Pre-death legacy Heinz Düx

Heinz Düx transferred documents of his professional and personal life one by one to the Fritz Bauer Institute in the late 2000s. Heinz Düx was born in Marburg on April 24, 1924. After his Abitur, he studied law at the Philipps University in Marburg from 1942 to 1948. His studies were intermitted in 1944 and 1945 when he was obligated to work for the railway yard Marburg and when he stayed at the Vogelsberg to avoid being drafted into the Volkssturm. After the end of the war, Düx joined the KPD and was a member of the denazification committee of the Marburg University's law faculty. In 1946 and 1950, he passed his first and second state examinations. In 1948, he earned his doctorate with a work on the free labor movement. At the beginning of 1951, Düx initially worked as an assistant judge and in March, he was delegated to the Hessian Justice Department. As soon as May 1951, he requested his dismissal from the civil service. He then worked as a trainee lawyer and later as a lawyer at the Landgericht Frankfurt (Main). In 1961, he became the investigating judge for political criminal cases. He was particularly occupied with the Auschwitz and euthanasia trials. Düx conducted the pre-trial investigations for the later first Frankfurt Auschwitz trial. In 1966, he became a presiding judge at the Landgericht Frankfurt and in 1967 the Judicial Superior Council (Gerichtsrat) at the Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt. He was especially occupied with restitution and compensation cases. Outside his job, Düx engaged in politics and acted as a publicist. He temporarily was a member of the SPD, the Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr (ÖTV) (Union Civil Service, Transport, and Traffic), and the Vereinigung demokratischer Juristen (VdJ) (Association of Democratic Jurists). Furthermore, he was a presidium member of the Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes — Bund der Antifaschisten (VVN/BdA) (Association of the Victims of Nazi Persecution — Anti-Fascist Alliance) and was associated with the Fédération Internationale des Résistants (FIR). Düx gave lectures at numerous events and published several articles over the years, especially in the antifascist weekly "die tat". Additionally, Düx co-founded, co-edited, and wrote for the quarterly "Demokratie und Recht". He advocated democracy, antifascism, and the cause of all victims of Nazi persecution. In his articles and also as an expert witness for the Bundestag's committee for legal and home affairs, he repeatedly claimed appropriate compensation for victims of Nazi persecution. This commitment aroused opposition. The CDU addressed his participation in the international hearing "Berufsverbote in der BRD", his membership in the VVN's presidium, and the VdJ's board at a debate of the Hessian Landtag in 1975. In 1982, they unsuccessfully tried to open disciplinary proceedings against Düx. Düx passed away on February 3, 2017. The pre-death legacy Heinz Düx covers after description, demetallization, and filing 34 archival units with a total extent of 3.15 running meters. Since the record group did not have an inner structure upon the acquisition the processor Inga Steinhauser completely reorganized the holding during indexing from August to November 2022. It follows the "rules for the description of personal papers and autographs" (RNA, Regeln zur Erschließung von Nachlässen und Autographen). The archives group is now structured in three sections: "opus" ("Werk"), "personal documents" ("Lebensdokumente"), and "collections" ("Sammlungen"). The section "opus" ("Werk") contains speech manuscripts and a theater play written by Düx. The section "personal documents" ("Lebensdokumente") covers diverse magazines and newspaper clippings, articles by and about Düx, announcements of events in which Düx participated, records and information material as well as Düx's correspondence. The section "collections" ("Sammlungen") consists of various legal journals and law gazettes.