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 9781641052009

Court and one of three sitting Jewish justices; Benjamin B. Ferencz, the sole surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials; and Ronald D. Abramson, a Jewish lawyer and philanthropist whose family foundation, the Anne and Ronald Abramson Family Foundation, provided support for this book. With minor exceptions, the second edition of Simone Ladwig-Winters’ book has been presented in its entirety, including prefaces from the Berlin bar, the author’s insights into her research, notes and abbreviations.

As the rule of law faces growing threats in both developed and developing nations, Lawyers Without Rights offers a sobering account of what happens when justice collapses and is replaced by the arbitrary exercise of power. Through the tragic story of Jewish lawyers in Berlin and throughout Germany, the book demonstrates that this history is not merely a distant chapter of the past, but a powerful warning. A legal system free from political interference is fragile, and its preservation can never be taken for granted.

The publication of this English-language edition marks an important milestone in a joint initiative of the American Bar Association and the Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (German Federal Bar). This collaborative effort examines the persecution of Jewish lawyers under the Nazi regime and explores its enduring lessons about the meaning and necessity of the rule of law.

Lawyers Without Rights documents the systematic exclusion of Jewish lawyers and jurists in Berlin, then the capital of Germany and home to approximately 3,400 attorneys. In 1933, nearly 43 percent of Berlin’s lawyers were of Jewish origin—the highest proportion in any German city. First published in German more than twenty years ago and updated in 2007, the book includes more than 1,600 biographical profiles of Berlin lawyers who were barred from practicing after 1938 due to their Jewish ancestry, with the known fates of 1,404 of them carefully recorded.

The English release coincides with the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” when Nazi violence on November 9–10, 1938, destroyed synagogues, homes, schools, and businesses across Germany and resulted in the deaths of nearly 100 Jews. In the aftermath, approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. By that time, German law had effectively removed all but a handful of Jewish legal “consultants” from the profession.

As the book reveals, hundreds of these lawyers later perished in concentration camps or died by suicide, while others escaped the Nazi regime by emigrating around the world. More than 200 eventually settled in the United States. Some, such as Berlin attorney Hanna Katz—one of Germany’s early women lawyers whose story is featured in the book—rebuilt their lives and legal careers, earning U.S. law degrees and, in Katz’s case, becoming a member of the American Bar Association.

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