A scholar of Soviet criminal law who also justified Nazi racial laws
Pushed out of the Breslau East European Institute in 1937 over alleged pro-Bolshevik activity, Maurach published Russian Jewish Policy two years later, presenting the Jews as a danger to Russia.
Born in Simferopol in Crimea, the son of an ophthalmologist whose father had been district physician in Weissenstein, Estonia, Maurach reached Germany via the Baltic in 1920 and studied law in Würzburg and Breslau. From 1926 he handled Soviet law at the Breslau East European Institute and also served as a judge. In 1934 he criticised the Soviet sodomy law, drawing a reply from Bulatov. Pushed out of the institute in 1937 over alleged pro-Bolshevik activity, he went on to publish antisemitic work such as Russian Jewish Policy (1939) and to justify the Nazi racial laws, becoming a professor at Königsberg in 1940. After brief Soviet captivity in 1945 he taught criminal and East European law at Munich from 1948 to 1970. He died on holiday in Italy in 1976.
Also known as: Reinhard Maurach
Activities and affiliations
- 1926–1937
-
1930–
Germany state institutionsJudge in Breslau
Law and justice -
1940–1970
Germany state institutionsProfessor of criminal and East European lawMain
Law and justice
Career Timeline
- 1920Reached Germany via the Baltic after the Civil War
- 1925Doctorate at Breslau on the legal status of foreigners in the USSR
- 1926–1937Referent for Soviet law at the Breslau East European Institute
- 1930Judge in Breslau
- 1934Habilitation; criticised the Soviet sodomy law
- 1939Published Russian Jewish Policy
- 1940Extraordinary professor at Königsberg; founded its Institute for East European Law
- 1945Badly wounded, captured by the Soviets and soon released
- 1948–1970Full professor of criminal and East European law at Munich
Related historical events
Criticising the Soviet sodomy law in 1934
In August 1934 Maurach criticised the new Soviet offence as an abrupt abandonment of previous criminal policy and Marxist morality. Sergei Bulatov replied in 1935. Roldugina uses this exchange to qualify the claim that recriminalization received no public discussion.
Nazi-era publications and the postwar academy
Investigated for alleged pro-Bolshevik activity in 1937, Maurach subsequently published works justifying Nazi racial legislation, including Russian Jewish Policy (1939). His criticism of the Soviet sodomy law does not establish a consistently liberal record. After the war he held a chair at Munich and wrote influential criminal-law textbooks.