Raphael Lemkin and the struggle for the Genocide Convention / John Cooper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, John, 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genocide--History--Case studies.

Genocide.

Genocide--Prevention--Case studies.

Genocide--Congresses.

Lemkin, Raphael, 1900-1959.

Lemkin, Raphael.

Human rights workers--Poland--Biography.

Human rights workers.

Human rights workers--United States--Biography.

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948 December 9).

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Genocide--Prevention.

History.

United States.

Poland.

Genre:

Biographies.

Case studies.

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

vii, 338 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Summary:

This is the first comprehensive biography of Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), the man who invented the word 'genocide' and campaigned relentlessly for the United Nations Genocide Convention. Using Lemkin's own papers as well as other sources, it contextualizes his career and shows how his ideas were formed in the midst of ethnic strife in Eastern Europe and as a member of the international law circuit. The book focuses on the genocide convention campaign orchestrated by Lemkin and deals with both its supporters and its enemies, in particular the British government. While Lemkin drew attention to the need to preserve diverse cultures, both in his campaigning and in his historical writing, the Western powers amended the convention so that it became an instrument solely for preventing physical genocide. The book also covers Lemkin's pioneering historical research on genocide, presenting a number of studies, particularly of colonial genocide.

Contents:

Formative years in Poland

Escape from Poland

Early years in the United States

The publication of his master work and the Nuremberg Trial

The United Nations Resolution on Genocide

1947, the first draft of the Convention

Private life

Yale and Geneva

Paris, preliminary discussion of the convention

The first reading of the Convention

The Convention is adopted

The international campaign for ratification of the Convention

The United States Senate and the Convention

The Genocide Convention : its supporters and enemies

The history of genocide

The history of genocide : case studies

Closing years.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-330) and index.

ISBN:

0230516912

9780230516915

OCLC:

141385187

Online:

Publisher description