Thread by @satl_jlu

#Spotlightonjurists: In this 2-part thread, @siavash_moeini presents Ernst Fraenkel, a #Jewish jurist and political-scientist, who is the author of “The Dual State”, a treaty on the structure of the #Nazi regime, and one of the founding fathers of German political science. (1/38)

Part I: Fraenkel was born into a Jewish family in Cologne on 28 December 1898 as the youngest of three children. At the age of 16, Fraenkel became an orphan and together with his older sister Marta moved in with their uncle Joseph Epstein to live in Frankfurt am Main. (2/38)

As a pupil, Fraenkel developed an interest in historical questions and he focused in high school, among other things, on ancient constitutional studies. In 1916, Fraenkel passed his “Notabitur” examination. (3/38)

Fraenkel volunteered for military service in November 1916. He was seriously wounded during the “Michael Offensive”. After months of treatment in a military hospital, his company was transferred to Darmstadt in 1918, where he became a member of the Soldiers' Council. (4/38)

Because of his quick handwriting, he was assigned to the Soldiers' Council, to issue discharge certificates for soldiers in his company. In the fall of 1918, the revolutionary mood in the Reich finally led to the November Revolution. (5/38)

In Nov. 1918, Willhelm II went into exile in the Netherlands. The young republic sought its constitutional reform. After Fraenkel’s discharge from the army in January 1919, he was able to return to civilian life and begin his law studies at the University of Frankfurt. (6/38)

Fraenkel attended Hugo Sinzheimer's lectures at the Frankfurt University. Sinzheimer, who is considered as a founding father of German labour law, had a significant influence on many of his students, Fraenkel’s intellectual development as well. (7/38)

Sinzheimer knew that personnel changes in the administration and judiciary were necessary for the young republic to thrive. He encouraged law students to foster a more progressive thinking. He not only provided impetus for legal work, but also an awareness of social issues.(8/38)

A circle of young lawyers, including Franz Neumann, Otto Kahn-Freund and Ernst Fraenkel formed around Sinzheimer. Many of Sinzheimer’s students shared his Jewish background. Their experience of discrimination enhanced their conviction and advocation for a more just society.(9/38)

In 1921, Fraenkel passed his first state examination. At the time, he also joined the German Social Democrats, the SPD. He completed his legal clerkship in Weilburg and Frankfurt. In 1923, he received his doctorate under the title "The Void Employment Contract". (10/38)

In 1926, after his second examination, he became a teacher at the trade union school in Saxony and produced a paper titled "Sociology of Class Justice", where he presented the homogeneous composition of the judiciary and noted its difference from the proletariat. (11/38)

After his teaching career in Saxony had ended, he opened - together with Franz L. Neumann - a law firm at the headquarters of the German Metalworkers' Association in Berlin. In addition to his legal activities, he wrote 28 articles until 1929. (12/38)

Being Jewish and a socialist made him particularly sensitive to discrimination and respect for human rights. He observed the intensification of antisemitic agitation early on and stated: (13/38)

After the dissolution of the parliament in 1932 the Republic fell into disarray. Fraenkel was concerned about the state of the constitution. He saw the constitution as the core element of a stable state whose existence could only be secured by a parliament capable of acting.14/38

Therefore, he drafted a proposal on how the parliament's ability to act could be secured. His idea of a constructive vote of no confidence was not taken up at the time, but was incorporated into the German constitution of 1949 (das Grundgesetz) as Article 67. (15/38)

Even before the March 1933 elections, Fraenkel anxiously observed the early transfer of power to the Nazis, the Reichstag fire of February 28, the accompanying Reichstag Fire Decree and the permanent state of emergency. He commented on the situation as follows: (16/38)

The Nazis took aim at the judiciary in the first phase of their action. Their goal was to undermine the rule of law. Arbitrary attacks by the Sturmabteilung (SA) on the courts led, among other, to Jewish lawyers being taken into “protective custody”. (17/38)

The Nazis also took structural action against the rule of law. Laws on admission to the bar and on the restoration of the civil service of April 1933 systematically obstructed the professional prospects of the lawyers of Jewish origin. (18/38)

Thereafter, Jewish lawyers only had a restricted access to the profession and had to pledge their commitment to the new government and the regulations it had enacted. Fraenkel, as a former "frontline fighter," was able to invoke an exemption and continue his practice. (19/38)

After the occupation by the SA of the entire house of the Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband (DMV) and of Fraenkel’s law firm, Neumann fled to London. Fraenkel and his wife Johanna Pickel, whom he married in 1932, remained in Berlin. (20/38)

During this time, he pursued two objectives: acting as an opposition lawyer and writing in the underground. His law office, which had been relocated to his home, developed into a highly frequented address for those persecuted by the regime. (21/38)