Students invited free to exploration of Dachau war trials

Janel Shoun | 

Americans have long regarded the prosecutors in the 1940’s Nazi war crimes trials as courageous heroes, but imagine fighting on the front lines in Europe one day, and the next ordered to the Dachau trials, not to prosecute – but to defend – the Nazis.

That was the life experience of the late Douglas Bates II, a Centerville lawyer, who played a key role in the Dachau trials, a history-making event overshadowed in history by the well-reported Nuremberg Trials. Bates’ experience is also the inspiration for To Do Justice, a two-day event, April 9-10, at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena.

Lipscomb students and faculty are invited to attend the event free of charge. The seminar will feature award-winning filmmaker Joshua Greene, whose documentaries have been viewed nationally and internationally, and personal thoughts and reflections on Bates' role in the trials from his letters and trial transcripts.

April 9, 7:30 p.m.

Ezell Center, room 301, Lipscomb campus, 3901 Granny White Pike, Nashville
Free admittance

Lipscomb’s Landiss Lecture Series presents a screening of Witness: Voices from the Holocaust followed by a discussion with the filmmaker Joshua Greene.

This documentary, which aired nationally on PBS in 2000, presents Holocaust survivor testimonies preserved by the Fortunoff Video Archive at Yale University. The film received the gold medal at the Houston and Flagstaff film festivals and was awarded Best Social Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. A companion book was published by Simon & Schuster. The Washington Times wrote, "A program such as Witness: Voices from the Holocaust gives new meaning to the term documentary."

April 10, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Allen Arena, Lipscomb campus, 3901 Granny White Pike, Nashville
Free Admittance for Lipscomb students and faculty
$75 for the general public
$175 for attorneys seeking five hours of continuing legal education
To register, contact Douglas Bates III at 931-729-4085 or e-mail dtbates3@bellsouth.net.

To Do Justice, an all-day seminar exploring the ethical issues faced by the Dachau trial attorneys, was developed by Greene and Douglas Bates III, Centerville lawyer and son of Dachau defense attorney Douglas Bates II. It has been held in law schools and universities nationwide including Cornell, Pepperdine, Yale and Harvard.

The Dachau trials raise many of the same profound questions regarding jurisdiction, criminal liability and defendants rights that we continue to face today at Guantanomo Bay and other places.

The seminar will feature:

A presentation by Greene, author of Justice at Dachau, a biography of Dachau prosecutor Bill Denson based on 30,000 pages of trial transcripts, miles of microfilm, stacks of photographs and newspaper clippings and letters from both SS officers and victims of Nazi horror.

Presentation by Douglas Bates III, about his father’s role in the trials.

A panel discussion of historians and lawyers on the ethics and legal issues involved in the prosecution and the defense at the Dachau trials.

A discussion by David Shearon, executive director of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization, on coping with highly emotional court cases.

To Do Justice is sponsored by the Students for International Peace and Justice of Lipscomb University and Douglas Bates III.