideas across international borders often proceeds along intricate paths.  In many instances an idea follows the migration of its architect, in whose fate it becomes tightly woven.  Oftentimes, such fate is shaped by unanticipated, sometimes tragic events.  Few instances represent a clearer example than the era of the Third Reich when approximately 500,000 individuals, more than 90% Jewish, were driven out of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia in the name of Nazi racial purity laws.
 
Many of these individuals ended up in the United States, others in England – frequently the journey transpired under adventurous conditions.  The émigré refugees brought to their new countries a slice of German culture.  “Thank you Mr. Hitler,” proclaimed Princeton upon reception of Thomas Mann. 
 
However, the majority of émigrés could not boast of such a warm and celebratory greeting. 
Professors laboured through their days workings as dishwashers and bakery assistants.  Women hailing from affluent families hired themselves out as cleaning ladies.  In many cases hunger, depression and despair prevailed – some émigrés took their own life.
 
In spite of the obstacles and adverse conditions, many émigrés managed to resume their former work or to begin a new career.  Their new homes offered them a second chance that was perceived as nothing less than a gift from heaven.  Exiled in England, distinguished Roman law scholar Fritz Schulz composed two of his most recognized works, History of Roman Legal Science and Classical Roman Law.  In 1946, despite seven years of transience, Schulz wrote “I have no resentment against Germany, since as it is written: The Nazis meant me ill, but God has made it good.  I would never have developed in Germany as I have in the freedom of England, especially in Oxford, the most marvellous place on earth.”
 
Fritz Schulz was one of 132 German legal professors expelled from their positions during the first three years of the Nazi regime.  As a result, the German law faculty lost 26% of its teaching staff on the basis of political, but primarily racial, grounds.  The Roman law departments were particularly impacted as seven of the most prominent scholars during the Weimar era were not Aryan as defined by Nazi law.  Otto Lennel and Otto Gradenwitz, already emeritus, died in 1935.  The other five individuals, Ernst Rabel, Ernst Levy, Fritz Schulz, Franz Haymann and Fritz Pringsheim were forced to emigrate.
 
A joint project of the German and English legal communities has undertaken to preserve the unique history of German-speaking jurists whose emigrant paths lead them to England.  Tracing careers, presenting important émigré works, and analyzing the legal and scholarly influence resulting England and (in respective instances of remigration) Germany, the resultant work allows readers to become familiar with the biographies and intellectual background of the most significant of these jurists.  At the same time, the comprehensiveness of the endeavour yields a multi-discipline contribution to the intellectual history and legal narrative of  20th century England.
 
The volume was edited by Sir Jack Beatson (Justice of the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division and former Rouse-Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge) and Reinhard Zimmerman (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Law, Hamburg).
 
Outline of Contents
 
-'What once was home, is now called hell' ('Was Heimat hieß, nun heißt Hölle') - The emigration of lawyers from Hitler's Germany: political background, legal framework, and cultural context by Reinhard Zimmermann
-Aliens, Enemy Aliens, and Friendly Enemy Aliens - Britain as a Home for Emigré and Refugee Lawyers by Jack Beatson
-Fritz Schulz (1879-1957) by Wolfgang Ernst
-Fritz Pringsheim (1882-1967) by Tony Honoré
-David Daube (1909-1999) by Alan Rodger
-Roman Law in Twentieth-century Britain by Peter Birks
-Hermann Kantorowicz (1877-1940) and Walter Ullmann (1910-1983) by David Ibbetson
-Otto Kahn-Freund (1900-1979) by Mark Freedland
-Ernst J. Cohn (1904-1976) by Werner Lorenz
-Comparative Law in Twentieth-century England by J. A. Jolowicz
-Clive M. Schmitthoff (1903-1990) by John N. Adams
-F. A. Mann (1907-1991) by Lawrence Collins
-Martin Wolff (1872-1953) by Gerhard Dannemann
-Kurt Lipstein (*1909) by Christopher Forsyth
-Private International Law in Twentieth-century England by Peter North
-Wolfgang Friedmann (1907-1972), with an Excursus on Gustav Radbruch (1878-1949) by John Bell
-Gerhard Leibholz (1901-1982) by Manfred H. Wiegandt
-Lassa Oppenheim (1858-1919) by Mathias Schmoeckel
-Hersch Lauterpacht (1897-1960) by Martti Koskenniemi
-Georg Schwarzenberger (1908-1991) by Stephanie Steinle
-Public International Law in Twentieth-century England by James Crawford
-Hermann Mannheim (1889-1974) and Max Grünhut (1893-1964) by Roger Hood
-Emigré Legal Scholars in Britain - Personal Recollections by Peter Stein
-German Refugees in Oxford - Some Personal Recollections by Barry Nicholas
-Kurt Lipstein - The Scholar and the Man by Christian v. Bar
-Cambridge 1933-2002 by Kurt Lipstein
-Appendix by Frank Wooldridge, Jack Beatson, Reinhard Zimmermann

 
In Germany, the book was officially presented on 17 December 2004 at the Warburg House in Hamburg.  The official presentation in England occurred on 25 October of the same year on the grounds of the British Academy.