Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 13:58:15 -0500 From: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Reply to: H-NET List on German History To: Multiple recipients of list H-GERMAN Subject: "Radikalenerlass" illegal Submitted by: Thomas Schmitz Germany's "Radikalenerlass" condemned as a Violation of Human Rights Yesterday the European High Court for Human Rights ruled that the dismissal of a school teacher charged with being a member of a "verfassungsfeindliche" political party by the state-authorities in Lower Saxony had been illegal and a violation of the human right of freedom of opinion. Since legal decisions of international courts concerning the law of nations and human rights automatically become German law (albeit not constitutional law), this decision should finally put an end to the German institution of the "Radikalenerlass" as well as to the so-called problem of the "Berufsverbote". The Radikalenerlass was initiated by a joint committee of federal and Laender-authorities headed by Willy Brandt(!) in 1972, in order to keep so-called "Verfassungsfeinde" out of the public domain, e.g. prevent them from becoming civil servants, such as teachers, professors, and even postmen, and especially to prevent a "march through the institutions" by - then primarily - radical left-wing intellectuals, and here primarily schoolteachers. According to data published by the GEW (Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft), since 1972 no less than 11,000 people have been charged with "Verfassungsfeindlichkeit", 2,200 of them had to undergo disciplinary treatment, and 136 state employees were dismissed from their jobs, albeit many more were denied jobs in the public domain, among them also many history teachers. Most of them were members of radical left-wing parties; however, in recent years more radical right-wing people were persecuted. Scholars interested in the history of the Radikalenerlass may turn to the "Dokumentation des Arbeitsausschusses der Initiative "Weg mit den Berufsverboten"" - contact Mr. Horst Bethge in Hamburg (phone: 040/6015212); it is run primarily by members of the DKP or the DFU. There is also some secondary literature on this topic, most of it also very biased. It should be noted, however, that a few liberal scholars, such as Ralf Dahrendorf and Alfred Grosser (Paris), criticized the Radikalenerlass in their writings. In March this year we had a short discussion on academic freedom and Equal Opportunity Employment in Germany here on H-German. There is an excellent recent dissertation by a neutral Swiss scholar: Peter Voegeli: Voelkerrecht und "Berufsverbote" in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1976-1992. Die Kontrollverfahren der Internationalen Arbeitsorganisation in Theorie und Praxis, Berlin (Duncker and Humblot) 1995. This book covers an episode that had already taken place in 1985-87: After the Int'l TUC had charged Germany with violating human rights, an arbitration committee of the ILO (International Labor Organization), the oldest suborganization of the UN, ruled that the practice of the "Berufsverbote" in West Germany constituted an employment discrimination. The West German government, however, did not accept the arbitration vote and continued with persecuting "Staatsfeinde" in the public sector on account of their political opinions, because, so the (traditionally conservative) German Federal High Court for Administration (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) stubbornly ruled in 1987: "Was von Verfassungs wegen geboten ist, kann nicht durch Normen des Voelkerrechts hinfaellig werden." (Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (1987), Heft 42, p. 2691). In the sequel, however, at least the SPD-governed Laender virtually suspended or even cancelled all job-ban measures. Recently the Radikalenerlass has become a means in the domestic political power struggle, esp. with regard to former East German Stasi- and also SED-members, which gave the whole issue a new moral dimension, since here people are not judged according to their mere opinions, but rather according to their deeds (albeit in the context of another political system). But also in the western parts of Germany the Radikalenerlass continued to play a role in domestic politics: A glimpse of the whole absurdity of its political practice can be had by reading the FAZ of May 11, 1995: Here, on the one hand, Prof. Eckhard Jesse of Chemnitz U, one of the most outspoken supporters of the Radikalenerlass and the co-author of a book by Rainer Zitelmann, in reviewing Peter Voegeli's dissertation (mentioned above) warned against "den Mitgliedern solcher (verfassungsfeindlicher) Parteien einen Freifahrtschein fuer den Eintritt in den oeffentlichen Dienst auszustellen." On the other hand, on the same day the very same issue of the FAZ reported on page 4 that the Verfassungsschutz (domestic secret service) of SPD-governed Lower Saxony had announced it would shadow exactly those right-wing intellectuals around Rainer Zitelmann, the 'Junge Freiheit', and the authors of the notorious manifesto "8. Mai 1945 - Wider das Vergessen" (there was a long debate on that on H-German). Let us hope that now, five years after reunification, also the German civil sector will end the cold war and become an Equal Opportunity Employer. Thomas Schmitz (Munich/Duesseldorf) .