The Holocaust was both the greatest mass murder and the greatest theft in history. This lecture by Professor Michael Bazyler on November 17, 2020 discussed how America’s civil justice system provided a measure of long overdue justice to Holocaust victims and heirs. We examined claims for return of Nazi looted art, stolen Jewish real property in Europe, Holocaust-era insurance policies, slave labor and bank deposits held by Swiss banks. Our focus was on both past and ongoing litigation, including 2 Holocaust restitution cases currently before the U.S. Supreme Court (Simon v. Hungary; Phillip v. Germany), for which Professor Bazyler is co-authoring amicus briefs. Seventy students, faculty, and staff from the Law School and other UT schools and departments attended this distinguished lecture.
Professor Bazyler is professor of law and the 1939 Law Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. He is the author of seven books and more than two dozen law review articles, book chapters and essays on subjects covering law and the Holocaust, restitution following genocide and other mass atrocities, public international law, international human rights law, and international trade law and comparative law. His book, Holocaust, Genocide and the Law: A Quest for Justice in a Post-Holocaust World (Oxford University Press) is a winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award.