The “Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht” (now going by the slightly less clunky international title “Heidelberg Journal of International Law”) is, according to its (English) Wikipedia page, regarded as “one of the world’s leading” journals in public international law. It has been going since 1929 and has, as can been seen on its archive-page, quite a history of its own. It was published more or less continuously until 1944 (even if the 1944 volume is somewhat rudimentary), and when it resumed publication again in 1950, it was still publishing – more or less – the same authors. Carl Bilfinger, a rather straightforward Nazi not afraid of foraying into anti-semitism, had become the director of the publisher of the journal (the Max Planck-Institute), and could look back on such scholarly achievements like an article blaming Great Britain and France for “attacking” Germany as World War II got underway. Yet the journal’s history is remarkable for other reasons, too – for example, Norman Bentwich was able to publish articles in 1933 and 1934, though by 1934, he was no longer identified as “Professor of the International Law of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem”. The 1950 volume also included an obituary for Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, executed for his involvement in the July 20, 1944-attempt on Hitler’s life and a former co-editor of the journal. Germany’s history in international law and the history of international law in Germany – two fascinating subjects. In any case, the latest incarnation of the journal has published a review of my book, and its Twitter-account even tweeted about it. They’ll hopefully forgive me for using their photo of an old volume of the ZaöRV.
