 In the 1930s, Forsthoff was among the jurists such as Carl Schmitt, , and who endeavoured to legitimise the Nazi regime through their writings.Forsthoff's 1933 paper "Der totale Staat" (The Total State) advocated a broad understanding of the "Führerprinzip" as an exclusive and unlimited power of command over all subjects of the state.He himself was unwilling to submit fully to the Nazi state, however, and fell in disfavour with the authorities during the war.