Hitler’s Courts

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Gita

Hitler's Courts

Betrayal of the Rule of Law in Nazi Germany

Live Presentation

This acclaimed program includes the 35-minute film “Hitler’s Courts,” which premiered on the PBS series “The Open Mind.” The film features archival footage from the Nazi era along with comments from leading voices in international law: Whitney R. Harris, a member of the prosecuting team in Nuremberg in 1947; Gabriel Bach, former assistant prosecutor at the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann; Michael J. Bazyler, Professor of Law at Whittier Law School; and Raymond Brown, Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School, among others. The lecture analyzes how distinguished lawyers and judges betrayed the rule of law and laid the groundwork for legally-sanctioned torture, starvation and mass murder.

About the Documentary

When the lawyers and judges of Nazi Germany placed their allegiance to the Fuhrer above their allegiance to due process of law, Hitler’s success was assured. The horrors of the Holocaust had the sanction of law and demonstrated how easily even a constitutionally governed nation can fall prey to the rhetoric of despots.

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Awards

Appreciations

“One of the most compelling documentaries I have ever seen—high drama, profound historical understanding, and, most important, extraordinary lessons for the present.”

Richard D. Heffner

PBS Producer-Host, “The Open Mind”

“Excellently produced—a perfect tool for examining the misuse of law and the inhumanity that fueled the Shoah.”

Beth Dotan

Omaha Institute for Holocaust Education

“Brilliant and chilling, a powerful reminder that law can be used to advance both the best and worst of what we humans are capable of doing.”

Erwin Chemerinsky

Professor of Law, Duke Law School

Memory After Belsen – How the Holocaust Will Be Remembered

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Gita

Memory After Belsen

The Future of Holocaust History

A Documentary

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About the Documentary

“Memory After Belsen” examines how the Holocaust is being taught and represented now that the survivor generation is all but gone. The film investigates the changes occurring within and the many dimensions of Holocaust memory through the generations. “Memory After Belsen” weaves together a visual tapestry of people whose family histories position them as stewards of Holocaust remembrance.

“…profoundly moving documentary, which finds new and bracing ways to tackle an important and far-reaching subject.”

WATCH

THE TRAILER

Who will tell the story of the Holocaust, once survivors are gone? Which version of the Holocaust will they emphasize? “Memory After Belsen” addresses these and other challenges to Holocaust memory.

THE FILM BEGINS with the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp dual experience of re-birth: the physical and emotional rebirth of the survivor, and the actual birth of over 2,000 children in the Displaced Persons Camp: the 2nd generation witness. This is not a film, however, on the tragic history of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, nor of its Displaced Persons Camp. Bergen-Belsen serves as an extraordinary model for posing broader questions about the transmission of the memory of the Holocaust through the generations. Among these are: how has the survivor generation impacted the 2nd generation; and, what of the memory work of the ‘next generations’? The film addresses these issues through original and contemporary documentary research.

“Memory After Belsen” explores paradigmatically different forms of Holocaust memory through the prism of wide-ranging and compelling oral histories. In a period where we are witnessing the sharpest decline yet of the survivor generation, “Memory After Belsen” focuses on nothing less than the future of the memory of the Holocaust.

Memory often tends to deepen as it travels through generational layers and becomes the living heritage of the next generations. A good portion of this documentary film explores the continuing search for the meaning of a complex past in its many contemporary expressions. “Memory After Belsen” will be a unique cinematic experience for those directly affected by the Holocaust, but as importantly, an eye-opener for a general viewing audience. Many in both quarters will recognize themselves in this film, and their concerns for a precious legacy.

Live Presentation with the Producer

“Meet the Filmmaker” Program Explores Challenges to Holocaust Education

What is gained and what is lost when the history of the Holocaust is interpreted by human rights activists, artists, authors, and filmmakers? With the survivor generation fading, who and what will replace that living voice? Which story of the Holocaust will be told? These are some of the critical issues addressed in “Memory After Belsen,” a new film for Discovery Education and the subject of a live “Meet the Filmmaker” event with Writer/Producer Joshua M. Greene.

This acclaimed documentary follows the granddaughter of a Bergen-Belsen survivor to the place of her family’s destruction. Her journey provides a vehicle for exploring issues and tensions surrounding Holocaust memory. The film, geared toward high school, college and general audiences, raises issues that are today uppermost on the minds of educators and scholars. The 76-minute program features excerpts from Oscar-winning feature films, an exploration of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, the legacy of Anne Frank and excursions into classrooms from Harlem to Germany. Commentary is offered by leading thinkers in the field of Holocaust studies, including Alvin Rosenfeld, Lawrence L. Langer, Jeffrey Hartman, Marianne Hirsch, Michael Marrus, and noted Holocaust artist and child survivor Samuel Bak.

Team Members

Production Company

Executive Producers

Joshua M. Greene

Writer & Producer

Mr. Greene is an author, educator, and filmmaker who explores the role of religion in the peace process. He taught Holocaust history at Hofstra University teaches Hindu philosophy at various places in the New York area. He is the author of several bestselling books, award-winning films, and lectures frequently.

Shiva Kumar

Director & Actor

Shiva Kumar has worked in commercial, broadcast, and corporate filmmaking for over twenty years. Shiva has partnered with Joshua Greene on programs for PBS, The Disney Channel, Discovery Communications, and more than a dozen television networks overseas.

Henri Lustiger Thaler

Executive Producer

Dr. Lustiger Thaler is the author and editor of seven books and many scholarly articles. He is the Series Editor of Memory Studies: Global Constellations and the Associate Editor of Sociopedia by Sage Publications. Dr. Lustiger Thaler is an internationally recognized exhibition curator on the history of the Holocaust.

Edward Sonshine

CEO & Philanthropist

After 15 years of legal practice, Mr. Sonshine went into business and became C.E.O. of one of Canada’s first REITs. He is a Director of the Royal Bank of Canada and Cineplex Galaxy Entertainment. Mr. Sonshine is currently Vice-Chair of Mount Sinai Hospital of Toronto, Chair of State of Israel Bonds/Canada and a member of the Top Gifts Cabinet of United Way of Toronto.

Production Crew

Advisory Committee

Paul Gibson

Cinematographer

After fifteen years as one of HBO’s hottest cinematographers, New York-based cameraman Paul Gibson segued into feature film and commercial production. His credits include cinema-verite work such as “Paris Is Burning,” one of the highest-grossing theatrical documentaries of all time.

Brian McClatchy

Photographer

Since 1991 Brian has worked as a freelance Director of Photography for clients such as Hugo Boss, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Mercedes Benz, and Porsche. He regularly shoots for National Geographic Television’s Explorer Series as well as contributing to Showtime Network’s Smithsonian HD Channel productions.

Lawrence Langer Professor Emeritus, Simmons College, MA
Geoffrey Hartman Professor Emeritus, Yale University, CT
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Professor, New York University; Leader, Core Exhibition Team, Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
David Marwell Director, Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, NYC
Harry Reicher Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Council (2004–2008); Director, Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center, Brooklyn, New York; Professor of Law, Touro Law School; Adjunct Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Marianne Hirsch Marianne Hirsch is William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Professor in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender of Columbia University.
Marlene Rubenstein Chicago liaison for “Memory After Belsen”; co-founder, Women’s Board of the National Kidney Foundation of America; Chicago coordinator, fundraising for the United States Holocaust Museum (Washington, D.C.)

For exhibition licensing inquiries, please visit Sound View Media Partners

The Hero’s Journey Presentation

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Gita

The Hero's Journey

YOUR CAREER IN LAW

This

Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

program includes

defines stages of the Hero’s Journey (Joseph Campbell’s “Monomyth”) and recounts the saga of WWII’s most daring operatives: Forest Yeo-Thomas, the original James Bond; and Otto Skorzeny, Hitler’s top commando.

puts attendees at the center of discussion, with an exercise that breaks through the Matrix of everyday routines and sets a course for the future.

Appreciations

We enter into a career in law with certain expectations.

Having spent time and money getting here, we anticipate rewards, satisfactions, and opportunities to advance. What happens when those expectations are frustrated? How do we cope with the disparities between our imagined career and its harsher reality? “The Hero’s Journey” explores the thin border that separates reality from illusion in a legal career.

Two “heroes,” Nazi commando Otto Skorzeny and British underground agent Forest Yeo-Thomas, were familiar with that thin line. As top-tier military operatives, they were forced to ask themselves: “What is my price? Is winning more important than the integrity of my character? Will I do anything to win?” They chose the path of integrity—a choice that united two men who could not have been less alike in every other way. Their saga provides a vivid reference for our examination of a career in law.

During the war years, Yeo-Thomas and Otto Skorzeny knew one another only by name. It was not until 1947 that they met face to face: a courtroom on the grounds of former concentration camp Dachau, where Skorzeny stood trial for his life before a tribunal of the U.S. Third Army. Yeo-Thomas had been tortured nearly to death by the Nazis, yet he appeared in court to speak on behalf of his former enemy. Theirs became one of history’s most unexpected friendships and one that raised troubling questions about the rightness and wrongness of behavior under adverse conditions.

Theirs became one of history’s most unexpected friendships and one that raised troubling questions about the rightness and wrongness of behavior under adverse conditions.

Perhaps the most challenging questions to emerge from their friendship were not so much legal as ethical. How could a man fighting for a genocidal regime be deemed honorable? How could his enemy, a man sworn to bringing him down, commit himself as wholeheartedly to saving his life?

It may not be possible to reconcile Otto Skorzeny’s military allegiances with his extraordinary character—just as impossible as fathoming how a man who survived repeated torture by Nazi captors could then honor a Nazi commando before the eyes of the world. Yet here were two heroes from enemy armies convinced that in the rubble of a terrible time a treasure lay buried, a wealth of character awaiting resurrection.

The moral and ethical questions raised by this extraordinary story from World War II form the narrative point-of-reference for “The Hero’s Journey: Your Career in Law.”

In the first half of this two-hour program, we define the stages of the Hero Journey (or “Monomyth”) as outlined in Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. These stages include, in Campbell’s terms, the Call to Adventure, the Road of Trials, the Point of No Return, Achieving the Boon, and the Return to the Ordinary World. We then recount the story of Skorzeny and Yeo-Thomas. In the second half, we begin by examining the anomalies in the Skorzeny-Yeo-Thomas saga and draw parallels with challenges in a legal career, such as dealing with fear and the temptation to attain success; confronting inner conflict and loss of self-confidence; and daring to ask the existential question: Did I choose the right vocation?

Attendees then take part in an established time-management exercise, which gives them an opportunity to identify—without reservation, judgement, or condition—any and all goals they wish to achieve in their lifetime. The freedom to express inner desires, however radical, can be liberating.

The program concludes with open discussion. In previous presentations, topics have ranged from issues of the Dachau war crimes trials, where Otto Skorzeny and his men were tried for violations of the Hague Convention (specifically fighting in the enemy’s uniform), to practical career strategies.

Contact for more information

Hollywood & the Holocaust Presentation

Posted on November 23, 2019 by Gita

HOLLYWOOD

AND THE HOLOCAUST

What is gained and what is lost when history is appropriated, and misappropriated, by filmmakers, novelists, and other creative artists?

With stunning video clips and dramatic photographs, Emmy Award-nominated producer Joshua M. Greene explores existential and pedagogical issues surrounding the transmission of Holocaust memory. The audience is challenged to reconsider beloved movies and books by hearing an informed exposition of what lies behind the messages of popular media.

PROGRAM

FEATURES

The program features excerpts from Academy-Award-winning movies, scenes from Mr. Greene’s acclaimed documentary, “Witness: Voices from the Holocaust,” and a revealing exploration of our assumptions concerning heroism, bravery, resistance, and the human spirit.

Appreciations

“One of the best keynotes I’ve seen... thoughtful, well-researched, terrific.”

Participant Evaluation

Utah State Bar Association

"I could listen to Mr. Greene talk all day."

Participant Evaluation

New Jersey State Bar Legal Conference

“...important, thought-provoking— the presentation left a lasting impression on all who attended.”

Susan Damron, Esq.

Oklahoma Bar Association

Justice at Dachau Presentation

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Gita

Justice at Dachau Presentation

"I have heard many public speakers. Joshua Greene is best of the best. I recommend 'Justice at Dachau' without hesitation."

Col. Fred L. Borch, Former Chief Prosecutor, Guantanamo Bay

A Continuing Legal Education Program (CLE)

For the past fifteen years, “Justice at Dachau” has been staged before sell-out audiences at legal, educational, and cultural venues nationwide. With rare footage and photographs from inside the U.S. Army courtroom in Germany, bestselling author Joshua M. Greene evokes the drama, pathos, and historic achievements of the largest yet least-known war crimes trials in history. From 1945 to 1948, while the world’s attention was focused 65 miles north at Nuremberg, a young lawyer from Alabama nearly sacrificed his life fighting for righteous judgements against the men and women who ran Hitler’s camps. Based on Greene’s bestselling book published by the American Bar Association.

“Riveting—destined to be a classic among Holocaust histories.”
PATRICK O’DONNELL, AUTHOR, BEYOND VALOR AND INTO THE RISING SUN

PROGRAM

CONTENT

CURRENT WAR CRIMES PROCEEDINGS

Col. Denson confronted perennial themes of justice in the Dachau trials. How does a victor nation provide its defeated enemy with due process of law? What can the international community reasonably expect from international tribunals? Is it possible to strike a balance between the law and government directives for expedient trials? How far down the line can accountability be ascribed for participation in a genocidal regime?

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ISSUES

William Denson was a devout man of God. He felt the U.S. had an obligation – under international law and under divine law – to provide the accused with fair trials. It was, nonetheless, his duty to win convictions. What role do reconciliation and forgiveness play in war crimes proceedings? Does the South African model make sense in increasingly aggressive – and remote – warfare? What role might religious and spiritual leaders play in the peace process?

BEHAVIORAL ISSUES

William Denson did not believe that atrocities in the camps were German in origin. Rather, his concern sprang from an intuition that anyone, under the wrong circumstances, could be moved to such unthinkable acts. Among the accused were reputable doctors and outstanding citizens who turned brutal through overexposure to brutality. What lessons emerged from the Dachau trials that might inform our understanding of human behavior?

PRODUCTION AND EDITORIAL ISSUES

Presentations inevitably provoke questions concerning the reconstruction of historic events. How does an author compress 12,000 pages of trial transcripts into a 350-page book? What are the dangers in oversimplifying complex issues? Are there moral parameters to be respected when dealing with history, or does the artist enjoy licenses unavailable to historians and academics?

PROGRAM

FEATURES

Meet the Prosecutor, Colonel William Denson

Bill Denson, just thirty-two years old, with only one murder trial to his name, led a brilliant and successful prosecution, but nearly two years of exposure to such horrors took its toll. His wife divorced him, his weight dropped to 116 pounds, and he collapsed from exhaustion. Worst of all was the pressure from his army superiors to bring the trials to a rapid end when their agenda shifted away from punishing Nazis to winning Germany’s support in the emerging Cold War. Denson persevered, determined to create a careful record of responsibility for the crimes of the Holocaust. When, in a shocking final twist, the United States used clandestine reversals and commutations of sentences to set free those found guilty at Dachau, Denson risked his army career to try to prevent justice from being undone.

Among the Accused...

HEAR THE STORY

OF THE DACHAU TRIALS

Joshua Greene is interviewed by John Farmer, former Attorney General for New Jersey, for the 2018 International March of the Living.

MEET YOUR SPEAKER, JOSHUA M. GREENE

Joshua M. Greene is a former Holocaust instructor at Hofstra and Fordham Universities. He has been a featured speaker at The Pentagon, Yale University, and the New York Public Library Distinguished Author series.

JUSTICE AT DACHAU HAS BEEN PRESENTED AT…

The Pentagon
Harvard Law
Yale University
Camp Dachau Memorial Site
New York Public Library
Union Theological Seminary
Over a dozen state bar associations

NOTABLE PROJECTS

Memory After Belsen: The Future of Holocaust Memory
Hitler’s Courts: Betrayal of the Rule of Law in Nazi Germany
Witness: Voices from the Holocaust
Unstoppable: The biography of Siggi B. Wilzig
Signs of Survival: A Story of Two Sisters in the Holocaust

PRAISE FOR JUSTICE AT DACHAU

Justice at Dachau is easily the best CLE presentation I have seen in over two decades of practicing law. Professor Greene’s talents as a speaker, combined with what has clearly been a great deal of meticulous research about a fascinating yet largely unknown topic, make for an unforgettable experience.

Judge Ari FiszLAKE COUNTY, IL BAR ASSOCIATION

Prosecution of heinous war criminals is an issue fraught with complex legal challenges…. Your presentation, in straightforward language, was profoundly effective.

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, DEPT. OF HISTORY

Every program Joshua Greene has taught for us has been extremely well-received by our membership—and they are not easily impressed. We are always asked to bring him back.

Judith M. McInturff, Esq.CLE Director, Columbus Bar Association

As an attorney who has prosecuted and defended more than 300 cases, and as a former professor of criminal and international law, I have heard many public speakers. Joshua Greene is best of the best. Recommended, without hesitation.

Col. Fred L. BorchFormer Chief Prosecutor, Guantanamo Bay

Weeks later we continue to get positive feedback…enjoyable, absorbing, informative…a moving and extraordinary program.

Suffolk Academy of Law

ABOUT THE BOOK

The world remembers Nuremberg, where a handful of Nazi policymakers were brought to justice, but nearly forgotten are the proceedings at Dachau, where hundreds of Nazi guards, officers, and doctors stood trial for personally taking part in the torture and execution of prisoners inside the Dachau, Mauthausen, Flossenburg and Buchenwald concentration camps. In Justice at Dachau, award-winning author and filmmaker Joshua M. Greene recreates the Dachau trials based on thousands of pages of transcripts and reveals the dramatic story of William Denson, a soft-spoken young lawyer from Alabama whisked from teaching law at West Point to lead the prosecution in the largest series of war crimes trials in history.

In a makeshift courtroom set up inside Hitler’s first concentration camp, Denson was charged with building a team from lawyers who had no background in war crimes, and with determining charges for crimes that courts had never before confronted.

Click here to learn more about the book

BOOK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Hitler's Courts

Betrayal of the Rule of Law in Nazi Germany

About the Documentary

Awards

Appreciations

Richard D. Heffner

Beth Dotan

Erwin Chemerinsky

Memory After Belsen

The Future of Holocaust History

A Documentary

About the Documentary

Team Members

Joshua M. Greene

Shiva Kumar

Henri Lustiger Thaler

Edward Sonshine

Paul Gibson

Brian McClatchy

The Hero's Journey

YOUR CAREER IN LAW

Appreciations

We enter into a career in law with certain expectations.

HOLLYWOOD

AND THE HOLOCAUST

Appreciations

Participant Evaluation

Participant Evaluation

Susan Damron, Esq.

Justice at Dachau Presentation

"I have heard many public speakers. Joshua Greene is best of the best. I recommend 'Justice at Dachau' without hesitation."

Col. Fred L. Borch, Former Chief Prosecutor, Guantanamo Bay

A Continuing Legal Education Program (CLE)

Meet the Prosecutor, Colonel William Denson

Among the Accused...

Klaus Shilling

Ilse Koch

Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen

MEET YOUR SPEAKER, JOSHUA M. GREENE

PRAISE FOR JUSTICE AT DACHAU

ABOUT THE BOOK