Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne: "The Nuremberg Legacy"

Norbert Ehrenfreund covered the Nuremberg trials as a journalist for the Stars and Stripes. He went on to become a lawyer and judge in California.

Thus, "The Nuremberg Legacy "brings an insight from one who witnessed what went on at the trials and the insight of an attorney who has given great thought to what the trials meant then and now.

Throughout "The Nuremberg Legacy," there is a voice of "let us not forget." The continued lunacy of those who preach there was no Holocaust requires that works such as this remain front and center.

The insights on how and why decisions were made on who to try and how those trials should go forward are masterfully woven into this work. The reader hears the arguments that preceded the trials and the vital discussions during the trials on what evidence to present and how to present it.

Surrounding all decisions was the insistence that for the law and these trials to have meaning, they had to be just and fair, even when the defendants were evil to the core.

The Nuremberg court wanted the world to know these trials were not a sham and that as such they could be the standard by which future such trials could proceed.

Much time is spent in the book discussing how the trials shaped future international law, even while acts of genocide and crimes against humanity continue today.

The matters raised in this book continue to be discussed on a worldwide basis.

"The Holocaust itself required hundreds of thousands of active co-conspirators and millions more of morally complicit people who remained silent while it was being carried out around them. Not only were most of these guilty participants immunized from prosecution, but many were rewarded with good jobs and other economic benefits. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the Nuremberg trials did not effectively deter subsequent mass killings. Indeed, the use of civilians as weapons of war - victims of genocide, mass rapes and human shields - has continued, with only a few handfuls of leaders and perpetrators prosecuted and punished. The challenge of Nuremberg is to construct an effective, ongoing, legal regime that punishes not just the leaders, but each and every guilty participant in the most egregious of war crimes." - Professor Alan Dershowitz

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Elie Wiesel

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2017 season is his 11th with the club and 32nd covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. The Orioles and Sarasota County have partnered on the Big League Reader Program, which rewarded kids who read three books in February with tickets to a Grapefruit League game at Ed Smith Stadium in March.

* Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne. © Copyright 2017 Gary F. Thorne. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary F. Thorne and MASNsports.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.