4.7 Koschaker as visiting professor in Germany and abroad

Koschaker was asked to act as visiting professor in Germany immediately after he became professor emeritus.^[543] In spite of the complications with his Emeritierung, his prestige was still remarkable.

After the invitation to Munich, another followed from Halle an der Saale for the summer of 1948 and later, from the fall of same year until August 1950, he was invited to Ankara. These two experiences were the most significant for Koschaker, who wrote to his pupil Kisch on 24^th May 1948:

Denn Frau Germania ist in Ansehung ihrer Universitäten zumindest in den Westzonen, wo man den Deutschen mehr freie Hand läßt, weitgehend renazifiziert. Natürlich sind diese Professoren alle tief überzeugte Demokraten und waren es seit jeher, Nazimokraten nenne ich sie.

Koschaker talked of the events that took place in the Western part of “Frau Germania” with disdainful criticism, where universities were undergoing renazification. Professors who were former Nazis were now the “new democrats”, or what Koschaker called “Nazimokraten”. Koschaker, once an esteemed professor, was now faced with what he proclaimed as a form of exile, having accepted the invitation to Halle and then to Ankara.^[547] Nevertheless, the invitation he received from the University of Halle to hold a course on Roman law there in the summer was propitius. What sounds remarkable is that Halle was the only university in Germany that seemed to want him as a visiting professor and recognise him as an opponent of the Nazi regime. Koschaker considered the University in Halle as the best “kept” in Germany (“die beste verpflegte Deutschlands”) and not only in Eastern Germany, even though its buildings had been partly bombed and the university library was ruined.^[548]

After his experience in Halle, it was the time to move to Turkey. The establishment of Turkey as a Republic took place under Atatürk in 1923, and the consequent opening of the country to the West led to a reform in teaching at the University with Roman law introduced as a subject for the first time.^[549] European scholars saw it an opportunity to find positions there, and for many of Jewish origins Turkey had represented a chance to escape from the brutality of the Nazi regime and find shelter.

New doors of opportunity opened to Roman law scholars who moved to Turkey at that time: with their ideas, their methodology and their teaching they could influence new generations of young jurists and legal scholars and aim to lay down the foundations for the new legal thinking that would be developed in Turkey.^[553]

Koschaker left Germany to teach in Ankara in the fall of 1948, with Schwarz playing a role in convincing him to depart for Turkey.^[554] It was, however, unfortunate that his friend Landsberger had left the city the same year and before Koschaker arrived in Turkey.^[555] Koschaker considered his experience in Turkey a positive one and he remembered the other professors and students there with gratitude, who above all, were so open to Roman law and such talented legal thinkers in general.^[556]

In a letter sent from Ankara to his colleagues in the Faculty at Tübingen, a reply to the birthday wishes that he had received, Koschaker wrote:^[557]

Wenn ich das erforderliche Pathos besässe, könnte ich fast sagen, ich hätte hier eine Mission zu erfüllen, indem ich Hunderten von türkischen Rechtsstudenten, die Prinzipien des römischen Rechts beizubringen versuche.

Koschaker was now seventy, but still passionate about Roman law and its teaching. In particular, he seized the opportunity to teach the principles of Roman law to his Turkish students, and in this he was coherent with the scientific development of his ideas that culminated in the publication of Europa und das römische Recht.

The text, sent from Ankara on 11^th April 1949 and handwritten in Italian, reveals his remarkable command of the language.^[558] Koschaker apologised first of all for his late reply to Riccobono’s letters.^[559] In this dense four-page letter, he explained that he had been suffering from a sort of draining tiredness for some months, but had not - or apparently had not, we may add - any serious disease. His health problems, he felt, were probably due to the extremely cold winter in Ankara.

Koschaker discussed many different topics in his letter, some of them of particular importance to his conception of Roman law.^[560] In one part of the text, he praised his Turkish students for their passionate interest in the study of Roman law. It was clear, he wrote, that they had no preconceptions about it (when compared to Germans)^[561] and they were hugely respectful towards their professors. Furthermore, from his experiences in Ankara, Koschaker found confirmation for his ideas on the teaching of Roman law:

[...] Ho trovato, del resto, confermate le mie idee circa l’insegnamento del diritto romano. Va da sĂ© che come fenomeno storico il diritto romano non può essere insegnato che storicamente, ma da punti di vista dommatica [sic!]. Ciò che importa sono i concetti romani, la connessione fra loro ed in quanta misura sono passati nei sistemi moderni, trasformati e nondimeno mantenuti in sostanza.^[562]

This short passage sums up some methodological questions that have distinguished the development of Koschaker’s approach to the study of Roman law over the decades. For this reason, these issues will be explored in more detail in the following chapter.^[563] In Turkey Koschaker eventually had the opportunity to apply his ideas on teaching without any kind of obstacle and once again he remained persuaded that they were right.

Koschaker only wrote one other letter to Riccobono from Turkey, as far as we know, a postcard, handwritten and dated 10^th June 1950. He simply mentioned his forthcoming journey to Naples on 26^th June and then to Munich via Rome. He added that the American government had granted him a passport to visit Berlin, where he thought he might spend the festivities.^[566]

Despite the very positive experience at the university and with the students, it was not easy for Koschaker to accustom himself to the weather in Ankara, as it is possible to infer from the letter to Riccobono from 11^th April 1949, and further from a letter sent to Kisch on 6^th May 1949.^[567] In this letter, he stressed once more the tiredness he suffered in Turkey, probably due to the climate and the freezing winter there. He was therefore taking into consideration the possibility of coming back to Germany in the fall, and there was moreover a serious dearth of scientific literature in Ankara, which made it harder to work there, although the Turkish people would have been really pleased to have him stay.

A letter sent by Koschaker from Walchensee on 7^th September 1950 reveals his retrospective thoughts on Ankara.^[569] Koschaker first came back to Germany in July 1949, but he decided to return to Turkey in October of the same year where he renewed his contract with the university, but with a definite end date of 31^st August 1950. This was the decision that Koschaker and his wife had taken, even though the faculty at Ankara would have liked to have kept him there for another year. His determination to come back to Germany was not due to homesickness, but because he felt the moment had come to end his teaching, though not his research.^[570] It was important for Koschaker to retire while he was still a beloved professor and his retirement could be seen as a sad event:

[...] die Erwägung, daß man sich von öffentlicher Tätigkeit zurückziehen soll, solange man noch auf der Höhe der Leistung steht und der Rücktritt bedauert wird. Das war bei mir noch der Fall, und es gehört zu meinen schönsten Erinnerungen an Ankara, daß ich einer der beliebtesten Dozenten war, obwohl ich nur deutsch, allerdings mit einem ausgezeichneten Dolmetscher vortragen konnte [...] Es ist ja begreiflich, daß sich Kollegen ärgerten, wenn sie hörten, daß ich noch im Mai, da sich die Studenten auf die Jahresprüfungen vorbereiten und die Vorlesungen meiden, statt der normalen 500, noch immer gegen 300 Zuhörer hatte, während jene 20-25 Leute hatten. Ich hatte aber noch niemals Studenten, die so dankbar waren, daß ich ihnen die Elemente des juristischen Denkens beibrachte an Hand des römischen Rechts [...]

Koschaker confirmed his very positive judgment of Turkish students in the text, expressing surprise that they would be so grateful to learn the principles of legal thinking through classes in Roman law. As he explained a few lines later, the students, influenced by the Islamic tradition, considered the professor to be like a demi-god.^[571] He was one of the most appreciated and respected teachers there, even though he could teach only in German and therefore always needed an interpreter with him. Whereas all his other colleagues had only about 20-25 students in their classes as it was the examination period and students tended to avoid going to lesson then, he still had an attendance of almost 300 students with an attendance during normal term time of as many as 500. However, the poor libraries in Turkey still represented a problem and he had to use his summer holidays in Germany in 1949 working on and finishing a contribution to the Festschrift Ilroznyf^[572]" When he returned to Turkey that same year he was extremely weary and the heart problem that he had had for 55 years, the result of rheumatism, ultimately led to heart failure.^[573]

Koschaker’s letter to Kisch, dated 10^th March 1951, shows that his heart attack took place in spring 1950 during a journey from Ankara to Istanbul.^[574] He was able to recover, however, and by May felt well enough so that in summer 1950 he travelled to Greece, then to Berlin for the 250^th jubilee of the Academy of Berlin and eventually to the International Congress for Comparative Law (Internationaler Kongreß für Rechtsvergleichung) in London.^[575]

After his experience in Turkey, Koschaker still had the will and strength to hold lectures and in January and February 1951 he was invited to Bonn, where he gave lessons on Comparative Law and a course on exegesis of the Digest (Pandektenexegese).^[576] The period there was pleasant, as he explained in a letter to Kisch, and the Faculty had become completely free of Nazis and many of its new members were declared anti-Nazi.^[577] After Bonn he went to Leiden for two lectures, and there he again met and spent some days at Martin David’s house, although the burden of work had very negative consequences, leading to a second heart attack in about a year. His lectures obviously had to be postponed and he was quickly admitted to the local hospital in Leiden, where he was able to recover. Below wrote that this had been the first life-threatening heart attack - yet he had had another one a year earlier in Turkey - but the warning signs had not been sufficiently taken into consideration and he did not convalesce for long enough.^[578] In fact, he gave two lectures just a week later, being the first German scholar to talk in front of Dutch colleagues after the end of the war.^[579]

Koschaker was aware, however, that he needed a pause from work and travel. As he wrote to Kisch in March 1951, he deeply desired to have some rest during the summer, possibly in a health resort in the Rheinland (“Ich hatte seit mindestens sechs Jahren keine Ferien mehr und will dieses Jahr das erstemal im Juni seit langer Zeit mir in einem kleinen Badeort im Rheinland wieder eine Kur kohlensaurer Bäder gönnen”).

This idea came too late however. Koschaker accepted an invitation to give two lectures in Zurich, where his pupil Lautner was,^[580] on 29^th and 30^th May 1951, and in the afternoon of May 31^st he and his wife reached Basel, where they spent the evening with his colleague and friend Hans Lewald.^[581]

At half past five in the morning, on 1^st June 1951, Paul Koschaker had a third heart attack and died.^[582]

The scientific community was shocked at the painful news. Letters and messages were sent to the University of Tübingen from twenty-five other universities.^[583] A funeral sermon was held by Heinrich Mitteis in W alchensee.^[584] Riccobono was informed of the fatal event by San Nicolò who sent him a letter from Munich on 19^th June 1951.^[585]

Many of the obituaries published after Koschaker’s death were written by his pupils, displaying their admiration and affection for Paul Koschaker, both as a professor and as a human being. David and Below both spoke passionately about their mentor; in Italy Pietro De Francisci wrote Koschaker’s necrologue.^[586]

To conclude this chapter, it seems appropriate to quote the beginning of the obituary that appeared in the Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung in 1951, written by Below and Falkenstein, which provides an idea of the very high esteem that Koschaker enjoyed:

Seit dem Tode von Otto Lenel und Moriz Wlassak hat die deutsche Romanistik und damit die gesamte internationale wissenschaftliche Welt am 1. Juni 1951 einen ihrer schwersten Verluste erlitten. In den frühen Morgenstunden jenes Tages ist Paul Koschaker auf einer Vortragsreise in der Schweiz in Basel einem Herzschlag erlegen. Ein wahrhaft erfülltes Gelehrtenleben, über dem die Worte stehen „litteris in serviendo consumor“, hat damit sein τέλος gefunden.^[587]

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