LITERATURE + LECTURES

Holocaust Museum Houston and the World Affairs Council of Houston have partnered together to present A Lucky Child: a Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy  presented by Thomas Buergenthal (pictured), a member of the International Court of Justice at The Hague and one of the world’s leading experts on international law and human rights.

At the age of seven, Buergenthal was imprisoned in Nazi ghettos and camps, being rescued by Soviet and Polish troops at age 11. Separated from his parents in Auschwitz and surviving a “death march” in 1945, he was miraculously reunited with his mother a year and a half later. The rest of his family and almost all of his friends were killed.

After experiencing the turmoil of Europe's post-war years - from the Battle of Berlin, to a Jewish orphanage in Poland - Buergenthal traveled to America in the 1950s. His story of survival and his determination to use law and justice to prevent further genocide is an epic journey through 20th century history.

Buergenthal gives his perspective - as a child - on life in the camps. And, uniquely, he shows how his past has informed his understanding of the modern day war-crimes he sees as a judge.

Buergenthal is a leading law scholar with a doctorate from Harvard Law School. He rose to become the first U.S. judge and later president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee before joining the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Judge Thomas Buergenthal is the United States judge on the 15-member International Court of Justice in The Hague. Alan Crain of the World Affairs Council of Houston and Judge Buergenthal will discuss the Judge’s life and views including the impact that his childhood experiences have had on his beliefs and career. His autobiographical work: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy has been a best seller in Europe and was recently published in the United States. Copies will be available at the program and Judge Buergenthal has agreed to sign autographs.

Before joining the Court in 2000, Judge Buergenthal was the Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School and Director of its International Rule of Law Center. Earlier Judge Buergenthal served as Dean of American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. and held professorships at the University of Texas and Emory University.

Judge Buergenthal has also served on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, including being that Court's Vice President and President. He was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Truth Commission for El Salvador. Judge Buergenthal was Vice Chairman of the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland and was Director of the Human Rights Program of the Carter Center of Emory University. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books and numerous law review articles on international law and international human rights topics.

Judge Buergenthal came to the United States at the age of 17. He spent the much of the first 11 years of his life in various Nazi camps and is one of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Judge Buergenthal graduated from Bethany College, WV. He received his J.D. degree from the New York University Law School, and his LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from the Harvard Law School.