Anschutz, Gerhard

(1867-1948)

   legal scholar; deemed the Repub-lic s foremost constitutional authority. Born in Halle, he studied law and qual-ified in 1896 as an accessor in Berlin.* Academic appointments took him to Tübingen in 1899, to Heidelberg in 1900, back to Berlin in 1908, and again to Heidelberg in 1916. His focus was political law, later branching into legal his-tory and church law. A commanding classroom presence, with markedly dem-ocratic leanings, he was chiefly known for his commentaries on the Constitution,* which eventually comprised fourteen editions.

   Anschutz used his commentaries to critique the improper use of Article 48, which provided for the declaration of a state of emergency, during the era of Presidential Cabinets* (1930-1933). In 1933, underscoring his courage and in-tegrity, he wrote Baden s Education Minister requesting early retirement because he could not muster the intellectual solidarity to train students "in accord with the intent and spirit of the current government. He was promptly dismissed.

   REFERENCES:Brecht, Political Education; Ingo Müller, Hitler's Justice; NDB, vol. 1.