During the summer of 2014, Professor Michael J. Bazyler taught in the study abroad program “
From Nuremberg to the Hague
” (“N2H”) in Nuremberg, Germany. The program allows students to learn firsthand about the Holocaust in the Bavarian city that hosted the Nazi war crimes trials after World War II – the location considered the birthplace of modern international criminal law. The program is hosted by Creighton University School of Law and co-sponsored by Philipps University of Marburg, Germany, the War Crimes Documentation Center, and the United States National Section of the International Association of Penal Law, and is accredited by the American Bar Association. Along with students from other law schools, Chapman students have participated in the program since its inception in 2011.

“I am grateful that I get to teach students about the law where the law was actually created. It takes teaching to another level.” – Professor Michael Bazyler


nuremburg-study-abroad


Students of the From Nuremberg to the Hague Summer 2014 program in courtroom 600 of the historical Nuremberg trials in Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice.



In 2005, Professor Bazyler helped organize a conference in Nuremburg to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nuremburg trials, joining a delegation of lawyers from two universities in Germany for this important program. His experience helped him realize that the many study abroad programs are not topic specific, leading to the concept for this unique program. Professor Bazyler worked closely with Michael Kelley, Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Graduate & International Programs at Creighton University School of Law, who obtained approval from his university to host the program.

Professor Bazyler co-teaches “International Criminal Law” and “Law and the Holocaust” alongside four American and two German professors who are all experts on international criminal law.

The Nuremberg trials were some of the most important in human history, giving root to the current human rights system. Modern international courts exist because of the precedent of the Nuremburg trials. Professor Bazyler wants the legacy of the Nuremberg trials to be known by new generations of law students. This year’s program took students to Poland for a tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they learned firsthand about the death camps established by the Germans.

“We can teach in the United States about international criminal law but it is a completely different experience when students are actually there and see where the physical extermination of millions of people took place.” – Professor Michael Bazyler


2015 will mark the 70th anniversary of the Nuremburg trials. Students participating in the 2015 summer program will join a delegation of jurists, including judges, law professors and practicing attorneys, to study in the actual courtrooms where the trials took place. This one week program will occur in July and will also provide general and ethics CLE credit. Fowler School of Law Dean Tom Campbell is a member of the organizing committee for this 70th anniversary commemoration. Anyone interested in 2015 delegation or the N2H summer program may contact Professor Bazyler at
mbazyler@chapman.edu
.

michael-bazylerMichael J. Bazyler
is the “1939” Club Law Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies and Professor of Law at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. He recently published
Forgotten Trials of the Holocaust
(New York University Press, 2014) with Frank M. Tuerkheimer. Professor Bazyler is a research fellow at the Holocaust Education Trust in London as well as the holder of previous fellowships at Harvard Law School and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In the Fall of 2006, he was a Research Fellow at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem (The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority of Israel) and the holder of the Baron Friedrich Carl von Oppenheim Chair for the Study of Racism, Antisemitism and the Holocaust. Professor Bazyler’s book
Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America’s Courts
(New York University Press, 2003, soft cover 2005), was cited by the United States Supreme Court and reviewed in the
Harvard Law Review, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times
(London), and
The Economist
. He is a contributor of chapters in various books on genocide and the law, and the co-editor/author with Roger Alford of
Holocaust Restitution: Perspectives on the Litigation and Its Legacy
(New York University Press, 2006; soft cover 2007).