Lawyers Without Rights on display in Law Library
Exhibit portrays persecution of Jewish lawyers and judges during Nazi era
The highly acclaimed international exhibit, “Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany under the Third Reich,” will be available for viewing in the Dolly and Homer Hand Law Library at Stetson University College of Law throughout the month of November.
The exhibit is sponsored by Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) at Stetson Law in conjunction with the American Bar Association and German Federal Bar. It has been shown in more than 100 cities in Germany, the United States, and other parts of the world.
The concept was conceived in 1998 when an Israeli lawyer asked the regional bar of Berlin for a list of Jewish Lawyers whose licenses had been revoked by the Nazi regime.
“The regional bar decided not only to research a list of names but also to try to find out more about the fates behind all those names,” said Axel Filges, past president of the German Federal Bar. “Some were able to leave the country after the Nazis came into power, but very many of them were incarcerated or murdered. The non-Jewish German lawyers of those days remained silent. They failed miserably, and so did the lawyers’ organizations. We do not know why.”
After the Berlin bar transformed its research into an exhibit, other regional bars began asking whether they could show it and add their own research.
“So, like a puzzle, a portrait of the fate of Jewish lawyers in Germany has emerged step by step,” Filges said.
The exhibit is spread throughout the first, second and third floors of the library and is available to the public during regular library hours. However, members of the public should call ahead for times to view, as the library will be closed for Veterans Day and during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Law Library location and phone:
1401 61st St S, Gulfport, FL 33707
727-562-7820
Law Library hours:
Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Post date: Nov. 6, 2019
Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
[email protected] | 727-430-1580