Lawyers Without Rights: The Fate of Jewish Lawyers in Berlin after 1933 Hardcover – February 1, 2019

As the rule of law comes under attack today in both developed and Third World countries, Lawyers Without Rights tragically portrays what can happen when the just rule of law disappears – replaced by an arbitrary rule by law that sweeps aside the rights and dignity of selected populations. The story of the fate of Jewish lawyers in Berlin and all of Germany is more than a historical footnote; it is a wake-up call that a system of justice free of improper political considerations remains fragile and should never be taken for granted.

The publication of the English translation of this book marks an exciting new step for a joint project of the American Bar Association and the Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (German Federal Bar) that has focused on the tragic fate of Jewish lawyers in Nazi Germany and the meaning of the rule of law.

Lawyers Without Rights captures the story of the occupational bans on Jewish lawyers and jurists in Berlin, the capital city and home to 3,400 attorneys. Of those, 43 percent were of Jewish origin, the largest group of any city in Germany in 1933. This story was first told in German two decades ago and updated in 2007. The book includes more than 1,600 bios of lawyers in Berlin who could no longer practice law after 1938 because of their Jewish ancestry, and notes the fate of 1,404 of them.