Ehrenfreund, Norbert 1921-

PERSONAL:

Born October 13, 1921, in Peekskill, NY; son of Leo (a knitting miller) and Henrietta (a homemaker) Ehrenfreund; married Mimette Wishart, October 31, 1964 (divorced, March 15, 1985); married Juliette Costigan (a medical transcriptionist), January 3, 1987; children: Zachary, Laurel. Education: Missouri University, B.J., 1943; Columbia University, M.A., 1950; Stanford Law School, LL.B., 1959.

ADDRESSES:

Home—San Diego, CA.

CAREER:

Stars and Stripes (newspaper), Germany, journalist, 1946-52; City of San Diego, CA, deputy district attorney, 1960-68; Defenders, Inc., San Diego, CA, chief trial attorney, 1968-75; Superior Court, San Diego, CA, judge, 1975-95. Military service: U.S. Army, 1945; participated in Rhine campaign; received Bronze Star.

MEMBER:

California Judges Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Award of Judicial Excellence, American Bar Association, 2001.

WRITINGS:

(With Lawrence Treat) You're the Jury: Solve Twelve Real-life Court Cases along with the Juries Who Decided Them, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1992.

The Nuremberg Legacy: How the Nazi War Crimes Trials Changed the Course of History, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2007.

You Be the Judge: Twenty True Crimes and Cases for You to Solve, Sphinx Publishing (Naperville, IL), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Norbert Ehrenfreund, who spent more than three decades as a lawyer and judge in California, is the author of The Nuremberg Legacy: How the Nazi War Crimes Trials Changed the Course of History. As a reporter for Stars and Stripes, Ehrenfreund covered the trials of Nazi military and political officials in Nuremberg, Germany, from 1945 to 1949. In a speech to students at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts, Ehrenfreund stated: "The Nuremberg trial is one of the most important events in our time," as quoted by Sharon R. Rivera in an article for the Tufts University Web site. "It not only exposed the Holocaust, but also laid a precedent that heads of state and government officials can be brought to court to be tried and made accountable for atrocities committed against their citizens."

In The Nuremberg Legacy, Ehrenfreund offers an overview of the trials and examines their legacy. According to Stephen F. Rohde, writing in California Lawyer, the author "explores how the Nuremberg trials advanced the fight against racial prejudice; created a vast historical record to refute any later denial of the Holocaust; inspired the development of ten principles on the medical ethics of human experimentation; and reinforced the idea that private corporations and their executives may be held liable for aiding and abetting war crimes." Library Journal contributor Michael O. Eshleman called The Nuremberg Legacy an "effective history and study of the impact of such powerful procedures on the modern world," and a contributor to Kirkus Reviews stated that Ehrenfreund "makes a tremendous case for adhering to the Nuremberg legacy of fair treatment for even the most odious offenders."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 1992, Denise Perry Donavin, review of You're the Jury: Solve Twelve Real-life Court Cases along with the Juries Who Decided Them, p. 1904; December 1, 2007, Vernon Ford, review of The Nuremberg Legacy: How the Nazi War Crimes Trials Changed the Course of History, p. 10.

California Lawyer, July 1, 2008, Stephen F. Rohde, review of The Nuremberg Legacy.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2007, review of The Nuremberg Legacy.

Library Journal, December 1, 2007, Michael O. Eshleman, review of The Nuremberg Legacy, p. 132.

School Library Journal, September, 1992, Miriam Hansen, review of You're the Jury, p. 285.

ONLINE

California Bar Journal Web site,http://www.calbar.ca.gov/ (July 25, 2008), "Six Honored for Professional Service," author information.

Tufts University Web site,http://www.tufts.edu/ (December 16, 2008), Sharon R. Rivera, "Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund Speaks on the Legacy of Nuremburg in Post-conflict Justice."