The unpleasant period in Berlin

It is now appropriate to return to Koschaker’s experience in Berlin. As Koschaker himself acknowledged in his autobiography, although his position at Berlin began well, the situation quickly deteriorated.

Im übrigen war ich immer ungern in Berlin. Immerhin 1936, da in der Universität noch beträchtliche Reste aus der Vor-Nazizeit vorhanden waren, ging die Sache noch leidlich. Aber die Nazis drangen immer mehr ein, selbst in der Akademie, dazu nach dem Abtreten Gleispachs, der ein großer Nazi, aber doch ein österreichischer »Gawalier« war, ein Dekan, der mir jede Schwierigkeit machte. Ich revoltierte. 1939 ließ mich der Nazirektor kommen, um mir in aller Form das consilium abeundi zu geben. Das Ministerium war aber dagegen, wie ich überhaupt bei den Parteibonzen einen gewissen Respekt hatte, weil ich ihnen, namentlich in der Frage des römischen Rechts, ruhig, aber entscheidend entgegentrat. Das waren sie von Professoren nicht gewohnt.^[273]

This passage cites the main reason for the difficult situation in Berlin as the increasing presence of supporters of the Nazi regime at the University. Although the situation was still acceptable in 1936, things quickly degenerated and Koschaker was soon burdened by many problems and complications mainly due to the behaviour of the Dean, Wenzelslaus Graf von Gleispach, and the Rektor Willy Hoppe.^[274] According to Koschaker, Hoppe tried to make him leave his post at the University.

Moreover, the letter sent by Koschaker to Kisch in 1947 revealed the oppressive climate felt by Koschaker at the University in Berlin due to the presence of members connected with the Nazi regime. In particular, the relationship with the Nazi sympathiser, Gleispach, was hard for Koschaker to digest and, according to Koschaker’s own words, it was Rektor Hoppe who suggested he might consider leaving the University of Berlin in 1939 (he wanted to give him the consilium abeundi, as it is possible to read in the text of the letter). It is nonetheless worth mentioning that these words were written by Koschaker himself and, what is more, after WWII had ended. The letter sent to Kisch is a note that Koschaker wrote to his Jewish pupil, who had escaped to the US, and having faced the tragic loss of some of his family in the Nazi concentration camps. In the same letter, Koschaker affirmed that the Parteibonzen in Berlin, namely the representatives of the regime or, at least, its supporters, respected him, because he had taken a firm position against them on issues regarding Roman law and the need to teach it at German universities (Koschaker’s reference to his stance on Roman law concerned the lecture he had given at the Akademie für Deutsches Recht in December 1937).^[277] Even though I do not wish to dispute the reliability of the core of Koschaker’s description of the events of that period, it seems at least necessary to measure his statements against the information from other documents he wrote when he was still in Berlin, which illustrate his life at the University quite clearly, as well as the problems he had to face.

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