In recognition of his pioneering work in studying the legal dimension of the Holocaust, Penn School of Law adjunct professor Harry Reicher was recently appointed by President Bush to the Holocaust Memorial Council.
The council's job consists of three primary functions, according to Reicher. It oversees the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., provides research for the research institute that is associated with the museum and oversees the Holocaust commemoration "Days of Remembrance."
Reicher said that he is "excited and exhilarated" by this new opportunity, but added that he is "feeling very humble and moved by it all."
In addition to teaching at Penn, Reicher also serves as director of international affairs and a representative to the United Nations for Agudath Israel World Organization.
When he first came to Penn, Reicher created a new law class -- with the help of some of his peers at the Law School -- entitled "Law and the Holocaust." The class was the first of its kind to be offered at a law school.
Reicher explained that his class explores the idea that "despite the fact that the Holocaust was the ultimate in barbarism and lawlessness ... the Nazis had a fanatical obsession with legalizing the ever-rising level of intolerance and discrimination hurled at the Jews" during that time.
During the time that the Holocaust took place, about 2,000 laws were passed that were directed solely at people of the Jewish faith, Reicher added.
"Although we are lawyers, we are looking at it in an academic milieu, and the focus of our consideration of the Holocaust is law, not for a single, solitary moment can we ever forget that these laws had direct effects on human beings," he said.
Reicher said that his interest in the Holocaust "combines three distinct strands in my background." He is the son of Holocaust survivors, a Jewish man himself and a lawyer whose primary interest lies in international law.
"Those three strands came together in my conceiving and developing the course and the project on the law and the Holocaust," he added.
According to his students, Reicher's passion for his field of study translates to the classroom. Reicher was recently awarded Penn Law's first Adjunct Teaching Award because of the ample praise both he and his class have received.
"'Law and the Holocaust' is one of the most interesting, original and important courses taught at the Law School," Law student Jason Klurfeld wrote in an e-mail interview. "He has done Penn Law a great service by teaching [this course] here."
And the impression Reicher has made on his students has not been limited to his teaching skills.
"Besides being an excellent teacher, Professor Reicher is ... one of the kindest professors that I've encountered at Penn and really seems interested in learning about the background and interests of all of his students," College junior Erin Springer wrote in an e-mail interview.
