The Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law dates back to the “Seminar for Foreign and International Criminal Law” at the University of Freiburg. In 1938, Prof. Dr. Adolf Schönke, at that time a professor of criminal law in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Freiburg, applied for seminar status; the request was granted on 31 October of that year by the Ministry of Culture and Education of Baden. The suggestion made by the Ministry of Justice of the Reich to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society – which later became the Max Planck Society – that an institute for criminal law be founded in addition to the Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and the Institute for Comparative and International Private Law could not be realized due to the outbreak of the war. Thus, in its first years – which were also war years – the seminar had to content itself with a modest framework. Nevertheless, Adolf Schönke succeeded in enlarging the seminar library from 1,200 volumes to 5,000 volumes by the end of the war.
The seminar was renamed the “Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law” in 1947. Both the Ministry of Culture and the University of Freiburg wished to honor the progressive expansion of the library, the growth in relationships to foreign institutions and scholars, and the increasing degree of academic prowess at the young institution that had never, even during wartime, lost sight of its goals of engaging in peaceful international collaboration.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Jescheck
Following the early death of Adolf Schönke in 1953, Dr. Hans-Heinrich Jescheck, Privatdozent and Ministerialrat of the Federal Ministry of Justice, was appointed as his successor on 1 April 1954. In the same year, the institute became a foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Land Baden-Wurttemberg, and the University of Freiburg. This step, prepared by Adolf Schönke before his death, received lasting support from Dr. Walter Strauss, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice. After the foundation instrument was signed on 14 June 1954, it was possible to increase the number of academic staff from one to seven assistants. Several student assistants as well as research fellows and other collaborators also came to the Institute.
In 1966, the institute became part of the Max Planck Society. This step was advocated especially by then-president of the Society, Prof. Dr. Adolf Butenandt, and by State Secretary Dr. Strauss. The head of the university institute, Prof. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Jescheck, was appointed as Scientific Member and director of the new Max Planck Institute. Prof. Dr. Thomas Würtenberger, then-head of the University Institute for Criminology and Correctional Sciences in Freiburg, and later Prof. Dr. Theo Vogler of Giessen were appointed as external Scientific Members.
In 1970, the Max Planck Society approved the creation of a criminology research group within the Institute in order to anchor the necessary empirical research in the field of criminal law science at the Institute and to integrate it with comparative law. Privatdozent Dr. Günther Kaiser of the Institute for Criminology at the University of Tübingen was appointed head of the new research group. In 1973, he was appointed director of the Institute alongside Hans-Heinrich Jescheck. In 1971, he became an honorary professor at the University of Freiburg and in 1982 he accepted a professorship at the University of Zurich as well.
Der Neubau des Institutsgebäudes entsteht.
The distinctive building in which the Institute is still housed today opened its doors in 1978. The building, with four stories and a basement, abuts a hillside. In addition to rooms for administration, library, IT, publishing, building utilities, and of course research, the building also contains several seminar rooms, a lecture hall, cafeteria, and extensive archive areas. In addition, there are two large reading rooms with 40 seats for guests, fellowship holders, and doctoral students. Finally, a periodical room with current issues of approximately 1,850 domestic and foreign periodicals is available to all who use the Institute. In 2008 another building, located nearby on Fürstenbergstraße, was inaugurated. The building features office space for administrative staff, lecture and conference rooms, as well as accommodations for guests of the Institute.
In 1982, Prof. Dr. Albin Eser, M.C.J., was appointed successor to Prof. Dr. Jescheck at the University of Freiburg as well as Scientific Member and director of the Institute. Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Albrecht was appointed by the Max Planck Society as Prof. Dr. Günther Kaiser’s successor in 1995. He has been an honorary professor at the University of Freiburg since 1997. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieber succeeded his predecessor Prof. Dr. Eser as head of the Department of Criminal Law and director of the Institute in 2003. He has been an honorary professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and at the University of Freiburg since 2004.
The Institute is now cooperatively led by Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Albrecht (Department of Criminology) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieber (Department of Criminal Law).