Lawyers Without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933 - William J Choyke

Lawyers Without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933 William J Choyke ISBN 9781641051996

As the rule of law faces growing challenges in both developed and developing nations, Lawyers Without Rights offers a sobering account of what can occur when justice gives way to arbitrary power. The book powerfully illustrates how the erosion of lawful governance—replaced by rule by law—can strip targeted populations of their rights and dignity. The fate of Jewish lawyers in Berlin and throughout Germany is not merely a historical footnote, but a stark warning that a justice system free from political manipulation is fragile and must never be taken for granted.

The publication of this English-language edition marks an important milestone in a collaborative project between the American Bar Association and the Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (German Federal Bar). This joint effort has long focused on documenting the tragic persecution of Jewish lawyers in Nazi Germany and examining its enduring lessons for the rule of law.

Lawyers Without Rights chronicles the professional exclusion of Jewish lawyers and jurists in Berlin, then Germany’s capital and home to approximately 3,400 attorneys—43 percent of whom were of Jewish origin in 1933, the highest proportion of any German city. Originally published in German two decades ago and updated in 2007, the book includes more than 1,600 biographical profiles of Berlin lawyers who were barred from practicing law after 1938 due to their Jewish ancestry. It also documents the fate of 1,404 of those individuals.

The release of this edition coincides with the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht. On November 9–10, 1938, Nazi forces burned synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools, and businesses, and murdered nearly 100 Jews. In the aftermath of this “Night of Broken Glass,” approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

By that time, German law had removed all but a handful of Jewish legal “consultants” from the profession. As this book reveals, hundreds of former lawyers later died in concentration camps or took their own lives, while others escaped the Nazi regime and emigrated around the world, including more than 200 who ultimately settled in the United States. Some, such as Berlin attorney Hanna Katz—an early pioneer for women in the legal profession in Germany—went on to earn U.S. law degrees. Katz later lived in New York and became a member of the American Bar Association.

This edition includes three notable additions: forewords by the Honorable Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Benjamin B. Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials; and Ronald D. Abramson, a Jewish lawyer and philanthropist whose family foundation supported the publication of this book. With only minor exceptions, this second edition presents Simone Ladwig-Winters’ work in full, including prefaces from the Berlin bar, the author’s reflections on her research, and all original notes and abbreviations.

Lawyers Without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933 William J Choyke ISBN 9781641051996, 978-1641051996 & 9781641052009

Author
William J Choyke