Sebastian Gehrig – författare

Of all the dramatic ruptures occasioned by the division of East and West Germany, one of the most consequential was in the realm of law, as two nations scrambled to put the Nazi past behind them and forge new legal regimes. Legal Entanglements gives a comprehensive account of this often-overlooked chapter in postwar history, showing how the GDR and FRG established mutually incompatible legal frameworks that premised each state as the sole legitimate successor to the German Reich. Drawing on wide-ranging archival research and recently declassified documents, it follows the politicians, intellectuals, and other historical actors who helped their nations to navigate volatile legal circumstances.

During the division of Germany, law became the object of ideological conflicts and the means by which the two national governments conducted their battle over political legitimacy. Legal Entanglements explores how these dynamics produced competing concepts of statehood and sovereignty, all centered on citizens and their rights. Drawing on wide-ranging archival sources, including recently declassified documents, Sebastian Gehrig traces how politicians, diplomats, judges, lawyers, activists and intellectuals navigated the struggle between legal ideologies under the pressures of the Cold War and decolonization. As he shows, in their response to global debates over international law and human rights, their work kept the legal cultures of both German states entangled until 1989.