Author of Book Focusing on Alabama Native’s Role in Nazi War Crimes Trials to Speak at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – An author of a book about Nazi war crimes trials, and the heroic role filled in them by the Alabama-born lead prosecutor, will give a talk at The University of Alabama beginning at 7 p.m., Feb. 5 in ten Hoor Hall, room 125.

Joshua Greene, author of “Justice at Dachau: The Trials of An American Prosecutor,” will give a talk on the trials held at the notorious Nazi concentration camp at the end of World War II. The lead prosecutor in the trials was Birmingham-born William Denson.

The Nuremburg trials, which brought charges against a handful of Nazi top brass, have been well documented. However, the much larger proceedings, held 65 miles to the south of Nuremburg, on the grounds of the Dachau concentration camps, have not received as much attention. The 22 German defendants at Nuremburg never lifted a gun, but at Dachau nearly 2,000 Nazi guards, officers and “doctors” stood trial for having personally committed the torture, starvation and extermination known as the Holocaust, according to the book’s web site www.justiceatdachau.com.

Denson died in 1998. Greene began work on the book, published by Broadway Books, after being contacted by Denson’s widow who showed him her late husband’s collection of documents related to the trials.

Greene is an accomplished writer and producer. He was chosen by the United Nations to produce a television special honoring the U.N.’s 50th anniversary. The one-hour film celebrating diversity earned an Emmy nomination and was translated and broadcast worldwide. Other recent productions by Greene include “Witness: Voices from the Holocaust,” a feature film based on testimony from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale.

Greene will be available to sign copies of his book following his talk. His visit to UA is sponsored by the Bankhead Fund of the history department, department of religious studies and UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.