Helmut Nicolai — niedoszły założyciel „teorii prawa” ruchu narodowosocjalistycznego w Niemczech

Abstract

The German jurist Helmut Nicolai (1895–1955) was a convinced racist even before 1933 and did not change his attitude after 1945. He believed in the scientific justifiability of racism on the basis of contemporary racial theories. In the early years of Hitler’s dictatorship, Nicolai rose to become a senior official in the National Socialist state administration. He published numerous works attempting to establish a racist “philosophy of law” and “constitutional theory”. However, despite his racist convictions, he fell out of favour with Hitler as early as 1935 because he failed to recognise the dictator’s claim to omnipotence, which could not be limited by any rule of law, “philosophy” or “theory” — even one based on racist principles.