Wehberg, Hans

(1885-1962)

   lawyer and scholar; noted pacifist and in-ternational jurist. Born in Düsseldorf to a socially committed physician, he took a doctorate in law at Bonn under Philipp Zorn (legal advisor at the 1899 Hague Conference) and then entered the Prussian civil service.* He was soon recog-nized as an eminent scholar in support of pacifism and human rights and was a founder in 1911 of the Verband fur internationale Verstandigung (Union for International Understanding). He coedited the Zeitschrift fur Volkerrecht (estab-lished in 1906) from 1912. He hoped to write his Habilitation for Marburg s Walther Schücking,* but was denied admittance in 1912 due to his pacifism.

   Wehberg was a member of the German Peace Society* and joined the new Bund Neues Vaterland (renamed the Deutsche Liga fur Menschenrechte in Jan-uary 1922) during World War I. Embracing the charge of treason, he wrote Als Pazifist im Weltkrieg (As a pacifist in the World War) in 1919. During 1917-1919 he served on the staff of Kiel s Institute on World Economy. After the war he was president of the German Association for the League of Nations and was on the executive of the new Peace Cartel (Friedenskartell). Upon joining the council of Geneva s International Peace Bureau in 1923, he championed German admission to the League in hopes of rectifying what he viewed as injustices meted out in the League s covenant. In 1924 he became editor of Friedenswarte; under his direction until 1962, Friedenswarte became a respected voice for peace and human rights. Less driven by pacifism than by advocacy of international law and arbitration, he found himself increasingly out of step with the radicals in the German Peace Society. Disillusioned with German pacifism, he welcomed appointment in 1928 as Professor of International Law at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, a status he retained until 1959. After World War II he served as president of the Institute of International Law.

   REFERENCES:Benz and Graml, Biographisches Lexikon; Chickering, Imperial Germany; Kuehl, Biographical Dictionary ofInternationalists.