Gotthold Bohne (25 July 1890 - 28 August 1957) was a German

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

professor.

Life

Gotthold Hermann Bohne was born in

Burgstädt Burgstädt () is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 12 km northwest of Chemnitz. Sons and daughters of the city * Erich Gleixner (1920-1962), footballer * Peter Jahr Peter Jahr (born 24 April ...

near

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. He studied at the universities of

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

und

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

a palette of subjects covering

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

. His academic progress was interrupted by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

during which he undertook military service. After the war ended he received his doctorate in

from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

in 1920. His

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in criminal justice, from the same institution. followed just a year later, clearing the way for an academic career. In 1922 he was working as a probationary judge (''"Gerichtsassessor"'') before accepting an invitation to transfer to the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

in 1923 where he was given a professorship and directorship of the new Institute for Criminal Sciences. Plans existed for the institute to be expanded to take on all the Criminal Sciences Research in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

region, and to combine its expanded research role with operation as a police academy. Those expansion plans were thwarted by financial constraints, however. His early published work covered criminal justice in the Italian city states during the later medieval period. He then turned to the relationship between criminal justice and

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

. A laboratory was set up and the institute to accommodate what became a major research project. During the winter semester 1926/27 and again during 1934/35 he served as dean of the Jurisprudence Faculty.

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

and the

Nazi dictatorship Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

ended in May 1945 with what remained of Germany divided into four occupation zones.

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

was in the British zone. The military authorities appointed Bohne to a three-man constitutional commission relating to the university. The other commission members were

Ottmar Bühler Ottmar Bühler (12 August 1884 – 27 May 1965) was a German Law professor specialising in tax law. Life Ottmar Bühler was born in Zürich. His father was a professor of Forestry at Tübingen. Despite his being born in Switzerland, Bühler' ...

and Hans Carl Nipperday. Following the commission recommendations, the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

statutes from 27 May 1919 were now restored. Between 1949 and 1951 Gotthold Bohne served as

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Rector at

in succession to

Josef Kroll Josef Kroll (8 November 1889 – 8 March 1980) was a German classical philologist and university rector. Biography Josef Kroll was born into a catholic family in Arnsberg, a regional centre in the largely rural Hochsauerland region between Cologn ...

. He was elected president of the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

based "Centre international d'études sur la fausse monnaie", also becoming vice-president of the Cologne-based German Photography Society. The focus of his work continued to be on criminalistics and criminology, taking an increasingly inter-disciplinary approach that combined ideas from jurisprudence, philosophy, psychology, historiography, sociology and natural sciences. He concerned himself, too, with hereditary aspects. His private interests included music, poetry and visual arts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohne, Gotthold People from Burgstädt People from Chemnitz Jurists from Saxony 20th-century German jurists Academic staff of the University of Cologne Rectors of the University of Cologne 1890 births 1957 deaths