An agreement to probe the persecution of Jewish lawyers in Nazi Germany was signed last week by the bar associations of Tel Aviv and Berlin. The two groups resolved to research, document, exchange information and organize joint conferences on the subject, and to cooperate on human rights issues.

“We want to remember the past and cherish the memories of our Jewish colleagues who were persecuted by the Nazis, and to honor them,” Irene Schmid, who chairs the Berlin Bar Association, told Haaretz at Tuesday’s signing in Tel Aviv. “We want to pass on their memory to the coming generations and prevent Holocaust denial,” Schmid added. Also present were Effi Naveh, chairman of the Israel Bar Association’s Tel Aviv district, director general of the Justice Ministry Guy Rottkopf and German ambassador to Israel Andreas Michaelis.

A new book is now in preparation in Germany documenting the fate of the Jewish lawyers in Berlin after the Holocaust. “Many of them, about 160, went back to work in Berlin,” Schmid said.

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The book and the agreement between the Tel Aviv and Berlin bar associations are part of a long-term documentation project, which includes an exhibit that has been presented internationally in recent years and a series of books, telling the stories of Jewish lawyers in Germany during the Holocaust.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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