Berufsverbot

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Berufsverbot is an order of "professional disqualification" under German law.

A Berufsverbot disqualifies the recipient from engaging in certain professions or activities on the grounds of his or her criminal record or membership in a particular group.

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[edit] The Berufsverbot in Nazi Germany

Pursuant to a 1933 law (the Berufsbeamtengesetz), many Jews, artists and political opponents were prohibited by the Nazi government in Germany from engaging in certain professions.

[edit] Post-World War II Berufsverbot

After 1945, the allied authorities in West Germany issued Berufsverbot orders against certain political filmmakers.

[edit] The 1972 Anti-Radical Decree

Berufsverbot is the common name for the Anti-Radical Decree (Radikalenerlass), instituted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and the premiers of the states on January 28, 1972. Under this law, people with radical views could be forbidden to work as civil servants (Beamten) and in other public sector occupations such as teaching. The decree was a response to radical terrorism by the Red Army Faction.

The law was applied unevenly after 1979, and many of the Länder repealed the relevant legislation.

[edit] Treatment under EU law

In at least one case (Vogt v. Germany (1), 1995) the European Court of Human Rights found Germany in breach of its responsibilities to a citizen (Dorothea Vogt, a dismissed teacher who was an active member of the German Communist Party) under article 10 (right to freedom of expression) and 11 (right to freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The government subsequently settled with her, providing compensation for her time without full earnings, topping up her pension rights for that period, as well as other modest damages and costs.

[edit] References

  • Bulletin of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany no. 15 of 3 February 1972, p. 142
  • Vogt v. Germany (1), European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber in Strasbourg, main judgement delivered 2 September 1995. Case number 7/1994/454/535. Application number 17851/91.

[edit] External links

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