Fritz Ermarth is considered one of the most brilliant young constitutional scholars of the Weimar Republic. As a defender of democracy, he was forced by the National Socialists to flee into exile in the United States. There he was initially celebrated by the academic world for his political writing and active engagement, but was later interned as a suspected “enemy alien”. His studies on fascism rank among the most important contemporary analyses of the Nazi regime, while his reflections on Germany’s future role in Europe were groundbreaking at the time. And yet today, Fritz Ermarth has largely faded from memory. He left a lasting mark, however, and his insights remain relevant to the challenges of our own time.  

By Sabine Giehle 

Fritz Ermarth would no doubt have been pleased to know that his home town of Karlsruhe became the “capital of justice” and seat of the Federal Constitutional Court in the young Federal Republic. He was born there in 1909, the illegitimate child of court and state actress Melanie Ermarth. Having been to school in Karlsruhe, he sat in on his first university lectures at the Technical University at the age of 17. Ermarth studied law in Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg, attending courses in Berlin given by constitutional lawyer Hermann Heller – a staunch advocate of the democratic principles of the Weimar Republic. This experience was to shape his political thinking and academic work for life.  

Active against fascism 

In 1930 Ermarth joined the SPD and became actively involved in the student body at Heidelberg University, engaging with fascism not only politically but academically, too. He obtained his doctorate in 1931 with the dissertation Theorie und Praxis des faschistisch-korporativen Staates [The theory and practice of the fascist-corporatist state] at the law faculty in Heidelberg. In it, he analysed the preconditions and intellectual developments that led to the fascist state in Italy.  

To the US with the DAAD 

While still completing his legal traineeship in Karlsruhe, Fritz Ermarth applied to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for a fellowship at a North American university. He received a Holtzer Fellowship at the renowned Harvard University , where he attended seminars and conducted research, also writing wrote his second dissertation, The Pan American Union and Its Legal Character in Municipal and International Law, obtaining a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School in 1933.   It was at Harvard that Ermarth met Carl Joachim Friedrich, who would become a lifelong friend. Friedrich had launched the German–American student exchange programme at Heidelberg’s State and Social Sciences Institute a decade earlier, with the support of the New York-based Institute of International Education (IIE). This initiative gave rise to the Academic Exchange Service (AAD), which would soon become the DAAD.  

Return and exile 

It was Friedrich, too, who helped Ermarth emigrate to the US. Despite warnings, the young lawyer returned to Karlsruhe after his successful research stay in Harvard to continue his legal training. He was dismissed from public service in September 1933: according to the decree issued by the Baden Ministry of the Interior, he could not be relied upon “to fully and unreservedly support the national state”, given his political activity.  

On Friedrich’s recommendation, Ermarth became a research assistant at Harvard’s Department of Government, subsequently holding a series of short-term posts at academic institutions across the US during his period of exile. Continuing to champion democracy in Germany, he co-founded the German Council for Liberty and Federation with fellow exiles, published widely, pursued research into fascism and advocated for a united Europe. 

Anti-constitutional parties – why democracy collapsed in Germany 

While in exile in the US in 1936, Ermarth undertook an analysis of the rise of the Nazis in his home country. In his essay The New Germany: National Socialist Government in Theory and Practice he examined the factors that led to the “disintegration of German democracy.” His analysis still reads as a warning that resonates to this day. 

Three factors marked the breakdown of the Weimar Republic’s democratic structure, according to Ermarth: firstly, the political parties primarily served economic interests; secondly, they failed to form a coalition capable of governing effectively. The third and most serious factor of all was the growing strength of anti-constitutional parties.       

Internment and return  

Ermarth never managed to fully gain a foothold in the United States. He valued American democracy and was grateful for the refuge, but he remained determined to return home as soon as possible. For this reason, he ended his naturalisation process in the summer of 1941,  

his high-profile political activities having already drawn the attention of US authorities. In an increasingly suspicious climate toward nationals of enemy states, his research and public engagement in connection with Germany’s postwar, peace-time role were viewed with growing distrust. As a result, he was placed under observation as a potential subversive. His application for repatriation in April 1945 further heightened his hosts’ suspicions, and his refusal to cease all journalistic and political activity upon returning to Germany ultimately led to his being detained as an “enemy alien” at the Fort Lincoln Alien Internment Camp in North Dakota. 

After a few months at the camp, Ermarth was eventually permitted to leave for Germany, but he was unable to regain a foothold, either professionally or personally. After a brief spell at the US military broadcasting station Radio Stuttgart – first as a political commentator, then as director – he was no longer able to find a way back into academia.  

According to Michael Kubitscheck, in his meticulous study of the “prodigy of Weimar constitutional law”, Ermarth faced a series of setbacks in his private life, having “suffered from severe depression for quite some time”.  

Fritz Ermarth committed suicide on 28 July 1948, at the age of just 38. 

The past as a cautionary reminder – the future as an opportunity 

Throughout his life, Fritz Ermarth believed in democracy and remained steadfast in his commitment to it – despite the severe personal consequences he was forced to bear as a result. His scholarly engagement with the rise of fascist regimes serves as a reminder to remain vigilant, to learn from history, and to actively stand up for a democratic and just society.