A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION ● SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015 ● VOLUME 2 Holocaust Remembered HOW THE THIRD REICH PARALYZED JUSTICE AND LEGALIZED GENOCIDE 2 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION APRIL 12, 2015APRIL 12, 2015 Contributors Lilly Filler, M.D. Co-chair, Columbia Holocaust Is it happening again? Education Commission Secretary, S.C. Council on the By Lilly Filler Holocaust Lyssa Harvey, Ed.S magine a time when civilized European Co-chair, Columbia Holocaust nations witness thousands of their Jewish Education Commission citizens fleeing to other countries for safe- Licensed professional counselor, ty. Children are being separated from their teacher, therapist and artist parents or slaughtered in their schools. An- The Honorable Jean Toal ti-Semitism is on the rise, with mobs dese- Chief justice, South Carolina crating synagogues and Jewish businesses. Terror Supreme Court Iis the order of the day, and the terrorists (zealots) Ashley Robertson are doing a skillful job in spreading their messag- Law clerk to Chief Justice Jean Toal es of hate, intolerance, and destruction. The back- F.K. Clementi, Ph.D. drop for these terrorists is economic and social Associate Professor of Jewish poverty, disenchantment, Studies and English, USC and misguided charismat- Jack Swerling ic religious and political Attorney leaders. What year could Leah Greenberg Davis this be? Is it 1938, 1943, or Attorney 2015? Is history repeating Howard Stravitz itself? I ask you to consider Attorney the facts. Professor, USC School of Law We have a mantra asso- ciated with the discussion Irene Jablon THE STATE FILE PHOTO Hannah Goldberg McGee of the Holocaust: “Never again.” And yet we are wit- dismantlement of its constitution, the develop- Please take a visit, sit on the benches that bear Rabbi Philip Silverstein nessing very similar circumstances and political ment and passage of prejudicial laws against a the quotes of survivors and a liberator, and take Sarah C. Spoto, M.Ed, NBCT upheaval to the time of the Holocaust. targeted community, and the implementation of in the enormity of what this represents. Marlene Roth What I describe above is our world today: Jews mass imprisonment, torture, slavery, and mur- The Columbia Holocaust Education Commis- M.A., Holocaust Studies and fleeing France, Boko Haram kidnapping or mas- der of 6 million Jews − 11 million people total. sion is committed to informing the public about Genocide sacring children, ISIS beheading their captives If it happened then, could it not happen to- the Holocaust through our website, grants, “Holo- M.Ed., Secondary Education, and showing it around the world. day? The study of the Holocaust is imperative if caust Remembered” exhibit, and this publication, English To say “never again” feels disingenuous. We we want to prevent repetition of the past. This is offering teachers resources for this topic. We have are not heeding these words − this is the state of how our children will learn the lessons of history. developed a “Speaker’s Bureau” that will provide a Send us your story! affairs in the world today. We are lucky to have, in our community, a knowledgeable speaker on the Holocaust to come We invite those with experiences This is the second annual edition of the “Holo- touching Holocaust Memorial in Memorial Park to your event/classroom site. Please contact Cher- from the Holocaust to send their caust Remembered” supplement. The Columbia on Gadsden Street. This memorial was dedicated yl Nail at the Columbia Jewish Community Center stories (500 words or fewer), Holocaust Education Commission, a volunteer on June 6, 2001, and lists South Carolina’s Holo- at [email protected] or call her at 803- along with three to four original photographs, to Barry Abels, group, is proud to work with The State newspaper caust survivors and liberators. It educates the 787-2023, ext 211. To teach our children, we must [email protected]. to help bring this information to all of the Midlands. uninformed through an abbreviated timeline prepare our teachers. We hope that the lessons in This edition is focused on trying to understand and a gripping pictorial etching depicting scenes this supplement and the resources provided will Columbia Holocaust how a democratic European society allowed the from the Holocaust. help do that. Education Commission www.columbiaholocausteducation.org The Reverend George Chassey ..........................14 Lilly Filler INDEX On the cover CO-CHAIR Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, How the Courts Failed Germany .......................... 3 June 6, 1944 ...................................................15 Kurt Julius Goldstein, who survived the Lyssa Harvey The Nuremberg Trials ..........................................16 Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, wipes CO-CHAIR Defining the Indescribable: “Holocaust” and Its Meaning .............................................................. 4 “Remember Who You Are” ..................................18 away tears as he stands in front of a photo Marlene Roth The Nuremberg Race Laws .................................. 5 The Importance of Narratives .............................19 showing a walkway at Auschwitz. Goldstein SECRETARY The Seizure of Absolute Power ............................. 6 Teacher Advisory Committee ..............................20 was a speaker during a commemoration Barry Abels A Daring Rescue of the Sacred Torah .................. 8 Glossary ................................................................21 of the International Auschwitz Committee Esther Greenberg One Survivor’s Journey and Legacy ..................... 9 Holocaust Education Resources ........................22 marking the 60th anniversary of the Sarah Spoto Deportation Avoided ............................................10 Acknowledgements .............................................23 camp’s liberation on Jan. 25, 2005. Selden Smith Flight from the Nazis ............................................11 An Invitation to a Community Yom HaShoah Cheryl Nail Some Memories Never Dim ...............................12 Commemoration..............................................24 PHOTO BY MARKUS SCHREIBER • AP ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT APRIL 12, 2015 HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT FROM THE COLUMBIA HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION 3 How the courts failed Germany By S.C. Chief Justice Jean Toal and Ashley Robertson The dagger of the assassin“ “ was concealed beneath the robe of the jurist. TELFORD TAYLOR American Military Tribunal prosecutor Jurists’ Trial, Nuremberg, Germany, 1947 he racist and anti-Semitic ideology of the Nazi dictator- ship is generally well known. Less understood, however, is the role that German judges played in the Nazi descent into madness. Indeed, the role of the legal pro- Tfession and the actions of judges – a group which, conceivably, could have challenged Hitler’s authority and the authenticity of the Nazi regime – were critical in perpetrating the Nazi agenda. Beginning in approximately 1933, and with the support – or at least acquiescence – of the German judiciary, the Nazi leadership en- acted laws restricting political freedoms and civil rights which gradually transformed the ▲ South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal speaks nation from a democracy into a dictatorship. during a court proceeding in June 2014. The courts not only upheld these laws, but in- terpreted them broadly, thus facilitating rather ◄ Hundreds of anti-Semitic posters, such as this than hindering the Nazis’ ability to carry out one in Greifenberg, Germany, had been hung by their program of persecution and murder. August 1935. The sign reads, “Germans don’t buy in For example, after Nazi leaders enacted Jewish shops.” AP FILE PHOTOS the so-called Nuremberg Race laws, which were the cornerstone of the legalized perse- abled judges to retain the pretense of judicial cide cases according to the examples set more general statement condemning the cution of Jews in Germany, the Nazis left it independence while also issuing verdicts that forth in the letters. use of the German legal system to carry out to the courts to render a final interpretation satisfied Nazi authorities. Judges remained After 12 years of submission to the Nazi re- the Nazi agenda, and in doing so, attempted of the laws. When the courts accepted and under a constant threat of removal from of- gime, in 1947, an American military tribunal to, at least nominally, right some of the legal broadly applied the race laws in subsequent fice, and therefore were in no way free from tried members of the German judiciary in wrongs of the era. opinions infused with Nazi ideology, they not the overwhelming pressure of Nazi oversight. what came to be known as the Jurists’ Trial. While some of the perpetrators faced jus- only explicitly conferred legitimacy on the A reminder of Nazi control over every as- Surviving high-ranking jurists were accused tice, unfortunately, the damage done by the Nazis’ racial discrimination and persecution pect of the political and judicial system came of “judicial murder and other atrocities, failure of the German court system to halt practices, but bolstered Nazi power through in October 1942, when judges received the which they committed by destroying laws the Nazis’ climb to power and its assistance the established legal framework. first in a series of “Letters to All Judges.” The and justice in Germany and then utilizing in the Nazi program of