Profesor Hans Kelsen v archivních dokumentech Karlovy univerzity v Praze
Hans Kelsen in the Archival Documents of the Charles University in Prague

Summary/Abstract: On 31st of August 1935, Hans Kelsen was appointed as a professor of international law on the German University of Prague, following his persecution at the hands of the Nazi authorities. Even though he was widely respected and celebrated as a brilliant law-theorist and had many supporters among the Czech legal scholars, neither his academic work in Prague, nor his appointment were peaceful, as is witnessed by the documents stored in Charles University Archive. The idea for appointing Kelsen to the chair of the international law professor was first pitched by the Ministry for Education in 1933 and from the very beginning, it was met with strong protests from German press and authorities, as well as from several members of the collegium of professors. One of Kelsen’s main opponents was Professor F. Sander, Kelsen’s former pupil and friend, with whom Kelsen had a long-lasting academic (and later personal) conflict. When Kelsen’s opponents failed to prevent his appointment, they used the nationally-oriented fractions to boycott his lectures and in 1938, Kelsen was forced to stop teaching for good. However, the documents regarding Kelsen’s relatively brief stay in Prague show not only the negative side of academic rivalry, but also the admirable pains undertook by Czech politicians and academics to help the persecuted academic.

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