Lawyers of German Origin in Łódź During the Second World War

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/STW.2023.07.02

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to analyze the biographies of German lawyers from Łódź who, during the Second World War, were faced with a choice to join the Volksliste or to maintain Polish citizenship and leave for the General Government. After January 1945, those who were included on the Deutsche Volksliste had to face legal consequences for accepting German citizenship. The participation of pre-war lawyers in the National Socialist justice system raised many doubts: the scope of action for German lawyers decreased year by year in wartime conditions, and they were unable to represent Polish and Jewish clients in German courts. In addition to the extermination of Jewish lawyers, their subsequent accountability and removal from the profession concluded pre-war conflicts of nationality over access to positions and the ability to represent clients. The fate of lawyers of German origin in Łódź is symptomatic of the fate of the entire German middle class in central Poland from the outbreak of war to the final expulsions and displacements from post-war Łódź and the greater region.

Author Biography

Dr Michał Turski, Center for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin

Historian, doctor of humanities, employee of the Center for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin. He defended his doctoral thesis on the German minority and the German National List in Łódź and the Łódź region between 1914 and 1970 at Justus-Liebig University in Gießen and the University of Łódź under a cotutelle agreement. He has received scholarships from the German Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Johan Gottfried Herder Institute in Marburg, among others. His research interests include the German National List and the German minority in Central Poland, biographies and egodocuments of the 20th century, memoirs from post-war memoir competitions (so-called competition memoirs), daily life under German occupation during the Second World War, the history of Łódź and the Łódź region between 1914 and 1949.
Selected publications:
Intimbeziehungen zwischen Deutschen und Polen und die Deutsche Volksliste im besetzten Lodz, “Historie. Jahrbuch des Zentrums für Historische Forschung Berlin der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften” vol. 15 (2022–2023); Vom Gestapo-Übersetzer zum polnischen Agenten. Die wechselvolle Biographie des Willi Zukriegel, w: Unter Beobachtung | Under Surveillance, red. S. Lehr (2022); Niemiecka Lista Narodowa w regionie łódzkim w trakcie II wojny światowej, “Przegląd Zachodni” no. 1 (2021).

Studia nad Totalitaryzmami i Wiekiem XX Tom 7 2023

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Published

2025-09-21

How to Cite

1.
TURSKI, Michał. Lawyers of German Origin in Łódź During the Second World War. Totalitarian and 20th Century Studies. Online. 21 September 2025. Vol. 7, pp. 30-44 (PL), 214-228 (ENG). [Accessed 30 December 2025]. DOI 10.12775/STW.2023.07.02.

Issue

Vol. 7 (2023)

Section

Artykuły

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