The AAJLJ mourns the passing of Judge Thomas Buergenthal. May his memory be for a blessing.

Judge Buergenthal was born in Czechoslovakia in 1934. As a child, he survived a forced 3-march, the Nazi takeover and occupation and his subsequent deportation to the Auschwitz and Sachenhausen concentration camps. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1951 where he graduated from Bethany College and NYU law school. He taught at law schools including George Washington University, Emory University, the University of Texas, and American University, where he served as Dean. Judge Buergenthal was also appointed to a number of international human rights bodies, including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Human Rights Committee, and the Truth Commission for El Salvador. In 2004, he was appointed on behalf of the U.S. to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice, where he served for 10 years. He was the only judge to find in favor of Israel in the 2004 ICJ Wall Advisory Opinion.

Judge Buergenthal was universally known and respected as a human rights expert and set precedent for numerous human rights and international law cases. He authored many books on human rights law, as well as his autobiography, A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy.

He was the recipient of many prizes and honors. 

AAJLJ was proud to present him with our Pursuit of Justice award in 2011.   

At the ceremony, he discussed his work as a human rights lawyer, and his concern that the world was still committing mass atrocities and not retaining the lessons of the Holocaust.  He also unflinchingly described his treatment at the hands of the Nazis, and he courageously detailed the resulting physical and psychic injuries that tormented him.  He spoke of the love and support of his wife and family.

Judge Buergenthal was courageous, honorable and a mensch, always generous with his time and knowledge.  He was gentle, kind and personable and interested in people around him. He looked you in the eye as he spoke to you.  His students spoke of meeting him as one of the highlights of their legal studies.  

A well-lived life ended too soon.

May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.