At a quiet New York cemetery in 1959, a handful of people stand around a fresh grave as a casket is lowered. Any passerby seeing the small somber ceremony might assume that the body belonged to a person of little significance. In fact, this casket carries the body of a man who is responsible for one of the largest shifts in international law in human history. Without his efforts, it is likely that the gravest crime mankind has ever committed and continues to commit would still be a crime without a name.
By the end of World War II, the Nazi regime had orchestrated the murder of over 17 million civilians in concentration camps throughout Europe. 1 Despite these egregious atrocities, no one at the time referred to the Holocaust as an act of genocide, not because it was not an appropriate descriptor, but because Raphael Lemkin had not yet coined the word and defined the crime for the world. The outcome of his personal crusade to encode ‘Genocide’ in an internationally recognized and binding Convention to which the US would sign on became his legacy (the US signed on decades after his passing).
Lemkin was born to a Polish-Jewish family in 1900 in a small village called Bezwodne in what was then The Russian Empire. Home schooled by his mother, he proved to be a brilliant scholar. By the time he received his undergraduate degree from Jan Kazimierz University he had learned over 14 languages and showed strong aptitude and interest in international law. After a career as a prosecutor in Poland, he was forced to flee to Sweden to evade capture by the Nazi forces in 1939. However 49 of his relatives were tortured and/or killed, drops in the ocean of inhumanity that was the Holocaust. 2
After fleeing the Nazi invasion, Lemkin eventually made his way to the United States. There he became a prolific professor, lecturing at the law school at Duke University in 1941 and the School of Military Government at the University of Virginia in 1942. He also served as an adviser to the United States War Department specializing in international law. 3
The world first became aware of Lemkin’s concept of genocide after the publication of what would arguably be his most important work, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, in 1944. Primarily a legal analysis of the behavior of Nazi Germany in occupied territories during World War 2, the book also contained a full definition of the crime Lemkin dubbed “genocide.” 4 After this publication, Lemkin dedicated the rest of his life to getting the international community to acknowledge genocide as a crime under international law.
Lemkin drafted a resolution for a treaty which would officially ban genocide under international law. He then took his resolution on the road, presenting it to any nation which would hear him, hoping to garner enough support to endorse a convention on the subject. After years of lobbying the international community, The United States UN delegation agreed to present Lemkin’s resolution to the General Assembly. Dubbed “The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” the resolution was adopted on December 9th, 1948. It would be another 3 years before enough countries signed on the the convention to make it enforceable. Much to Lemkin’s dismay, The United States was not one of the first 20 signatories. 5
Lemkin dedicated the rest of his life to lobbying those nations which had not yet signed onto the convention, with the United States being his primary target. He invested every moment of his time and every cent of his modest wealth to landing that particular white whale. He eventually died of a heart attack, impoverished, unemployed, and underappreciated, in 1959. His funeral was a small affair, reportedly only attended by 7 people. 6 Yet, today, the is no Law School, no class that teaches Human Rights, nor any conversation of World War II and any of the subsequent Genocides that does not mention his name. More importantly, the Convention provided some tools to prevent or punish such cases.
The greater legacy of his life’s work would not be realized until several decades after Lemkin’s death. The United States would eventually sign the Genocide Convention, but not until 1988. The international community would eventually convict a man of the crime Lemkin coined, but not until the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1998 which found Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty of the Rwandan genocide. Three years after that, Radislav Krstic was similarly convicted for the murder of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Yugoslavia. 7 Though he died nearly 40 years too early to see the fruits of his labor truly flourish, we can hope that his soul finds solace in the fact that, thanks to him, these heinous actions have a name and are viewed the world over as being among the worst crimes humanity has ever known. Eradicating the crime of genocide still eludes us but at least accountability is now more widespread around the world. 8
- Donald Niewyk and Francis R. Nicosia, The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust (New York: Columbia University, 2000), 43. ↵
- Raphael Lemkin and Donna-Lee Frieze, Totally Unofficial: The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013). ↵
- Robert Bliwise, “The Man Who Criminalized Genocide,” Duke Magazine, November 14, 2013, http://dukemagazine.duke.edu/article/man-who-criminalized-genocide . ↵
- Rafael Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress, (Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Department of International Law, 1944) pg. 79. ↵
- Raphael Lemkin and Donna-Lee Frieze, Totally Unofficial: The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013). ↵
- Jay Winter, “Prophet Without Honors” The Chronicle, June 3, 2013, https://www.chronicle.com/article/Raphael-Lemkin-a-Prophet/139515 . ↵
- Robert Bliwise, “The Man Who Criminalized Genocide,” Duke Magazine, November 14, 2013, http://dukemagazine.duke.edu/article/man-who-criminalized-genocide . ↵
- United Nations, “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” United Nations Treaty Collection, 78:1, 1021 (9 December 1948), New York: United Nations, 1951, 278-311. ↵
175 comments
Aaron Astudillo
This is a very enlightening and informational read. I was not aware that genocide was not a word before the events of the Holocaust. Furthermore, the story of Lemkin is inspirational as it displays the dedication and determination of a single individual in pursuing the greater good for the whole of humanity.
Alexander Garcia
I found this article to be very interesting because I had no idea that genocide was a fairly new term. In my mind I thought genocide was a term that had been used within society for a while, and I never would have guessed that it came after the holocaust. Although this article is mostly about a truly remarkable man by the name of Raphael Lemkin who created a new international law and term, above all this article is about the awareness of international crimes such as genocide, and that is why I truly enjoyed reading this article.
Sierra Christa
This article was extremely well written. I did not know who Raphael Lemkin was but your writing style and content really did a fantastic job at highlighting and showing his dedication to his goal. However it saddens me that the United States was not one to immediately come to his support. However, despite his tragic ending to his story, his hard work truly paid off and he made a true impact on this word and international laws.
Jonathan Flores
A very interesting article about a fact and person many people will never get the privilege to hear about. I believe the author did a substantive job at providing facts and knowledge about a sort of “unsung hero” that many of us would have never guessed existed. In this way I believe the author was especially effective at making Lemkin live up to the accomplishment of his own life in writing. In other words, when reading about someone who had great influence the reader is almost expecting to be captivated by the brilliance of the person. In this same way, the author encapsulates the energy and prowess of Lemkin through their own writing. Outstanding.
Natalia Bustamante
I truly found this article fascinating as it told the story of Raphael Lemkin and the significant impacts he made regarding spreading awareness on the subject of genocide. This article really portrays Lemkin as a driven and motivated person that was advocating for a better future. This article was very well-written and very well-established as it profoundly narrated Lemkin’s life and the milestones he accomplished. Although it is lamentable that he passed away and did not get to see how far we have come regarding genocide, I am sure he would be very proud of the progress we have accomplished as a society today.
Dr. Celine Jacquemin, Ph.D.
Once we post, can we edit before it is sent to review?
Aaron Sandoval
I really enjoyed reading this article and found it incredibly saddening that Lemkin would never have the opportunity to see his life’s work be implemented. After reading this article it is clear that Lemkin simply was trying to find a way to make the world a better place, and find a way to save the lives of those at risk with the creation and passing of laws against genocide.
Aleea Costilla
I really enjoyed this article because of the insight it brought to the forefront. Many times, we take for granted the history or terms we are taught without affording knowledgeable credit. For instance, the term genocide is one I use to classify the holocaust and the horrors in Rwanda as described. Yet, I never knew the struggles of Lemkin to ensure global accountability is taken in those cases. I was shocked to see that the US had not signed the Genocide Convention until 1988. Thank you for bringing awareness to the origins of the coined term Genocide.
Rhys Kennedy
Before reading the article I was under the assumption that the word “genocide” had been around for some time, yet upon reading the article I would be shown that I was wrong, but I didn’t think I would be this wrong. It is just astonishing to think that there are now numerous amounts of named genocides that predate the coining of the word that simply were not referred to as such. This is definitely a well-researched article that can shine a light on misconceptions surrounding the term.
Kacey Diaz
This was a really well researched and informative article. It’s crazy to think that the term genocide hasn’t always been around. The efforts of one individual proved that when there is something that needs to be changed, it can change. Now the world knows what genocide is and how terrible it really is.