Fritz Bauer 1903-1968

“An upright jurist, a biographer with flair.”

Prof Dr Jutta Limbach, former President of the Federal Constitutional Court, former President of the Goethe Institute

“In 2009, an excellent 638-page biography by Irmtrud Wojak (“Fritz Bauer 1903-1968”) was published, followed a year later by the award-winning film “Death in Instalments” by Ilona Ziok. Ziok had spent seven years researching the person of Fritz Bauer and Wojak ten years working on her habilitation thesis. It was also Wojak who curated the Fritz Bauer Institute’s magnificent exhibition on the Auschwitz trial, which was shown in Frankfurt/Main, Hanover, Berlin and Munich from 2004 onwards and was then unfortunately disposed of. Both Wojak and Ziok are in possession of extensive material of great historical value about Fritz Bauer.”

Prof Dr Erardo C. Rautenberg, Attorney General of the State of Brandenburg

“On 30 June 1968, Bauer was found lifeless in his flat. The exact circumstances of his death remain unknown. The fact that the city of Frankfurt has still not honoured its long-serving Attorney General with an award should be recommended to the Social Democratic Lord Mayor as an urgent official act. Bauer is one of the great personalities in German history. Social democracy can be proud of him and his work.”

Anton Maegerle, Vorwärts.de

“Finally, a biography of Fritz Bauer, the jurist who contrer en RFA la protection tacite des crimals nazis. We have never heard with any certainty how the general prosecutor Fritz Bauer died. Whatever the cause of his death, it is certain that on 30 June 1968, aged just 65, he died too young. The lute that he had to carry out to force all the resistances, to oblige all the most hostile authorities to stand up for justice, forcibly mined his body. Fritz Bauer was an exemplary home, and of admirable civic courage.”

Jean Luc Bellanger, Mémoire, no. 849, Janvier 2011, p. 9f.

“Irmtrud Wojak now closes this gap in an impressive way with the first biography of the great prosecutor Fritz Bauer. (…) The vivid description of the life of this exile from Germany – the insight into the quarrels, jealousies and the daily struggle for survival of the politically active exiles – alone makes this book worth reading. (…) Wojak paints an oppressive picture of the post-war atmosphere. (…) Wojak’s well-researched and brilliantly written biography is more than just the life story of a single man – it is the biography of an era after the catastrophe.”

Jürgen Zimmerer, Literature

“Now he has finally received the biographical appraisal that was long overdue. (…) Anyone unfamiliar with the biographies of Willy Brandt or Herbert Wehner, for example, will learn many new and surprising things about emigration in Scandinavia and the left-wing opposition to Hitler. (…) Irmtrud Wojak’s commendable book will hopefully help to ensure that Germany no longer remains a hostile foreign country for Fritz Bauer.”

Hans-Martin Lohmann, Die Zeit

“In her biography, Irmtrud Wojak makes clear just how much commitment, influence and disappointment is hidden behind such dates: Fritz Bauer 1903 – 1968 is a long overdue tribute to the Swabian humanist, radical enlightener and political jurist. (…) Its core: the reconstruction of a democratic legal system in Germany, accompanied by the enlightenment and self-enlightenment of society. (…) After reading this biography, however, we know that the sixtieth anniversary of our democracy, which thrives not least on the critical examination of the past, is also thanks to him.”

Carsten Hueck, Deutschlandradio Kultur

With empathy and knowledge, she describes the story of a man who made the realisation of human rights and education about the past his life’s work. (…) In her biography of Fritz Bauer, she not only succeeds in honouring his life’s work and creating an impressive portrait. She also gives her readers a deep insight into the history of National Socialism and how it was dealt with. The fact that she simultaneously makes the atmosphere of the West German economic miracle society and the defensive attitude of the Adenauer era tangible is what makes her study so multi-layered. A brilliant and outstanding biography that we hope many readers will enjoy.”

Marlis Jos, SWR 2

“But what Bauer’s biographer Irmtrud Wojak wrote about the most spectacular of his trials applies to all of them: ‘The significance of the Auschwitz trial lay and lies first and foremost in the fact that it came about at all’.”

Hannes Schwenger, Der Tagesspiegel

“Now you can read an excellent biography of Bauer’s contribution to saving the honour of the less glorious German judiciary. The author is a proven expert: Irmtrud Wojak, 45, a historian who has made a name for herself with her in-depth research into the Nazi era and was recently appointed founding director of the Nazi Documentation Centre in Munich.”

Rolf Lamprecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung

“More than forty years after his death, Fritz Bauer is finally being properly honoured. Last year, Irmtrud Wojak’s thorough biography was published by C. H. Beck Verlag.”

Eckhard Fuhr, Die Welt