Defining an Unimaginable Crime: The Story of Raphael Lemkin

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish lawyer, escaped the Nazis but lost 49 members of his family in the Holocaust. He coined the word "genocide" in 1944 to describe the deliberate attempt to wipe out a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Lemkin devoted the last 15 years of his life to lobbying governments to recognize genocide as an international crime and changed the legal landscape. Despite his impact, he died alone and penniless in 1959. Learn about Lemkin's contributions in this discussion with a researcher and Museum historian recorded on April 7, 2021.
Speaker
Dr. Bridget Conley, Research Director, World Peace Foundation, and Associate Research Professor, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Moderator
Dr. Edna Friedberg, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

[@aviballen3081]

I'm so proud to be able to call this man my great uncle!

[@jezalb2710]

He was? I am Polish. And there is very little information about Mr Lemkin in our country. Such a pity

[@terryfordjr76]

Thank you for reminding us about these early pioneers who created legal options for hate crimes. People like Lemkin and until recently, Ben Ferencz have never gotten the credit they deserve for forging into this new territory. These are some of the greatest humanitarians in history and should be taught about in every school history books.

[@AnaK-kx4lr]

As a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors, I am forever grateful to Mr. Lemkin and his legacy.

[@frenchartantiquesparis424]

Tufts IR alum here, thank you for this talk.

[@friedasdottir6381]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Lemkin had repeatedly mentioned in his writings that as a young man he was so troubled by the Armenian mass murders and the then on-going Holocaust that he coined the word genocide and worked tirelessly until the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, on Dec. 9, 1948.

[@TheNostalgicKitchen]

It’s really terrible to see the clip from Mladic and the people thanking him thinking he will do nothing. My heart breaks knowing what their faith ended up being.

[@marshaammons8008]

Now I can't even imagine what has happened to the ones that lived in a time ago when they were being told to be able to move to the place where the death ☠️ chambers were. We're still going to be able to pray about this one video 🙏 God can see what has happened in the process of the past. Please understand how much you and your family and friends and the children have to be able to make sure that we don't want this one to happen today.

[@jackberger5163]

Raphael Lemkin came from the shtetl of Volkovysk today in Belarus. He also has living relatives in Israel.

[@luzalgarin9518]

The crimes and cruelties committed against my sons and daughters, my fathers and mothers, my brothers and sisters hurt me deeply, regardless their ethnicity and nationality. In Isaiah 2: 4, Jehovah God, the Creator and Source of life, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, promises: "He will be judge among the nations and will settle matters in relation to many peoples. They will turn their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. The nations will no longer raise their swords against each other and learn no more to wage war." My immediate neighbors are Jews and I am a Jehovah's Witness. Their hearts are superior than pure gold by far. They are extremely kind. The gentleman takes care of my trash can every Wednesday without my asking him to do so. They are lovely human beings, and they are not in need of the smallest improvement.

[@ADAMSIXTIES]

He didn't do it all singlehanded...he used both of them.

[@luzalgarin9518]

Did he ever marry and have children?