Paul Eltzbacher (18 February 1868 – 25 October 1928) was a Jewish German law professor. Eltzbacher was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. From 1890 to 1895, he was a junior

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

for the regional court districts of Cologne and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, with a year off in 1891–1892 for military service. By 1899, he had attained his doctorate and set about writing a treatise upon the subject of

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

, for which he was made a professor in 1906. After this point, he limited his opinions to the area of civil rights with respect to commercial law. However, it is for his earlier writings upon the subject of anarchism that he is known today. After World War I, Eltzbacher was an adherent to Bolshevism. He suggested in his work ''Der Bolschewismus und die deutsche Zukunft'' (1919) that Germany's interests would be best served by adopting a Bolshevik regime. As a member of the Reichstag, Eltzbacher argued in April 1919 for complete

state ownership State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownershi ...

without compensation. The ''Deutsche Tageszeitung'' newspaper dubbed Eltzbacher's new theory as " National Bolshevism". Eltzbacher was a brother of the author J. Ellis Barker, who emigrated to Britain and gained fame and influence as one of the most active haters of his German homeland. He died in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, aged 60.

Books

* ''The Great Anarchists: Ideas and Teachings of Seven Major Thinkers'', . * ''

Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

'', . * ''Anarkhizm'', (German) .

External links

* * 1868 births 1928 deaths Jurists from Cologne German fascists 19th-century German Jews German communists Jewish fascists National Bolsheviks {{Germany-law-bio-stub