Notare in der nationalsozialistischen "Volksgemeinschaft"

In a combined approach of contemporary history and history of law this study examines how German civil law notaries exercised their profession under the Nazi regime which praised the concept of a “national community” in its propaganda. The two authors show which expectations of the regime the notaries were confronted with and, based on statistic evaluations, to which extent the regime’s pressure transformed the understanding of the civil law notary’s profession in Nazi Germany and made notaries comply with the new requirements in their daily work. In this context, especially the role of notaries in the “aryanization” proceedings where German Jews were deprived of their property is taken into account. The study was carried out in the court districts of Dortmund, Hagen and Münster-Land.