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Sidney J. Kaplan

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Sidney J. Kaplan
BornFebruary 16, 1909
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DiedJune 19, 1962 (aged 53)
Tonka Bay, Minnesota
Burial placeFort Snelling National Cemetery
EducationUniversity of Minnesota (A.B.); Harvard Law School (LL.B.)
Occupation(s)Lawyer, Legal Scholar, War Crimes Prosecutor

Sidney Joseph Kaplan (February 16, 1909 – June 19, 1962) was an American attorney best known for his role in the prosecution of war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.

Early life and education

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Kaplan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Max Julius Kaplan, a Jewish immigrant from Viduklė, Lithuania, and his wife Hattie Wolfson Kaplan.[1] He grew up in Near North, Minneapolis, in the neighborhood then known as Homewood.[2] By 1940, the family had moved permanently to their summer home on Lake Minnetonka, one of two matching houses that Max Kaplan and his business partner, Benjamin Weisberg, had built together.[1] Max Kaplan and Weisberg co-founded Fairfax Produce, a company that distributed poultry and eggs from Minnesota farms to markets across the U.S.[3]

Kaplan’s grandfather, Abraham Kaplan, who came to America in 1891,[4] was one of the founders of the Kenesseth Israel Synagogue[5][6][7] and served as the first chairman of the Minneapolis Jewish Cemetery Association until his death in 1933.[8] Max Kaplan became chairman of the same organization in 1941.[8]

Kaplan graduated from Minneapolis North High School[9] in 1925 and went on to earn a degree from the University of Minnesota[9] in 1928, where he graduated with an A.B. cum laude,[10] won Phi Beta Kappa honors[9] and was an active member of the Menorah Club, where he debated topics of the day such as the effect of a Jewish state in Palestine on Jews of the diaspora.[11] He then attended Harvard Law School, graduating with an LL.B. magna cum laude in 1931, where he was on the editorial board of the Harvard Law Review.[12] In 1929, Kaplan was one of four Harvard Law students to win the Sears Prize, "awarded annually to students in the School who shall have done the most brilliant work in their class during the year."[13]

With a fellow classmate, George Rosier, he co-authored a thesis titled “Operative Theory in Judicial Interpretations of the Diversity Jurisdiction” under the supervision of Professor Felix Frankfurter, who later served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.[14]

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Following law school, Kaplan joined the New York law firm Rumsey & Morgan,[15] whose name was changed to Morgan & Lockwood in 1934.[16] He gained national attention in 1935 when he represented Professor Lienhard Bergel of Rutgers University, who had been fired for opposing Nazi propaganda.[9] The case was a first legal confrontation with fascist ideology on American soil.

Kaplan's legal career soon led him to government service. During the early 1940s, he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as the head of the claims division[17] and as a special assistant to the United States Attorney General.[10] He also served as legal counsel on the Senate Interstate Commerce Commission’s Subcommittee on Railroad Finance, where he worked alongside future Nuremberg prosecutor Telford Taylor and Max Lowenthal, a Minneapolis-born lawyer who was instrumental in postwar politics.[18] The commission was chaired by Senator Harry S. Truman.[18]

World War II and the Nuremberg Trials

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Kaplan’s most significant contribution came after World War II. In 1945 he was appointed as part of the U.S. legal team at the Nuremberg Trials, which were held to prosecute major Nazi war criminals.[10] As a lieutenant commander, later commander, in the U.S. Coast Guard, Kaplan worked under Robert H. Jackson, the chief American prosecutor.[10] In London, he joined French, British, Russian and other American prosecutors in establishing protocols for the trial and drafting the indictment.[19] On October 18, 1945 he was in Berlin for the filing of the indictment before leaving for Nuremberg for the opening of the trial.[20][21][22]

Kaplan was instrumental in organizing the evidence and drafting the sections of the indictment that linked top Nazi officials to the aggressive planning of war.[23] His colleagues at Nuremberg included prominent figures Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, Telford Taylor, Benjamin Kaplan (no relation), Sidney Alderman, and Thomas Dodd, a future senator from Connecticut.[24] His work on the Nuremberg prosecution helped shape the legal framework for post-war international law. A key figure in the preparation of the trial materials,[22] he was known for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to coordinate complex evidentiary and procedural issues.[17][20]

Post-War Career

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After World War II, Kaplan returned to Minneapolis and co-founded the law firm of Kaplan, Edelman, and Kaplan with his brother Sheldon and his close associate Hyman Edelman,[25] at a time when Jewish lawyers were not generally hired by law firms in that city.[26] In 1956, the three lawyers expanded their practice to become Maslon, Kaplan, Edelman, Joseph and Borman.[27] As of March 2025, that firm, now known as Maslon LLP, is the ninth largest law practice in Minnesota.[28] Through the late 1940s and 1950s, Kaplan’s legal practice continued to grow, and he was particularly known for his skills as a court room litigator and legal strategist.[29][25] His legal work after the war was concentrated in the field of corporate law and litigation.[30][31][32] He was appointed a visiting professor of jurisprudence at the University of Minnesota Law School in 1961.[33]

Personal life

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Kaplan was married to Leonore Yaeger, also of Minneapolis.[10] They spent their summers at their lakeside home in Tonka Bay, Minnesota, where he enjoyed a close relationship with his family and colleagues.[34] Kaplan died unexpectedly from a heart attack he suffered at the lake on June 19, 1962, at the age of 53.[35]

Legacy

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Kaplan's legacy as a legal scholar and prosecutor at Nuremberg endures through his contributions to the establishment of international law and the prosecution of crimes against humanity.[citation needed] A legal scholarship fund at the University of Minnesota established after his death in 1962 continues to support law students at that university today.[12][36] His meticulous approach to legal work and his advocacy for justice made him a respected figure both in the legal community and a reference in Nuremberg history, biography and jurisprudence.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b Harris, A.I. (October 10, 1924). "Colorful Personalities". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  2. ^ Bryan, Erin Elliott (February 13, 2014). "Restoring the North Side — One House at a Time". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  3. ^ Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Renville County Pioneer Association (1916). The History of Renville County, Minnesota. Chicago: H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co. p. 868.
  4. ^ “1900 U.S. Census, Hennepin County, Minnesota,” population schedule, City of Minneapolis, ward 3, sheet 22, enumeration district (ED) 29, dwelling 424, line number 46, Abraham Kaplan; NARA.
  5. ^ "Abraham Kaplan". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. August 4, 1933. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  6. ^ "Kenesseth Israel Building Committee of 1913". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. March 25, 1938.
  7. ^ "Rites are Conducted for Abraham Kaplan". The Minneapolis Journal. August 2, 1933. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Minneapolis Jewish Cemetery Association. Records, 1905-1963" (PDF). Minneapolis Jewish Cemetery Association. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d "Minneapolitan Counsel in Rutgers Ouster Case". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. July 5, 1935. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e "He'll Help Try Nazi War Criminals". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. June 29, 1945. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  11. ^ "Menorah Socities [sic] Debate Tonight". The Minneapolis Star. April 28, 1928. ProQuest 1846554839. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  12. ^ a b c "Sidney J. Kaplan Law Scholarship Established at 'U.'". University of Minnesota News Service. October 19, 1962.
  13. ^ "Attains Highest Scholastic Standing". The American Jewish World. October 25, 1929. p. 9. Retrieved May 26, 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Kaplan, Sidney J.; Rosier, George (1931). "Operative Theory in Judicial Interpretations of the Diversity Jurisdiction". Harvard Law School Library. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  15. ^ "Social and Personal". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. September 18, 1931. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  16. ^ "Rumsey Donovan Law Partner". The New York Times. January 4, 1934. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  17. ^ a b Diamond, Norman (1997). A Practice Almost Perfect: The Early Days at Arnold, Fortas & Porter. Lanham: University Press of America, Inc. pp. 157–158.
  18. ^ a b Hess, Jerry N. (September 20, 1967). "Oral History Interview with Max Lowenthal". Harry S. Truman Library.
  19. ^ Taylor, Telford (1992). The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. New York: Knopf. p. 143.
  20. ^ a b Taylor, Telford (1992). The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. New York: Knopf. p. 127.
  21. ^ Pathé, British (April 13, 2014). "Nuremberg Trials 1940-1949". YouTube. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  22. ^ a b "Nuremberg Trial Day 16 (1945) Sidney Alderman Thanks Kaplan and Staff". Robert H. Jackson Center. November 10, 2020. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  23. ^ Taylor, Telford (1992). The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. Knopf. pp. 57, 126, 176, 244.
  24. ^ Barrett, John Q. (2010). "Raphael Lemkin and 'Genocide' at Nuremberg, 1945-1946". In Safferling, Christoph; Conze, Eckart (eds.). The Genocide Convention Sixty Years After Its Adoption (PDF). The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press. p. 39.
  25. ^ a b "Peter Edelman Oral History". UVA Miller Center. May 24–25, 2004. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  26. ^ Saeks, Allen I. (May 23, 2020). "When Law Firms Wouldn't Hire Jewish Lawyers". The American Jewish World. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  27. ^ "Our History". Maslon LLP. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  28. ^ "Minnesota's Largest Law Firms: 2024 Largest Law Firms". Minnesota Lawyer. December 31, 2025. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  29. ^ Philips, Felix (August 25, 2008). "Interview with Felix Phillips, Judges and Lawyers Oral History Project, Minneapolis, Min". University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
  30. ^ Strimling, v. Stone, 194 F.2d 920 (8th Cir. 1952).
  31. ^ Altman v. Levine and Tanz, Inc., 97 N.W.2d 460 (Minnesota Supreme Court 1959).
  32. ^ State v. Paul, 95 N.W.2d 85 (Minnesota Supreme Court 1959).
  33. ^ "Jurisprudence". University of Minnesota: Law School News. 1 (3). April 1961.
  34. ^ Kaplan, Alice (1993). French Lessons: A Memoir. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 15–16.
  35. ^ Kaplan, Alice (1993). French Lessons: A Memoir. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 20.
  36. ^ "Kaplan Scholarship Fund Set Up at 'U'". The American Jewish World. University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives. October 26, 1962. Retrieved April 5, 2025.

Other sources

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