Wolf, Erik

Lawyer, philosopher of law

Born: 13.05.1902 in Biebrich

died: 13.10.1977 in Oberrottweil (town of Vogtsburg im Kaiserstuhl)

Wolf studied economics and law in Frankfurt am Main and Jena and received his doctorate from the University of Jena in 1924. He became a research assistant in Heidelberg in 1925, habilitated in 1927 and then taught as a private lecturer. In 1928-30 he was appointed full professor at the University of Rostock. In 1930, he was appointed full professor of criminal law at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. From 1946, he taught there as Professor of Philosophy of Law and Protestant Canon Law until his retirement in 1968.

Although Wolf was a member of the NSDAP, he is said to have soon become a "staunch opponent". In 1936, he became a member of the Confessing Church. During the Second World War, he worked on the Nazi project "Kriegseinsatz der Geisteswissenschaften" (War Effort of the Humanities). After the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, he was interrogated by the Freiburg Gestapo.

From 1946-48, he chaired the Constitutional Committee of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD). As a delegate, he took part in the World Church Conference in Amsterdam in 1948. In 1950, the Protestant Theological Faculty of the University of Heidelberg honored him with an honorary doctorate; in 1977, he received an honorary doctorate in law from the University of Athens.