Heinz Nawratil
Encyclopedia
Heinz Nawratil is a German
lawyer, legal author and human rights activist.
After World War II Nawratil settled in Bavaria
, West Germany
, where he grew up in Miesbach
. He studied law, earned a doctorate and worked as a civil law notary
. He has written legal textbooks which have been printed in over a million copies. He is also known for his work on the expulsion of Germans after World War II
.
In a 2009 article, German historian Ingo Haar
claims that Nawratil distorted evidence in his 1982 study on German victims of the flight and expulsion in 1945/6. German historian Martin Broszat
(former head of Institute of Contemporary History
in Munich) has described Nawratil's works as "polemics written from a nationalist-rightist point of view" that "exaggerate in absurd way the scale of any crimes that accompanied the expulsion of Germans."
Nawratil´s Schwarzbuch der Vertreibung (Blackbook on Expulsion) received a positive review by Erika Steinbach
in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
in 1999.
In 2007 Nawratil was member of a delegation of the Society for Threatened Peoples
visiting Iraqi Kurdistan
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
lawyer, legal author and human rights activist.
After World War II Nawratil settled in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, where he grew up in Miesbach
Miesbach
Miesbach is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and is the capital of the Miesbach district. The district is at an altitude of 697 metres above sea level. It covers an area of approximately 863.50 km² of alpine headlands and in 2004 had a population of 93,942. The town is located 48 km southeast...
. He studied law, earned a doctorate and worked as a civil law notary
Civil law notary
Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State...
. He has written legal textbooks which have been printed in over a million copies. He is also known for his work on the expulsion of Germans after World War II
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
.
In a 2009 article, German historian Ingo Haar
Ingo Haar
Ingo Haar is a German historian. He received his Master of Arts from the University of Hamburg in 1993 and his PhD in History in 1998 at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg...
claims that Nawratil distorted evidence in his 1982 study on German victims of the flight and expulsion in 1945/6. German historian Martin Broszat
Martin Broszat
Martin Broszat was a German historian specializing in modern German social history whose work has been described by The Encyclopedia of Historians as indispensable for any serious study of the Third Reich. Broszat was born in Leipzig, Germany and studied history at the University of Leipzig and...
(former head of Institute of Contemporary History
Institut für Zeitgeschichte
The Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich was conceived in 1947 under the name Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit...
in Munich) has described Nawratil's works as "polemics written from a nationalist-rightist point of view" that "exaggerate in absurd way the scale of any crimes that accompanied the expulsion of Germans."
Nawratil´s Schwarzbuch der Vertreibung (Blackbook on Expulsion) received a positive review by Erika Steinbach
Erika Steinbach
' is a German conservative politician and president of the Federation of Expellees. She has been representing the Christian Democratic Union and the state of Hesse as a member of the Parliament of Germany, the Bundestag, since 1990...
in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
in 1999.
In 2007 Nawratil was member of a delegation of the Society for Threatened Peoples
Society for Threatened Peoples
Society for Threatened Peoples is an international NGO and human rights organization based in Göttingen, Germany. It seeks to create awareness of and protect minority peoples around the world who are threatened by oppressive governments. The group states on its website that it "campaigns against...
visiting Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
.
Selected publications
- BGB leicht gemacht, Ewald von Kleist-Verlag, 30th edition, 2008, ISBN 387440210X
- Der Kult mit der Schuld. Geschichte im Unterbewusstsein, Universitas Verlag, 3rd edition, 2006, ISBN 3800414392
- Die deutschen Nachkriegsverluste unter Vertriebenen, Gefangenen und Verschleppten, Ullstein, 1986, ISBN 3548330665, Neuauflage Ares-Verlag, Graz 2008, ISBN 978-3-902475-49-7
- Die Vertreibung der Deutschen : unbewältigte Vergangenheit Europas, Bund der Vertriebenen, 1991, ISBN 3-925103-47-3
- HGB leicht gemacht, Ewald von Kleist-Verlag, 21st edition, 2007, ISBN 3874402061
- Schwarzbuch der Vertreibung 1945 bis 1948. Das letzte Kapitel unbewältigter Vergangenheit, Universitas Verlag, 14. Auflage 2007, ISBN 3800413876
- Vertreibungsverbrechen an Deutschen. Tatbestand, Motive, Bewältigung, Ullstein, 5. Auflage 1987, ISBN 3548330843