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Kansas judges ponder legal lessons from Holocaust

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Dozens of Kansas judges have heard a presentation about how Germany’s judiciary aided the Nazis and the Holocaust before and during the Second World War.

The presentation Thursday by Marcus Appelbaum and William Meinecke Jr. of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington came during an annual conference for nearly 300 Kansas judges.

Both told reporters before their presentations that Germany had a tradition of an independent judiciary and many of the judges who served before the Nazi regime continued in the judiciary. They said judges interpreted laws broadly to assist the Nazi regime and often appear to have done so to remain relevant in public life.

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said the history contains lessons for the judiciary and reminds citizens that they must remain involved.

 

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