Abstract
Hans Kelsen’s 1969 biography, written by his former assistant Rudolph Aladár Métall, does not begin - as perhaps expected in the genre - by describing Kelsen’s immediate family or early childhood. Rather, Métall takes us many centuries back, to an age when Roman Legionaries defended the borders of the empire, between Germany and Luxemburg. For supplies, the Romans relied on Jewish sutlers, who eventually settled in the area. A small village - “Kelsen über Saarburg” - was one of these settlements. In the eighteenth century, when Austrian Jews were given German surnames, many took the names of their places of origin. In this manner, Métall tells us, the surname “Kelsen” came to be. Hans Kelsen, thus, is not a foreigner: he is of firm Habsburgian-German roots.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Law of Strangers |
Subtitle of host publication | Jewish Lawyers and International Law in the Twentieth Century |
Editors | James Leoffler, Moria Paz |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 51-81 |
Number of pages | 31 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 1316492826, 9781316492826 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781107140417, 1107140412, 1316506029, 9781316506028 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Jan 2019 |
RAMBI Publications
- rambi
- International law
- Jewish lawyers -- Austria -- Biography
- Jews -- Cultural assimilation
- Jews -- Identity
- Kelsen, Hans -- 1881-1973
- Law (Philosophical concept)