The European Journal of International Law Vol. 25 no. 1 © The Author, 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of EJIL Ltd. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email:
[email protected] An International Lawyer in Democracy and Dictatorship – Downloaded from Re-Introducing Herbert Kraus Heiko Meiertöns* http://ejil.oxfordjournals.org/ Abstract Herbert Kraus (1884–1965) is among the forgotten international lawyers of the 20th century. Kraus took part in a number of developments of great importance for the shap- ing of modern international law: he participated in the drafting process of the Versailles at Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Columbia University on June 27, 2014 Peace Treaty and the Treaty on the European Coal and Steel Community and acted as defence counsel at Nuremberg. The founding director of the Institute for International Law at the University of Göttingen was forced to retire between 1937 and 1945 due to his criticism of National Socialism. The post-war perception of his work was coined by his forced retire- ment. However, his work between 1933 and 1937 sheds light on the dilemma of choosing between opposition and adjustment that Kraus was faced with during that period. This article re-introduces Kraus – a complex German character of international law – and the main fea- tures of his work. 1 Introduction The phrase ‘history is written by those who have hanged heroes’ opens a largely fic- tional dramatization of the life of the 13th century Scottish warrior William Wallace.1 These words encapsulate the dilemma one faces when analysing the history of political conflicts.