[1][2] He was described by Hans Joachim Hirsch as one of the "outstanding theorists of criminal justice of the [twentieth] century" ("herausragenden Strafrechtstheoretiker des vergangenen Jahrhunderts").

From very early on Engisch was strongly drawn not so much to the mainstream Jurisprudence curriculum but to the philosophy of law, seen then as now as more of a niche specialism.

[1] A powerful influence during this period was the Munich-based criminologist Ernst von Beling, to whom Engisch later dedicated his "Logische Studien zur Gesetzesanwendung" (loosely: "Logical studies in the application of law").

[9] The Nazi seizure of power in January 1933 was followed, in April 1933, by the so-called "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" ("Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums").

The man who held the teaching chair in Criminal Law at Heidelberg University, Gustav Radbruch, had been a government minister during the early 1920s.

[citation needed] Although not Jewish, Radbruch's political record meant that he was just the sort of person whom the authorities had in mind when designing their law.

[10] As dean of the faculty he protested (unsuccessfully) when Nazi "SA" paramilitaries intervened against the university administration to enforce a boycott of Jewish lecturers, notably in respect of Ernst Levy.

On the other hand, he did expressly, if crudely, support the government in a review he contributed in 1936 to "Archiv für die civilistische Praxis", a venerable and distinguished legal journal: During this period Engisch turned down invitation to take up academic posts at Marburg (1933), Leipzig (1938) and Vienna (1940).

In June 1942 the Minister for Culture and Education appointed him Legal Counsel ("Rechtsbeirat") to the University of Heidelberg with responsibilities covering academic discipline.

He transferred to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, taking over the teaching chair vacated by Edmund Mezger.

[9] In the meantime, at the Kösener Senioren-Convents-Verband (association of student fraternities) congress, held on 27 May 1955, he delivered the main address at the Würzburg Residence (palace).

[9] In his lectures Engisch knew how to expand his subject's horizons beyond the framework commonly accepted in the law faculty, introducing concepts from the worlds of philosophy and literature.