Close to 200 people attend reception for "Lawyers Without Rights" exhibit
February 8, 2017 - Tamara Williams
Regents Professor Sherri Burr gave a presentation at the launch of the Lawyers Without Rights exhibit at the UNM Law School on February 7.
Close to 200 people attended the launch of the highly acclaimed international exhibit, “Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany under the Third Reich” at the law school on Tuesday, February 7, 2017.
The exhibit consists of a series of panels showing the fate of Jewish judges and lawyers in Nazi Germany. While a sizable group emigrated, others went into hiding, ended up in jail, or worked in concentration camps.
The launch featured a presentation by Regents Professor Sherri Burr, who discussed, “Defining Others to Justify Abolishing Legal and Human Rights: Parallels between Jews in Nazi Germany and Free Blacks in Colonial Virginia.”
UNM Law School Dean Alfred Mathewson greeted the crowd of close to 200 people attending the event.
Burr said the ongoing tendency of those who seize power with evil intent to define groups as other, target them, and systematically reduce or eliminate their legal and human rights. She advocated for studying what happened to other groups in order to avoid making the same mistakes now and into the future.
Burr’s engaging, thoughtful presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session.
This showing of the exhibit is sponsored by UNM School of Law and the Holocaust and Intolerance Museum of New Mexico in conjunction with the American Bar Association and German Federal Bar. The reception was sponsored by Aleli and Brian Colón.
Dr. Kathy Powers, who received a research fellowship from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, introduced Prof. Burr.
The Colóns posted on the UNM Law School Facebook page, “Thank you to the Holocaust & Intolerance Museum of NM for asking us to host the reception for such a powerful, timely & important presentation at UNM School of Law,” said the Colóns via Facebook. “It was an honor for us to do so.”
The Holocaust and Intolerance Museum of New Mexico responded with the Facebook post, “Thank you UNM School of Law for partnering with us to present this very compelling exhibition to the Albuquerque community. The opening reception was wonderful and well attended and Professor Burr's presentation was enlightening. And, thank you Aleli and Brian for sponsoring the reception.”
“Lawyers Without Rights” has been shown in nearly 100 cities in Germany, the United States and others parts of the world and will be available for viewing at the UNM Law School through March 11, 2017.
For UNM Law School building hours of operation and parking, see http://lawschool.unm.edu/about/building-hours.php.
Attendees viewed the exhibit at the law school, which is sponsored by the American Bar Association, the German Federal Bar, the Holocaust and Intolerance Museum of New Mexico and the UNM Law School.
UNM Law School alumnus Brian Colón and his wife Aleli sponsored the reception.
