Government Professor Emeritus Henry Ehrmann, a legal scholar, author and journalist, died of heart failure on Dec. 25 in La Jolla, Calif.
Ehrmann, who was 86, began teaching at the College in 1961 and later served as the government department chair from 1963 to 1966.
"Henry was a remarkable human being, a virtuous man, a good friend to anybody who was lucky enough to be his friend and, most importantly, a wonderful teacher," Government Professor Roger Masters said.
Ehrmann was born in Berlin in 1908 and studied at the French Gymnasium there before earning a law degree from the University of Berlin in 1929.
A critic of the Nazi regime, Ehrmann was imprisoned by the Nazis in 1933. He was later able to escape from his concentration camp to the Czech border where he skied over the Sudeten Mountains into France.
"When Henry was arrested by the Gestapo he was interrogated by a Captain who asked him if he had a doctorate in law," Masters said.
"Henry responded yes, and was then struck by the captain who himself had failed to receive a doctorate in law. Henry's response was not anger, but that situation represented to him the fundamental nature of the Nazis."
"Henry made a very sober commitment to justice," he said.
But, most importantly, Masters said, "Henry taught me what it is to be a good friend."
Ehrmann worked as a journalist and scholar in France after his escape until the Nazis captured it in 1940.
Ehrmann and his wife were the first to use the escape route through the Pyrenees Mountains from France into Spain. From there he fled to the United States.
Ehrmann began teaching at the New School for Social Research in New York City when he arrived in the United States. And in 1961, he became the Joel Parker Professor of Law and Political Science at Dartmouth.
"He took a special interest in the younger faculty and was always interested in what people were doing," Nelson Kasfir, government department chair, said.
He is survived by his wife, Claire Sachs, who lives in Hanover, and their two sons, Michael and Paul, and four grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held in the spring at the University of California at San Diego and at Dartmouth.
