The influence of National Socialism on Marriage and Divorce Law in Germany and the Netherlands

Dissertation

In National Socialist Family Law, Mariken Lenaerts analyses the possible influence of National Socialism on marriage and divorce law in Germany and the Netherlands. As the family was regarded the germ cell of the nation, the Nazis made many changes in German and Dutch marriage and divorce law to suit their purpose of a thousand-year Aryan Reich. By making extensive use of archival resources, Mariken Lenaerts gives an overview of the most important changes adopted in marriage and divorce law by the Nazis and proves that although daily marital life in both countries was highly influenced by National Socialism, marriage and divorce law did not become National Socialist.

The dissertation was publicly defended on 8 November 2012.

In October 2013, the dissertation was awarded the ‘Prix Fondation Auschwitz – Jacques Rozenberg’.

The book was published by Brill Nijhoff, in the series Legal History Library – Studies in the History of Private Law in 2015.

Publications

Within this project I published several articles, that dealt with sub questions from my research in a more isolated context:

• M.F. Lenaerts, ‘De voorstellen tot herziening van het Nederlandse echtscheidingsrecht tijdens de Duitse bezetting’, Familie en Recht 2013, https://doi.org/10.5553/FenR/.000012
• M.F. Lenaerts, ‘To be or not to be… that is the question: De toepassing van de Neurenberger Rassenwetgeving in Nederland tussen 1935 en 1940’, in O. Vonk et al. (eds.), Grootboek: Opstellen aangeboden aan Prof.mr. Gerard-René de Groot ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid als hoogleraar rechtsvergelijking en internationaal privaatrecht aan de Universiteit Maastricht, (Wolters Kluwer, 2016), pp. 271-281
• M.F. Lenaerts, ‘The influence of National Socialism on divorce law in Austria and the Netherlands’, 8 Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 1 (2018), pp. 102-134, https://doi.org/10.1553/BRGOE2018-1s102
• M.F. Lenaerts, ‘“Erst kommt das Fressen, dann komt die Moral”? De academicus als moreel kompas en de waarde van rechtshistorisch onderzoek’, in B. Van Hofstraeten et al. (eds.), Ten definitieven recht doende… LouIs BERkvens AMICORUM: Opstellen aangeboden aan prof. dr. A.M.J.A. Berkvens, bijzonder hoogleraar rechtsgeschiedenis der Limburgse territoria (UM), ter gelegenheid van zijn emeritaat, Vol 25, (LGOG, 2018), pp. 172-183