Max Hamburger (May 31, 1897 – February 3, 1970) was a German lawyer and legal scholar. He was the author of a definitive handbook of the German law on good will and fair dealing, ''Treu and Glauben in Verkehr''. Born in

Kitzingen Kitzingen () is a town in the German state of Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Hamburger studied at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one of ...

and

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

from 1918 to 1921, after having served as an officer in the German artillery during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. This service and a war medal saved the young Jewish lawyer's life in 1939, when he was released from the Dachau concentration camp and permitted to emigrate to England. While in London, he researched ancient and legal philosophy. He moved to New York in 1948 to lecture at the New School for Social Research. He also lectured at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, retiring in 1967 and dying in 1970. In addition to ''Treu und Glauben'', his published books include ''Deflation und Rechtsordnung'', ''The Awakening of Western Legal Thought'' and articles in scholarly journals. An Aristotelian scholar, he also authored ''Morals and Law; The Growth of Aristotle's Legal Theory''. A contributor to the German

Wiedergutmachung The German word ''Wiedergutmachung'' after World War II refers to the reparations that the German government agreed to pay in 1953 to the direct survivors of the Holocaust, and to those who were made to work at forced labour camps or who othe ...

law, his papers are at the

Leo Baeck Institute The Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955, is an international research institute with centres in New York City, London, and Jerusalem that are devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. Baeck was its first intern ...

Archives, New York City.

Sources

* ''Contemporary Authors'', Gale, p. 199 * ''New York Times'' obituary, February 4, 1970

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamburger, Max 1897 births 1970 deaths People from Kitzingen German Jewish military personnel of World War I Jewish philosophers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom