The early years Litten was born the eldest of three sons in a wealthy family in
Halle. His parents were
Irmgard (née Wüst) and
Friedrich Litten (Fritz). Fritz was born and raised Jewish, but converted to Lutheranism in order to further his career as a law professor. He was a nationalist conservative, and served in the army in World War I, earning the
Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd Class. He opposed the postwar
Weimar Republic. A distinguished
jurist and professor of
Roman and
civil law, he was
dean of
Königsberg's law school, later becoming
rector of that institution. Nonetheless, as a youngster he learned
Hebrew, choosing it as one of the subjects for his
Abitur examinations. From his mother, Litten acquired an interest in
humanitarian ideas and art, and gained a strong sense of
justice for the threatened, persecuted and disenfranchised. While his father was away at war, Litten once took food from the kitchen to give to a beggar, addressing him as "sir". Litten's relationship with his father was strained, and his initial interest in
Judaism was out of rebellion; he felt his father's conversion was opportunistic. Litten became interested in a German-Jewish youth group with socialist-revolutionary ideas, joining with a school friend,
Max Fürst. Litten sought out political debate in his youth. He was shaped by important political and social events of the era, such as World War I, Litten was pressed into studying law by his father. He was not interested in it, writing in his journal, "When the ox in paradise was bored, he invented jurisprudence." He wanted to study
art history, but nonetheless, he approached his law studies in Berlin and
Munich with intensity, inspired by the events of the day. The
Kapp Putsch, the
1924 court case against
Adolf Hitler and other events convinced Litten that Germany was approaching a very dangerous period. His perception that right-wing radicals were receiving more lenient treatment in court than their opponents led to his decision to become a lawyer.
The Nazis seize power By 1932, the
Nazi Party was in ascendancy. Litten's mother and friends were urging him to leave Germany, but he stayed. He said, "The millions of workers can't leave here, so I must stay too". Hitler's hatred for Litten was not forgotten and in the early hours of 28 February 1933, the night of the
Reichstag fire, he was roused from his bed, arrested and taken into
protective custody. Litten's colleagues Ludwig Barbasch and Professor
Felix Halle were also arrested. such as
Clifford Allen and the "European Conference for Rights and Freedom", which had members from several countries. Litten was sent to
Sonnenburg concentration camp,
Brandenburg-Görden Prison, where he was tortured, along with anarchist
Erich Mühsam. In February 1934, he was moved to the
Moorlager,
Esterwegen concentration camp in
Emsland and a few months later, he was sent to
Lichtenburg. Despite his injuries and suffering, Litten strove to maintain his spirits. At one point, in 1934, his situation improved a little bit when he was moved to Lichtenburg. Initially, it was the same, with more beatings, but then he was allowed to work in the book bindery and the library. On occasion, he was able to listen to music on the radio on Sundays. He was well liked and respected by his fellow prisoners for his knowledge, inner strength and courage. The day before his suicide, one of Litten's friends, Alfred Dreifuß, found a noose under Litten's pillow. He showed it to the
blockälteste, who said it was not the first that had been found in Litten's possession. At the time, Litten was under interrogation in the "bunker" (see photo). When he came back, he was clearly in a suicidal frame of mind, repeating several times that he "must speak with Heinz Eschen", a prisoner who had just died. He also had recently told his friends that he had enough of being imprisoned. Another of Litten's Dachau friends, Alfred Grünebaum, said later that Litten was in constant fear of more brutal interrogations and that Litten had given up on ever being free. On the evening of 4 February 1938, it was clear what Litten had in mind, but no one kept watch. In the middle of the night, his bed was discovered empty and his friends found him hanging in the lavatory. Litten wrote a few parting words and that he had decided to take his life. == Highlights of Litten's legal work ==