Carl Schmitt: The Nazi Years 1933–1936

This is a review essay of Carl Schmitt's Gesammelte Schriften, which is a collection of writings that Schmitt published between 1933 and 1936. In these works, Schmitt discusses law and politics, the nature and failure of the ‘Rechtsstaat’, and Hitler’s legal revolution, which was restoring Germany’s pre-war status. Although many of these writings are in the form of scholarly analyses, they are not much more than pieces of propaganda. In the long-standing debate about Schmitt being a Nazi, this volume reveals him to be not just a participant but an advocate for the Nazi leadership.