Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany Under the Third Reich

On January 20, 1942, 15 German officials attended a conference at Wannsee, on the outskirts of Berlin. The meeting comprised of mid-ranking SS commanders and a variety of government ministers, including Roland Freisler, President Judge of the Nazi People's Court. The meeting was organized by SS Major Adolf Eichmann under the direction of Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich. It was a polite conference, but under this thin veneer of manners lay an evil intent. By the end of the meeting, the fate of six million lives would be decided and the shape of the world would be altered forever.

When those charged with defending the rule of law betray that trust, the victory of tyrants is assured. Hitler's Courts features archival footage from the Nazi era, rarely seen photographs, and interviews with leading voices in international law. Experts examine the perversion of the courts under Nazi rule and discuss how distinguished lawmakers were capable of complicity in the largest mass murder of men, women and children in history.

Documentary profile of Dr. Jur. Roland Freisler, President of the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) in Nazi Germany. Approximately 90% of all proceedings that came before him received sentences of death or life imprisonment, the sentences frequently having been determined before the trial. Between 1942 and 1945, more than 5,000 death sentences were decreed by him.

Hon. Bob Rae is a former premier of Ontario. He was the key speaker at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in November 2006 for Holocaust Education Week in Toronto. This video provides an excellent perspective on how the Nazis implemented the Nuremburg laws to prohibit Jewish lawyers of practicing law in Germany. These laws also deprived Jews their civil and human rights. What followed was the greatest mass murder in human history.

The true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine, Sophie Scholl, the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. The last six days of Sophie Scholl's life is dramatized, from arrest to interrogation, trial, and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.