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Sept. 28, 2007
Who will protect our rights?
Exhibits focus on Jewish lawyers who survived Nazi Germany.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
There are similarities between the way in which Jews are being
treated today and the attitudes exhibited toward Jews prior to the
Holocaust. And governments continue to try and pressure judges and
lawyers to achieve political goals. What happens – especially
to minority groups, such as Jews – when politics interfere
with the right to justice?
This is one of the many questions that will be examined in an upcoming
exhibit, Lawyers Without Rights, being presented by the Law Society
of British Columbia in partnership with Friends of Simon Wiesenthal
Centre for Holocaust Studies, the Vancouver Holocaust Education
Centre, the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany,
Vancouver, and the CBC.
"The law society is thrilled to be part of Lawyers Without
Rights, because it deals with issues that impact all citizens,"
said Anna Fung, president of the Law Society of British Columbia,
in an interview with the Independent. "The display touches
on the fundamentals of our profession – independence and the
rule of law – and it touches on issues that lawyers in some
countries – thankfully, not Canada – face today.
"It's imperative that everyone understand the importance of
the rule of law in a just, free and democratic society and the importance
of a legal system that is independent of government or political
pressure."
To help with this understanding, Lawyers Without Rights will also
feature an evening public forum, with speakers on pre-Holocaust
Germany, the fate of lawyers in Nazi Germany and the protection
of the rule of law in the world today.
"Lawyers are entrusted with protecting the rights and freedoms
that are the foundation of our free and democratic nation,"
explained Fung. "Imagine what would happen if half of B.C.'s
lawyers were summarily disbarred, the legal system transformed into
an instrument of tyranny and the rule of law disappeared. In such
a world, if individual rights and freedoms were threatened, who
would stand up to protect them?
"What happened to the legal system in Germany during the 1930s
and 1940s is an important lesson for us to remember, as we see ostensibly
democratic countries today continue to try to put restrictions on
their judges and lawyers to achieve political ends."
The Lawyers Without Rights exhibit will bring that message close
to home.
"There's a direct link to British Columbia," said Fung,
"as some of those victims made their way to this province and
settled here. Despite the trauma of the experience that they suffered
at the hands of the Nazis, they never lost faith in the fundamentals
of the legal profession – independence and the rule of law
– and have continued to instil those principles in their offspring.
One of those victims [Sam Sussel], who settled in Chilliwack, now
has a grandchild, Terri Cohen, who is practising law in B.C."
The three lawyers featured in the exhibit, who have since passed
away, are Fritz Oberlander (Austria), Sam Sussel (Germany) and Stanislaw
Boraks (Poland).
"For this project," explained Frieda Miller, executive
director, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, "we interviewed
their children, Peter Oberlander, Walter Sussel and Lillian Boraks
Nemetz, who have also all had distinguished careers in their own
rights, making this a testament to the immigrant experience and
how much such people have been able to contribute to our society."
Miller said that, whenever the centre brings in travelling exhibits,
it tries to introduce local stories and content. Lawyers Without
Rights, added Miller, "seemed like a perfect opportunity to
explore the experiences of three local survivors, whose fathers
had all lost the right to practise law under the Nazis and whose
families subsequently came to Canada. We believe that these local
stories are remarkable and compelling, with direct links to the
exhibit themes and, as such, would resonate with visitors here."
The centre received a grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia
for this project, said Miller, as well as for another important
program.
"In addition, we have designed a second exhibit for our own
space on the subject of the Nuremberg trials and their impact on
international law and human rights today," she said. "This
exhibit has been designed to resemble the setting of the original
courtroom, and will also act as a backdrop for the school program
Nuremberg: A Student Mock Trial of Julius Streicher, in which visiting
classes will re-enact the trial of one of the most notorious defendants.
"The two exhibits complement each other well," she continued.
"Lawyers Without Rights demonstrates what can happen when the
rule of law and the rights and freedoms of citizens are undermined
by the state, while Nuremberg demonstrates the potential for justice,
based on the rule of law, that can be found in the resolve of the
international community."
VHEC education co-ordinator Nina Krieger explained further.
"More than 60 years after the Allies established the International
Military Tribunal to try Nazi leaders for their roles in the systematic
murder of millions of people during the Holocaust and Second World
War," she said, "the Nuremberg trials stand as a watershed
moment in the ongoing pursuit of international justice. The Nuremberg:
Justice in the Aftermath of the Holocaust exhibit traces the history
of the trials, highlighting their accomplishments, controversies
and legacies – and considers human rights issues that demand
response and resolve from the international community today.
"Classes visiting the Nuremberg exhibit will participate in
a new school program, A Student Mock Trial of Julius Streicher.
In 1946, Streicher, the publisher of the virulently anti-Semitic
newspaper Der Stürmer, was convicted of crimes against humanity,
for his role in inciting the persecution and murder of Jews through
the dissemination of hate propaganda. Using primary source material
as evidence, students will re-enact Streicher's trial, learning
about the Nuremberg tribunals' processes and contemporary significance.
The post-trial discussion will address Canada's anti-hate legislation
and prosecution of suspected war criminals, as well as current proceedings
at the International Criminal Court at The Hague."
The VHEC's Schindler and Vancouver's Schindler Jews exhibit attracted
some 150 schools – more than 5,000 students – to the centre,
said Krieger, and they anticipate a similar audience for the Nuremberg
exhibit and school program. There is also a comprehensive teachers'
guide for the mock trial, which will be available for download from
www.vhec.org.
It was the Simon Wiesenthal Centre that approached VHEC about Lawyers
Without Rights.
"Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies (as
opposed to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in the U.S.) became involved
when we got a call from then-justice minister Irwin Cotler's office,"
Leo Adler, director of national affairs, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal
Centre for Holocaust Studies, told the Independent. "Irwin
had spoken to Joel Levi, the Israeli lawyer who was instrumental
in the formation of the exhibit and, when Joel asked if the government
could bring the exhibition to Canada, he was told that it would
be better for a private group to do so. As a result, we partnered
with the German embassy in Ottawa and consulates in Montreal and
Toronto and the Holocaust committees in Montreal and Toronto to
bring the exhibit to those three eastern cities.
"As it turned out, SWC in Los Angeles had been one of the partners
in bringing the show to Los Angeles a few years before. So it's
fair to say that our organization, as a whole, has a lengthy history
with this exhibit. Next year, it goes to Hamilton and we are in
talks with groups in Alberta, too."
Adler will be speaking at the public forum, offering, he said, "a
reflection of the politically correct world of the pre-WWII era.
Nazism and the Holocaust didn't just spring up one day out of the
blue or because one man 'mesmerized' a nation. Anti-Semitism was
in vogue throughout Europe, the Americas (including Canada) and
elsewhere. Thus, to understand what happened in the Germany of the
1930s, you need to know what was also happening elsewhere. To the
modern eye, much of what Jews went through then is frighteningly
similar to much (though not all) of what we are currently experiencing."
Some of those common aspects, he said, "are the belittling
and delegitimization of Jews (and, today, Israel – as a stand-in
for Jews), the failure of the world to recognize and pay appropriate
attention to people who say what they mean (Hitler and the current
Iranian president) and have the means to do what they say (gas chambers
vs. nuclear weapons). There are other examples, but I urge you to
attend in order to get the whole story."
Lawyers Without Rights will come to Simon Fraser University Harbor
Centre Tower Atrium, Nov. 1-25, and then head to the University
of Victoria Student Union Building Nov. 28-Dec. 9. For more information
on the exhibits, visit vhec.org
or lawsociety.bc.ca.
The free public forum will take place Nov. 22, 6-8:30 p.m., at SFU
Harbor Centre. To register, call 604-669-2533 or e-mail [email protected].
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