Boris Meissner

Boris Meissner (August 10, 1915 Pskov - September 10, 2003 Cologne) was a Baltic German lawyer (international law specialist), well-known for his research on Eastern European history and politics.

Meissner was born into family of a Baltic German judge and spent his childhood in Pärnu, Estonia. Meissner studied at Tartu University (graduating with a diploma in economics, 1935). He worked as a bank official in independent Estonia and in 1939 followed the so-called "Umsiedlung". Meissner worked in Poznań, Poland, which was then held by Germany - first as an assistant at the Posen University, then in Wrocław. He also served in the German Army.

In 1946, he arrived at the University of Hamburg, where he concentrated on international law and so-called "Ostrecht" (Eastern European law). From 1947 to 1953 he worked at the "Forschungsstelle für Völkerrecht und ausländisches öffentliches Recht". From 1953 to 1959 Meissner served at the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Speaking many languages, he participated Konrad Adenauer's talks with Nikita Khrushchyov (the question of German POWs).

Meissner began publishing books and articles in 1947, in 1954 he published his Doctor's Thesis "Die Sowjetische Intervention im Baltikum und die völkerrechtliche Problematik der baltischen Frage" which has not yet lost its importance (in 1956 it was published in book form: " _de. Die Sowietunion, die baltischen Staaten und das Völkerrecht" - "The Soviet Union, the Baltic States and the International Law"). The work is a legal proof, that the USSR, without having any justifications, occupied and annexed the Baltic states, thus breaking international law.

From 1959 to 1964 Meissner taught at the University of Kiel and established " _de. Seminar für Politik, Gesellschaft und Recht Osteuropas" ("Seminar for the Politics, Society and Law of Eastern Europe"). 1965 to 1984 Meissner was a professor at the University of Cologne, where he established a new Institute ("Institut für Ostrecht"), director of which he remained until retiring.

References

*Cornelius Hasselblatt "Boris Meissneri Fenomen", Akadeemia, nr 7 1997, lk 1383-1385

Selected works

*" _de. Die baltische Frage in der Weltpolitik" In: " _de. Öffentliches Recht und Politik. Berlin" : Duncker und Humblot, 1973
** "The Baltic Question in World Politics", The Baltic States in Peace and War (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1978) , 139-148
*"Sowjetunion und Selbstbestimmungsrecht" In: "Dokumente zum Ostrecht", 0419-6015 ; Bd. 3 [ca1962]
*"Partei, Staat und Nation in der Sowjetunion: ausgewählte Beiträge." Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1985 ISBN 3428058909
*"The Communist Party of the Soviet Union: Party Leadership, Organization, and Ideology" (1976) ISBN 0837184614; ISBN 978-0837184616
*The Soviet conception of coexistence and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (East-West relations). (1975) ASIN|B0006D0RVI
*"Die Sowjetunion im Umbruch: historische Hintergründe, Ziele und Grenzen der Reformpolitik Gorbatschows". Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1988 ISBN 3421063923
*" _de. Die russische Politik gegenüber der baltischen Region als Prüfstein für das Verhältnis Russlands zu Europa." In: " _de. Die Aussenpolitik der baltischen Staaten und die internationalen Beziehungen im Ostseeraum." Hrsg Boris Meissner, Dietrich Loeber, Cornelius Hasselblatt. Hamburg: "Bibliotheca Baltica", 1994, S.466-504
*" _de. Auf dem Wege zur Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands und zur Normalisierung der deutsch-russischen Beziehungen: Ausgewählte Beiträge" (Veröffentlichung / Göttinger Arbeitskreis) 2000 ISBN 3830501021, ISBN 978-3830501022

External links

* [http://vp1992-2001.vpk.ee/eng/ateated/AmetlikTeade.asp?ID=2469 President of the Republic congratulated Boris Meissner]