Interview with Martin "Marty" Ganzglass, August 19, 2021
Project: Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project
Interview Summary
Marty Ganzglass received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1964 during the height of the Vietnam war. He volunteered for the Peace Corps and was selected to serve as a lawyer in Somalia, initially as a translator of legal documents. Marty’s training class lost about 20 of 60 through deselection. Marty was assigned to the Legislative Consultative Commission where he helped translate the Civil Procedure Code from Italian into English and assisted drafting laws and regulations. He also taught law courses and set up a law library with books donated from the United States. Marty eventually was assigned as a legal advisor to General Mohamed Abshire, Commandant of the Somali National Police Force. He assisted in writing memos on legal issues, for example, reforming the judiciary and combatting corruption. He also wrote a casebook on the Somali Penal Code. In 1993, Marty returned during Operation Restore Hope to advise on restoring the police and judiciary.Interview Accession
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Vietnam war Harvard Law School draft graduate school deferment marital exemption couple Columbia Teachers College Italian deselection Somalia Yemen Aden Khartoum Hargeisa, Taleh Darawish Sayiid Mohamad Abdille Hassan Mogadishu Hamar Weyn Legislative Consultative Commission Civil Procedure Code laws and regulations hunting regulations fishing regulations law courses law library Muslim Egyptians Italians National Police General Mohamed Abshire CB radio nomads farmers water rights Criminal Procedure Code Penal Code English classes Vice President Humphrey Justice Thurgood Marshall political prisoners Operation Restore Hope United Nations military cultural sensitivity tribalism national spirit Koran women Somalia (Country of service) 1966-1968 (Dates of service) legal advisorInterview Rights
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Ganzglass, Martin Interview by Randolph A. Adams. 19 Aug. 2021. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
Ganzglass, M. (2021, August 19). Interview by R. A. Adams. Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.
Ganzglass, Martin, interview by Randolph A. Adams. August 19, 2021, Peace Corps: The Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.
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