Großraum: Theoretical justification of the Nazi conquests or a new international legal order?

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to determine whether the Großraum in fact justifies the Nazi conquests, or whether it may also be legitimate to claim that it is a vision of a new international legal order drawn up by a lawyer closely scrutinizing the surrounding political reality. An attempt to answer this question should be preceded by thorough considerations quoting the jurist’s attitude to the development and the hitherto nature of public international law. In this respect, it is crucial to analyze the breakdown of the ius publicum Europaeum, refer to the essence and purpose of the American Monroe doctrine, as well as thoroughly examine the concept of Großraum, which presents the researcher with a difficult task requiring its verification both politically and legally. The presented analysis will therefore take into account the historical, political, and legal levels and will implement the belief in the comprehensive nature of the issue under study. The final part of the article will include an analysis of the consequences of Großraum doctrine that led to the internment of Schmitt and the trial where the most important is his interrogation by Robert M.W. Kempner. All these issues will bring us closer to establishing the true meaning of the “Great Space” theory and shed new light on research devoted to Schmitt, dubiously described as the “crown jurist of the Third Reich”.