Berufsverbot
A Berufsverbot is an order of "professional disqualification" under German law. Berufsverbot may be translated into English as "professional ban".
A Berufsverbot disqualifies the recipient from engaging in certain professions or activities on the grounds of their criminal record, political convictions or membership in a particular group.
In Nazi Germany
Pursuant to a 1933 law, many Jews, artists, political opponents, and others were prohibited by the Nazi government in Germany from engaging in certain professions.Post-World War II
After 1945, the Allied authorities in West Germany issued Berufsverbot orders against certain political filmmakers, such as Leni Riefenstahl, who got a lifelong Berufsverbot.1972 Anti-Radical Decree
On 28 January 1972 the federal government and the premiers of the states instituted the so-called Radikalenerlass. Under this decree, people who were considered to be members of, or aligned to, extremist organizations were banned from working as civil servants, a category that in Germany includes public sector occupations such as teaching. The decree was issued in response to terrorism by the Red Army Faction.Berufsverbot is the name given to the decree by people who opposed it because, in their view, it contradicts the freedom of occupational choice guaranteed by the Basic Law for the [Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law of Germany]. Law experts do not use the term as the decree does not forbid by itself.
The law was applied unevenly after 1979. Many of the states of Germany repealed the relevant legislation and in 2016 the Landtag of Lower Saxony issued a condemnation of the Berufsverbot practice. Other states, like Bavaria, still apply the decree.