AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD VASHEM Vol. 43-No. 3 ISSN 0892-1571 January/February 2017-Shevat/Adar 5777 THE MIXED LEGACY OF NUREMBERG so frequently been broken? Why have persuaded by Secretary of War Henry tive nature of the newly announced BY ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ the Nuremberg principles not been Stimson that summary execution was laws and the jurisdictional problems effectively applied to prevent and inconsistent with the American com- posed by a multinational court — his year commemorates the punish these unspeakable crimes? mitment to due process and the rule there was a fundamental question of 80th anniversary of the notori- T Will the International Criminal Court, of law. justice posed. Contemporary com- ous Nuremberg Laws, the Nazi racist established in 2002, be capable of It was decided, therefore, to con- mentators wondered whether judges enactments that formed the legal enforcing the Nuremberg principles vene an international tribunal to sit in appointed by the victorious govern- basis for the Holocaust. Ironically, it and deterring future genocides by judgment over the Nazi leaders. But ments — and politically accountable also marks the 70th anniversary of punishing past ones? this proposal was not without consid- to those governments — could be the Nuremberg Trials, which provided expected to listen the legal basis for prosecuting the with an open mind to Nazi war criminals who murdered mil- the prosecution evi- lions of Jews and others following the dence offered by the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws. Allies and to the There is little dispute about the evil defense claims sub- of the Nuremberg Laws. As Justice mitted on behalf of Robert H. Jackson, who was erstwhile enemies. America’s chief prosecutor at the A review of the trial Nuremberg Trials, put it: “The most nearly 70 years after odious of all oppressions are those the fact leads to the which mask as justice.” conclusion that the There is some dispute, however, judges did a com- about the Nuremberg trials them- mendable job of try- selves. Did they represent objective ing to be fair. They justice or, as Hermann Göring charac- did, after all, acquit terized it, merely “victor’s justice”? three of the twenty- Were the rules under which the Nazi two defendants, and leaders were tried and convicted ex they sentenced post facto laws, enacted after the another seven to crimes were committed in an effort to prison terms rather secure legal justice for the most than hanging. But immoral of crimes? Did the prosecu- results, of course, tion and conviction of a relatively erable difficulties. Justice must be are not the only or even the best crite- small number of Nazi leaders excul- hether the captured Nazi seen to be done, but it must also be ria for evaluating the fairness of a pate too many hands-on perpetra- leaders — those who did not W done in reality. A show trial, with pre- trial. Furthermore, it is impossible to tors? Do the principles that emerged commit suicide or escape — should dictable verdicts and sentences, determine with hindsight whether the from the Nuremberg Trials have con- have been placed on trial, rather than would be little better than no trial at core leaders, such as Göring, von tinued relevance in today’s world? summarily shot, was the subject of all. Indeed, Justice Jackson went so Ribbentrop and Rosenberg, ever had Following the Holocaust, the world much controversy. Even before the far as to suggest, early on, that it a chance, or whether the acquittals took a collective oath encapsulated in end of the war, Secretary of the would be preferable to shoot Nazi and lesser sentences for some of the the powerful phrase “never again,” Treasury Henry Morgenthau had pro- criminals out of hand than to discredit others were a ploy to make it appear but following the Nuremberg Trials, posed that a list of major war crimi- our judicial process by conducting far- that proportional justice was being mass murders, war crimes and even nals be drawn up, and as soon as cical trials. done. genocides have been permitted to they were captured and identified, The challenge of the Nuremberg tri- n the end, it was the documentary occur again and again and again and they would be shot. President bunal, therefore, was to do real justice evidence — the Germans’ own again. Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, Roosevelt was initially sympathetic to I in the context of a trial by the victors detailed record of their aggression and the former Yugoslavia and now Syria. such rough justice, but eventually against the vanquished — and specif- genocide — that provided the smoking Why has the promise of “never again” both he and President Truman were ically those leaders of the vanquished guns. Document after document who had been instrumental in the proved beyond any doubt that the most barbaric genocide and mass Nazis had conducted two wars: One IN THIS ISSUE slaughter of civilians in history. was their aggressive war against She loved him, and he died in the Holocaust...............................................2 Moreover, the blood of Hitler’s mil- Europe (and eventually America) for How my grandmother helped the “Japanese Schindler” save Jews.........3 lions of victims was still fresh at the military, political, geographic and eco- Among the enemy: hiding in plain sight in Nazi Germany..........................4 time of the trials. Indeed, the magni- nomic domination. The other was their Walking in the footsteps of the innocents of Babi Yar..................................5 tude of Nazi crimes was being genocidal war to destroy “inferior” Professional Development conference on Holocaust education................6 learned by many for the first time dur- races, primarily the Jews and Gypsies. ASYV Young Leadeship Associates Winter Gala......................................8-9 ing the trial itself. Was a fair trial pos- Their war aim was eventually crushed Nazis’ descendants sing “Hatikva” to Holocaust survivors......................10 sible against this emotional back- by the combined might of the Even in the gas chambers, miracles can happen.......................................12 drop? Americans and the Russians. Their Did the Jew who “sparked” Kristallnacht survive the Holocaust?............14 Even putting aside the formidable genocidal aims came very close to Holocaust survivors celebrate seven decades of marriage.......................16 jurisprudential hurdles — the retroac- (Continued on page 3) Page 2 MARTYRDOM & RESISTANCE January/February 2017 - Shevat/Adar 5777 SHE LOVED HIM, AND HE DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST. NOW HER SON IS BRINGING HIS MUSIC BACK TO LIFE. cal genius and a great love lost. “You are surely curious about Lulu’s Auschwitz. Though she later married BY MALCOLM GAY, “That was very discouraging,” said exam,” Leonora wrote Livia in and immigrated to the United States, THE BOSTON GLOBE Berkowitz, 57, a high-caliber amateur September 1938, when Delej was 14. her challenges grew when pianist in his own right. “She said he “He played 16 compositions by heart, Berkowitz’s father, Ernest, entered a e’s hovered over Robert was so famous, playing on the radio flawlessly!!” nursing home, incapacitated by multi- Berkowitz’s life for decades, a H all the time. I imagined there’d be Though Imre was confident war ple sclerosis. With limited English and spectral promise of what might have recordings of him. I found nothing.” could be avoided, the family was scant formal education, Pauline was been. Over the past year, however, determined to keep its precious son left alone to raise their son while He’s there in the family album, a Berkowitz has embarked on a revela- safe, and Delej began learning working as a seamstress in Los composer looking older than his years tory journey, reclaiming Delej’s life English before his expected move to Angeles. in a bulky overcoat and fedora, his while excavating his musical legacy. the United States, where he hoped to “It was my mother and me,” recalled Along the way, he’s support himself. Berkowitz, who began piano lessons developed close ties “Loulou would like to learn saxo- around that time. “My mother maybe with members of phone as his second instrument,” Imre had the freedom to tell these stories, Delej’s American fami- wrote his daughter in October 1938. because my father wasn’t in the ly, who have uncov- “This also seems to be practical for the house.” ered a trove of corre- employment possibilities that will be Pauline confided to her son that spondence and mem- necessary for him ‘over there.’ ” she’d met Delej during a piano recital orabilia providing an Soon Delej was studying with the of a cousin — a lithe and musically intimate window into esteemed pianist-composer Pál gifted young woman, the more obvi- the composer’s life Kadosa , who counted György Ligeti, ous match for Delej. before the Holocaust, later one of Hungary’s greatest com- “From the minute he saw me, he including a handful of posers, among his pupils. kind of fell in love,” recalled Pauline lost works for solo “Mr. Kadosa found barely a mis- Herzek, who today uses the surname piano. take,” Leonora wrote Livia in of her late second husband. “From “My mother has said: You brought back Lajos Delej to me,” said Those pieces had September 1939. “Only in the recita- that moment on, he wrote me and Robert Berkowitz. gone unplayed for tion did he point something small out came to visit.” more than 75 years when Berkowitz to Lulu! Do you know, my angel, what Herzek regaled her son with tales of mustache cloaking the scar that premiered them last spring at New that means? He’s already absolutely Delej’s artistry. He had excelled at marred his upper lip. Strolling along a England Conservatory, where he is a independent.” Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise, so busy Hungarian street, he towers continuing education student.