University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

The Lawyers of Wannsee

On a recent trip to Berlin, I took a day trip to the picturesque borough of Wannsee for a tour of  the notorious #56–58 Am Grossen Wannsee or Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (House of the Wannsee Conference). This was the location where senior bureaucrats and thugs of the Nazi regime met to discuss the implementation of the directive passed on to Reinhard Heydrich by Hermann Göring to make "all necessary organisational and technical preparations for a comprehensive solution of the Jewish Question". Anyone who follows our Prof. Ted DeCoste's excellent scholarship on this matter, or has seen the excellent HBO movie "Conspiracy" based on the transcripts of this meeting should already be familiar with the nature and significance of this meeting in the scheme of things. Many historians have argued (quite correctly in my view) that the concept of mass genocide as a Final Solution to the Jewish Question was crystallized at this meeting, and that the means of carrying out the genocide was also possibly settled there. These two matters are of course contested, particularly since there is no explicit record of both in the minutes of the meeting, which was extensively doctored by Heydrich and Eichmann.

One thing that struck me on my visit to the Wannsee villa (which is now a memorial and educational site) is that the official position (supported by documentation at the site, and a plaque at the entrance) appears to be that the meeting did not decide the killing of the Jews and the means of doing so. However, as historian Mark Roseman argues in his must-read account titled "The Villa, The Lake, The Meeting: Wannsee and the Final Solution", while no hard and fast proof is present in the minutes (and understandably so), the progression of events in Nazi Germany prior to the Wannsee Conference, the clever use of euphemistic language in the only surviving record, and whatever can be gleaned from post-war testimonies of Nazi perpetrators such as Eichmann support the conclusion that the "participants [at the meeting] knew they were talking about murder" and that, as the minutes reveal, "various possible kinds of solution were discussed."

The other thing that struck me as very deplorable while viewing the documents at the site is the degree of involvement of highly educated (and one would suppose, reasonable) men, majority of them lawyers (see example thumbnail photos below, MORE HERE) , in this shameful event. Not that I was not aware of this before visiting Wannsee - Prof DeCoste has written about this, and there is that scene in Conspiracy where all the lawyers in the room were asked to raise their hands. However, it was a strange experience to stand in a room surrounded by the egregious deeds and legacy of fellow members of the bar. No doubt a grave reminder of the responsibilities placed upon us by our call to the legal profession, and of a need to constantly re-examine the uses and limits of our highly specialized skills.

Strahl gets it right on Ahenakew

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl has said that Ottawa will be "reviewing" its relationship with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations after their decision to reinstate notorious anti-Semite David Ahenakew to the Federation's "Senate".  Strahl also says that neither he nor his staff are to participate at meetings in which Mr. Ahenakew is present.

Good for Minister Strahl.  Reinstating  Mr. (oops, sorry - Senator) Ahenakew was a misguided decision taken by the Federation on the apparent logic that the setting aside of the pathetic fellow's conviction meant that he is "innocent". 

Perhaps someone at the Federation might explain what its members think about what this little man said about the extermination of a race of people.  Does the Federation actually agree that Hitler had no choice but to "fry" the "goddamn Jews"?  Or does the Federation think that it isn't true but that it's, y'know, no big deal?

Nazi-Hunting: Italians do it Better

The Wiesenthal Centre has "graded" countries for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals who fall within their courts' jurisdiction.  In the wake of the Michael Seifert case (one of 21 recent judgments in abstentia), Italy ranked well, exceeded only by the United States. 

Canada is among the countries receiving a "F2" grade, denoting ours as a country "whose efforts (or lack thereof) have resulted in complete failure ... primarily due to the absence of political will to proceed."  Thus are we lumped in with the likes of Austria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, also recipients of a "F2" grade.  Canadian efforts are, moreover, exceeded by those of a surprising list of states, including Serbia, Hungary, Syria (!!!), Romania, Bosnia, Russia, Slovakia and Uruguay.

Michael Seifert is Gone

Just to bring the story to a close from earlier posts (here and here):  Michael Seifert, convicted murderer and rapist, was consigned this past Sunday or Monday to a cell in a military prison near Naples, Italy.  There, he will live out his days in comfort (relative, that is, to what inmates enjoyed at the sort of facility he ran in Italy 65 years ago).

That this was not the outcome in so many other cases is a stain on our country's postwar history.

Now:  what about Leon Mugesera, whose deportation order was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada three years ago?

Michael Seifert - About to be Deported?

At last, perhaps, he's going.  The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday refused leave to appeal to Vancouverite, SS-alum and convicted murderer and rapist Michael Seifert (see my earlier post for details of his application), convicted by an Italian court of seven murders committed while stationed at a death camp for inmates who were destined, ultimately, to Nazi death camps in central Europe.

Lest we pat ourselves on the back for taking one step towards shedding our reputation as a haven for war criminals, let's remember that Leon Mugesera is still enjoying our hospitality.

Holocaust Echoes among the neutral Swedes

Anne-Sofie von Otter (a classical singer of uncommon elegance) has released a new album, Terezin/Theresienstadt, an homage to the compositions of Jewish composers interned there.  As it turns out, for Ms. von Otter, it's personal.

Michael Seifert - One step closer to an Italian Jail

It is being reported today that the Federal Court of Canada has ordered SS-alum, Vancouverite and erstwhile rapist, torturer and multiple murderer Michael Seifert to be stripped of Canadian citizenship. 

This will, one hopes, add more grease to the skids that lead to deportation, so that he can pass the last days of a wretched life in an Italian jail.  The obscenely long saga of Mr. Seifert's crimes and efforts to bring him to justice have been referenced in earlier posts - here and here.

Give Yourselves a Hand: Canada's the Refuge of Choice for War Criminals!!!

It turns out that Canada is a popular destination not only for refugees from '90s Balkan and Rwandan conflicts, but for war crime suspects from those conflicts, too.  Such misguided hospitality is of course a Canadian tradition going back to the late 1940s, initially fuelled by the anti-Semitism of federal immigration bureaucrats and of Canada's Liberal prime minister of the time (in the far left of the photo, next to some unidentified travelling companions).  The upshot of all this is evident in the Michael Seifert and Leon Mugesera cases - the subject of an earlier post:  multiple layers of appeals, taking years after a deportation order.

Why can't we limit the layers of appeal?  Perhaps because nobody's pushing for it.  Indeed, in Seifert's case, he has enjoyed some fairly vocal supporters who, moved by Christian charity, are anxious to overlook some trifling youthful indiscretions.

Michael Seifert - It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Yesterday in Italy v. Seifert, 2007 BCCA 420 Prowse J.A. of the British Columbia Court of Appeal denied bail to Vancouverite and SS-alumnus Michael Seifert, who was convicted by an Italian Court of seven murders committed while he was stationed at the Bolzano Transit Camp towards the end of the Second World War. 

Seifert was seeking release pending an application to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal the decision of then-Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler to surrender him to Italian authorities to serve his sentence.  The ground of appeal is that Mr. Cotler's statements, both before and after his appointment concerning the prosecution of war criminals, creates a reasonable apprehension of bias.  (Apparently, elected Canadian officials are supposed to remain outwardly indifferent on the subject of prosecuting Nazis).

Characterizing that argument as "weak" (sort of akin to characterizing the SS as "rowdy"), Madam Justice Prowse contrasted it with the nature of his offences, which are "atrocities of the worst order."  Seifert's appeal failed, then, on public interest grounds.

That Seifert remains in this country is a disgrace.  He was convicted seven years ago, ordered committed by an extradition judge four years ago and ordered deported two years ago.  And he's not the only one.  For 13 years we have been trying to deport Rwandan exile Leon Mugesera to face trial.  In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered him deported two years ago.  Mugesera, a high-ranking official in the militant Hutu party MRND, gave a speech urging followers to attack Tutsis in a manner that the Supreme Court found contributed to the outbreak of violence that claimed 800,000 lives.  Perhaps now that Rwanda has abolished the death penalty, Canadian officials will acquire the backbone to drag him from whatever altar he's clinging to and dump him on a Kigali-bound plane.  Although his lawyer still claims to believe that Mugesera will be killed upon arrival.  And that would be a pity.