Nazi Ideology and the Courts in the Third Reich
This seminar will outline the major tenants of Nazi racial ideology and explore two case studies—the Nuremberg Race Laws and the illegal “Euthanasia” killing program. Prosecutors played a key role in state direction of court decisions and in transmitting the tenants of Nazi racial ideology to the courts, in particular the prioritization of the needs of the "national community" over those of the individual. This emphasizes the need for prosecutors to uphold a culture that safeguards democratic principles, including individual rights and the due process of law.
William Frederick Meinecke Jr. is a historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He received his undergraduate degree in German and History from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in 1983. He attended the universities of Bonn and Berlin in Germany and received his M.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1998) in history from the University of Maryland at College Park. The title of his dissertation was Conflicting Loyalties: The Supreme Court in Weimar and Nazi Germany 1918-1945. In 1992 Meinecke joined the staff of the Museum’s Wexner Learning Center to help design a multimedia program on the Holocaust, the Historical Atlas of the Holocaust (book and CD-ROM), and a website for students. Since 2000, Meinecke has worked with law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, and attorneys in the Museum’s Law, Justice, and the Holocaust training program. His book, Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust, was published by the Museum in December 2007.