Max Hirschberg (November 13, 1883 – June 21, 1964) was a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

Weimar era The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is als ...

anti-Nazi Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

criminal defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ju ...

and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. Hirschberg confronted in court directly

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

; he was imprisoned, but released because of his conduct during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and allowed to practice law even after the 1933 election. In 1934, he emigrated from Germany to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and later to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Hirschberg wrote mainly about

miscarriages of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

. He was also a friend of . In recognition of Hirschberg's work on behalf of innocent persons wrongly convicted of crimes, in 2007 he was named as one of the inaugural members of the Wrongful Conviction Hall of Honor established by ''

Justice Denied ''Justice Denied'' is the only regularly published print magazine in the world solely devoted to issues related to wrongful convictions. The magazine prints stories about wrongful convictions, miscarriages of justice, and criminal justice issues r ...

''. The article about Hirschberg was titled "Max Hirschberg: One Of The World's Great Wrongful Conviction Lawyers."

Bibliography

by himself

*(1998) ''Jude und Demokrat: Erinnerungen eines Münchener Rechtsanwalts, 1883 bis 1939 (Biographische Quellen zur Zeitgeschichte)'' (Publisher:) R. Oldenbourg. *(1941
"Pathology of Criminal Justice. Innocent Convicted in Three Murder Cases"

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology The ''Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology'' ("JCLC") is a peer-reviewed, student-run academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is ...

(1931-1951), Vol.31, No.5 (Jan. - Feb., 1941), pp. 536–550. *(1940-1941
"Wrongful Convictions"
13 Rocky Mountain Law Review, 1940-1941, pp. 20–46. *(1940) "Convicting the Innocent". 13 Rocky Mountain Law Review 20, December 1940. ("Cites 26 cases of wrongful conviction, 2 in the United States and 24 in Europe, primarily in Germany."

by Hans Sherrer, 2000))

by others

* Douglas G. Morris. ''Justice Imperiled: The Anti-Nazi Lawyer Max Hirschberg in Weimar Germany (Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany)''.

University of Michigan Press The University of Michigan Press is part of Michigan Publishing at the University of Michigan Library. It publishes 170 new titles each year in the humanities and social sciences. Titles from the press have earned numerous awards, including ...

, 2005.
book review
by Timothy McAllister) * "Max Hirschberg: One Of The World's Great Wrongful Conviction Lawyers," ''Justice Denied''
Issue 35, Winter 2007
pp. 27–28, 33.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschberg, Max 1883 births 1964 deaths Jewish scholars Jewish American scientists Wrongful conviction advocacy