Autor/Autorin
The Bauer Institute in Frankfurt am Main is currently announcing the opening of its exhibition on the „public prosecutor“ Fritz Bauer in Dresden on its Facebook page as follows: „Fritz Bauer made history in the Federal Republic of Germany as the Attorney General in Braunschweig and Hesse, who initiated the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. His life was not unaffected by the upheavals of the 20th century. The exhibition documents his life story in the mirror of historical events. As a Jew and homosexual, Fritz Bauer was not spared marginalisation and persecution. As a social democrat, he nevertheless believed in progress, but then the National Socialists drove him into emigration. As a lawyer and criminal law reformer, he replaced reasons of state at all costs with the protection of the dignity of the individual, especially against state violence – a major step on the path to democracy.“
Fritz Bauer wrote „West German history“, it says, and he was „not unaffected“ by the „upheavals of the 20th century“. After the award-winning mainstream feature film „Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer“, which was advised by the Bauer Institute, it is not surprising that the story of the suffering of a persecuted Nazi regime member and a militant lawyer’s life can now come across as so harmless – he got the Auschwitz trial „off the ground“, which sounds more like a walk in the park. Even if it was certainly not Bauer’s idea of writing „Federal Republican history“, neither voluntarily nor involuntarily, he is being incorporated by hook or by crook into a „Federal Republic success story“ and the national political culture of memory. As if Bauer’s life and work were not courageous, but also sad proof that this Federal Republican „success story“ is only half the truth, i.e. rather a proclamation on thin ice.
But it goes even further. „As a Jew and homosexual“, it says by way of definition, Bauer „was not spared“ marginalisation and persecution. Fritz Bauer, whom the National Socialist racists, anti-Semites and nationalists declared a „Jew“ in the 1920s and 1930s, but who described himself as „faithless“ and was not a member of a religious community, of whom only the Bauer Institute knows that he was homosexual – the only source for this is a file from a Danish immigration police force collaborating with the Nazis, in which the opposite can also be read – is declared a „Jew“ and „homosexual“. „They still can’t leave him alone,“ said the then Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier a year and a half ago.
Are we still not beyond such attributions? Where does such a view come from? As if the Nazis had spared even one person who was not part of their „national community“. Their racism is being ignored and new racism is being played up for the dance instead. Or is this old-new definition supposed to imply that the Nazis spared the Social Democrat Bauer while imprisoning the Jew Bauer in a concentration camp? What kind of history would that be?
Fritz Bauer was imprisoned in a concentration camp in 1933 immediately after the so-called seizure of power because, as a Social Democrat, he had fought against the Nazis from the very beginning. The Institute distances itself from this fact: „as a Social Democrat“, Fritz Bauer, who is once again declared to be „the Jew“, is said to have been a „believer“, even „nevertheless“ – i.e. despite being a „Jew“ and a „homosexual“? – believed in progress. A complete misjudgement of the life story and the legal work of the namesake of the Frankfurt Holocaust Research Institute.
As if to crown his chosen anti-hero, it is also declared that for Fritz Bauer, „the protection of the dignity of the individual has taken the place of reason of state at all costs“ and this is described as a „great step on the road to democracy“. What kind of (fighting) morality is behind this, such as everyone against everyone? Fritz Bauer was far removed from the idea of „at any price“ and why bother with „reasons of state“ here? The jurist emphasised that the rights of the individual must not be subordinated to the arbitrariness of a state power that declares injustice to be right – something completely different. His point was that it is necessary to say „No!“ when people’s dignity is violated, be it one’s own or that of others. In this case, it is the dignity of Attorney General Dr Fritz Bauer that must be defended.