"Lawyers without Rights"
Miami Beach, June 28, 2010: In cooperation with the German Consulate General in Miami and the law firm of Baur & Klein, P.A. the Jewish Museum of Florida launched the exhibition „Lawyers Without Rights“ on its historic premises in 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. The exhibition was created, designed and financed by the German Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer, the German Federal Bar. The exhibition, which has been shown in many places in the world, depicts the fate of 20 Jewish lawyers in Germany before and under the nazi dictatorship. All of them were barred from their profession, some of them were murdered, some were driven into desperation and suicide, fortunately some escaped.
Lenard Wien, the President of the Museum welcomed more than 200 guests – among them many famous members of the Miami judiciary - and the speakers: Consul General Klaus Ranner; Dr. Norbert Westenberger, the Vice-President of the German Federal Bar; Thomas Baur, senior partner of Baur & Klein, who could refer to his own experience with one of the lawyers who had escaped the terror and who became his mentor; he even introduced Paul Nathanson, himself a renowned lawyer, the stepson of the attorney, who had introduced Tom Bauer to US law; Jorge Expósito, Commissioner of the City of Miami Beach, who presented Norbert Westenberger and Klaus Ranner with certificates of the City of Miami Beach; Stephen Zack, President-elect of the American Bar Association, the first hispanic lawyer to assume ABA's presidency.
The speakers recalled the significance of Jewish lawyers in post World War I Germany and the necessity of preserving this part of German Jewry's heritage. They had stood up for the rule of law, which later on had shamefully been destroyed by the nazi dictatorship and terror.
