Hermann Heller is mostly known as a prominent figure in the disputes among public lawyers in the Weimar Republic, debating Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt regarding questions of sovereignty and the relation between law and politics. Heller was born in Austria in , fought during the World War on the Eastern front where he suffered a heart disease that caused later on his death in Heller was no social democrat by socialization or tradition but motivated by the wish to help build the polity that the Weimar Republic had begun.
In the case of Weimar, if it were to take over government, the proletariat would have to join the underlying culture of the nation it is to govern. In a way Heller took a path Antonio Gramsci established in Italy later on, both laying the groundwork for a concept of political culture long before it became a research discipline.
In order to enable the proletariat to govern, Heller believed that education was needed. In those days higher education had to be financed privately and therefore we find very few children of working families at universities. In the crisis of the parliamentarian system Heller criticised the bourgeoisie for its failing attempts to engage in defending democracy.
This term was taken up in the founding period of West Germany and formed an important part of the constitution of Among others, it was promoted by Carlo Schmid, a leading social-democratic constitutional lawyer not to be confused with Carl Schmitt.
Schmid worked for a time with Heller at the same institution in Berlin and always admired his work and attitude towards the republic. In the last months of the Weimar Republic, Heller represented the social-democratic led cabinet of the state of Prussia against the right wing national government opposing counsel was Carl Schmitt. Some time prior, Heller had appealed openly to his students to defend the constitution of the republic, if necessary by taking up arms against the fascists.
