Heinrich Lammasch portrait for the University of Innsbruck – University of Innsbruck
A picture by Heinrich Lammasch was given out last week by the rectorate as a loan from the law faculty. The portrait is a gift from the Salzburg art historian Dr. Regina Kaltenbrunner (1963-2020), the former director of the Salzburg Baroque Museum.
The conservative Catholic pacifist Heinrich Lammasch (1853-1920) was the last Imperial Prime Minister in 1918. Karl Kraus paid tribute to Heinrich Lammasch in 1918: “Holy Councilor Lammasch will remain with humanity and the fatherland so that they can come together again! As low as the time is in which he lives – he lives high!” Between 1885 and 1889 Heinrich Lammasch taught criminal and international law as well as the philosophy of law at the University of Innsbruck. In 1887, while he was in Innsbruck, he wrote his uninterrupted current work, “Duty to Extradite and Right to Asylum”. In 1889 Lammasch was appointed to the University of Vienna.
Heinrich Lammasch took part in the Hague Peace Conferences in 1899 and 1907 as an Austrian delegate. During the First World War, he – an opponent of German nationalism and the war alliance with Germany – was attacked by warmongering forces and campaigned for a quick peace of agreement, for a future League of Nations and for the strengthening of political neutrality. His book “International Law after the War”, published by the Norwegian Nobel Prize Institute in 1917, should also be taken into account in today’s academic work.
After his death in 1920, the Innsbruck faculty of law – caught in a mood of war revanchism – rejected a celebration in memory of Heinrich Lammasch. In 2021, a portrait of Heinrich Lammasch, created by a previously unknown artist, was handed over to the University of Innsbruck from the estate of the Salzburg art historian Regina Kaltenbrunner. This portrait – now housed in the Faculty of Law – commemorates Heinrich Lammasch and his legacy of peace!
(Red.)