‘Lawyers Without Rights’ exhibit, discussion focus on Jewish lawyers under the Third Reich

Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish lawyers will be the focus of an exhibit and discussion open to the law school community.

“Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers Under the Third Reich” will be presented at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 1, at the Trager Family Jewish Community Center, 3600 Dutchmans Lane. Admission is free but advance registration is required at jewishlouisville.org/event/John-Rosenberg/.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear the remarkable story of civil rights advocate John Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor and former Department of Justice lawyer who in 1970 founded the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund in Prestonburg, Kentucky.

At age 7, Rosenberg was a first-hand witness to the violence and destruction of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” on Nov. 9-10, 1938, when Nazi officials attacked German Jews and ransacked their homes, synagogues, businesses and other institutions.

Today at age 92, Rosenberg is still actively involved with civil rights causes. He will share his personal story and lead a discussion about the exhibit, which is on loan from the American Bar Association beginning on Jan. 15.

Sponsors of the event are Brandeis School of Law, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Federation of Louisville, American Bar Association, Louisville Bar Association and Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer, the Federal Bar of Germany.