Legal Culture of the Third Reich
Legal Culture of the Third Reich

Author(s): Evgenii Aleksandrovitch Palamarchuk
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: Правни факултет Универзитета у Источном Сарајеву
Keywords: Nazi regime; Legal culture; Legal nihilism; Deformation; Constitutional theory; Law; Legality; Justice;
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the study is to analyze the essential transformation that the phenomenon of legal culture underwent in Germany during the Nazi dictatorship. The author based the article on an interdisciplinary approach, theoretically guided by the theory of totalitarianism, which retains significant potential when addressing Nazi issues. This research is based on the basic principle of historical knowledge: histroricism; objectivity; scientific, and systematic principles. The principle of system analysis played a crucial role in revealing the problem, enabling the identification of its essential aspects. The work employed problem-solving, historical-systematic, and concrete-historical methods. As Nazi rule took hold, a constitutional legal consciousness emerged, leading to the sacrifice of constitutional principles for the regime's political objectives. The deformation of the professional legal culture had extremely negative consequences. It was based on the legal nihilism of civil servants, purposefully implanted among them by the authorities. In the Fuhrer state, Hitler was the main arbiter in all spheres of public and state life. The historical will of the Fuhrer was officially interpreted as an exclusive source of law. The investigation led to the following conclusions: The legal culture of German society in the years in question was characterized by an extreme degree of deformation. Legal nihilism was elevated to the rank of basic values by Nazi leaders. The independence of the judiciary was eliminated. The principles of rule of law and justice have evolved into a tool to meet the regime's political needs.

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