Date: Thu, 28 Sep 1995 10:48:05 -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: Matthias Zimmer Dear editor: Thomas Schmitz' article on the "Radikalenerlass" requires some further comments. To begin with, the fact that the European High Court for Human Rights has ruled that -- in the given case -- the Radikalenerlass constitutes a violation of human rights does not imply that the Erlass will be revoked or is automatically void. Legal decisions of international courts concerning human rights do not automatically become German law, as Thoas Schmitz suggests. I think he is referring to Article 25 of the BL:"The general rules of public international lawshall be an integral part of federal law." Decisions by the European High Court of Human Rights do not seem to fit into this category. Moreover, I am not aware that the Federal Constitutional Court has revoked its 1974 "Solange"-Decision. This would raise some questions about the ruling of the FCC on the one side and the European High Court on the other side. Decisions by the ECHR do not automatically overrule decisions by the FCC. In other words: it may have been premature to celebrate the sudden death of the Radikalenerlass. One could also discuss in some length the merits of the "Radikalenerlass" (I prefer the terminus "Extremistenbeschluss") and its relation to the concept of "Streitbare Demokratie". Thomas Schmitz is correct stating that Eckard Jesse is one of the most outspoken defenders of the "Radikalenerlass", but it seems unfair to associate him, as Thomas Schmitz did, with Rainer Zitelmann and the Junge Freiheit and insinuate that those circles may well themelves be a menace to the "fdGO" (because the Verfassungsschutz in Lower Saxony has announced that they would shadow the Junge Freiheit). Jesse has published on a wide variety of subjects, and he has coauthored a book with Zitelmann. This does not automatically imply that he shares Zitelmann' s political positions, unless, of course, one would subscribe to the principle of "guilt by association". One final point: Thomas Schmitz argues that with the Radikalenerlass was an obstacle for the German Civil Service to ecome an Equal Opportunity Employer. In the light of German history esp. in the Weimar Republic and the "traditional principles of professional civil service" (Art. 33 BL) it seems to me that the notion of equal opportunity is somewhat overstretched in this context. Dr. Matthias Zimmer DAAD Visiting German Studies Professor University of Alberta Department of Political Science Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4 Tel.: 403-492-0952 Fax 403-492-2586 Email: mzimmer@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca .