Accountability for War Crimes in the Policy of the Polish Government-in-Exile : A Legal and Historical Analysis / Dominika Uczkiewicz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Uczkiewicz, Dominika, author.

Series:

Legal History Library ; 85/32.

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books online, Collection 2026.

Legal History Library ; 85/32

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books online, Collection 2026

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

History, Modern.

Law--History.

Law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (388 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

A Legal and Historical Analysis

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill | Nijhoff, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book excavates the often neglected role of the Polish government-in-exile within the Allied war crimes trial programme and post-1945 international law. Drawing on newly examined archival sources and biographies of key émigré lawyers, it reveals how Polish and other European jurists helped define the concept of accountability for wartime atrocities long before the Allies convened at Nuremberg. Combining legal and historical approaches, this book traces the Central and Eastern European influences on the UN War Crimes Commission and Allied policy, showing how their ideas about justice, responsibility, victim’s perspective, and law continue to resonate in modern interpretations of the legacy of Nuremberg.

Contents:

Intro

Half Title Page

Series Page

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Charts and Tables

Introduction

Chapter 1 The History

1 The History

2 Development of International Criminal Law before 1939

3 In a Reborn Poland

3.1 The Makarewicz Code (1932)

3.2 In the Universities of the Second Polish Republic

Chapter 2 The Early Making of the Government-in-Exile's War-Crimes Policy

1 The German and Soviet Crimes

2 First Protest Notes and Attempts to Win Allied Support for the Polish Proposals

3 Official Reports and the Information Campaign

4 The Government Structures Responsible for the Implementation of Polish War-crimes Policy

4.1 Cabinet Committee for Home Affairs

4.2 The Ministry of Information and Documentation (Centre for Information and Documentation)

4.3 Ministry of the Interior

4.4 Ministry of Foreign Affairs

4.5 Inter-ministerial Commissions for German Affairs

4.6 The Ministry of Justice

4.7 Ministry of Preparatory Works

Chapter 3 The Agency of Small States: Declaration of St. James's Palace of 13 January 1942

1 The Draft Joint Declaration of the British Government and Governments of Occupied States

2 Conferences of Governments of Occupied States and Works on the Text of a Joint Declaration on German Crimes

3 The Declaration of St. James's Palace

4 A Tightening of Cooperation among Governments of Occupied States

5 The Inter-allied Commission on the Punishment of War Crimes

6 The Information Campaign of 1942: Towards a Common War-Crimes Policy of the Allies

Chapter 4 Documenting the Crimes

1 A Systematic Approach

2 The 'German Archive'

3 The War-Crimes Office of the Polish Government-in-Exile

3.1 The Draft Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland on Gathering and Securing the Evidence of War Crimes.

3.2 Polish War Crimes Office: Section for Crimes Committed against the Jewish Population

3.3 The Activities of Polish War Crimes Office Delegation in Scotland

3.4 The Establishment of Groups of Liaison Officers for War Crimes at the SHAEF

4 Investigative Commissions of the Ministry of Justice

5 The Polish Source Institute in Lund

Chapter 5 Legislative Works and Their Reception in Legal Circles

1 The Law vis-à-vis 'Statutory Lawlessness'

2 The Ministry of Justice: The Concepts of Wacław Komarnicki

2.1 Legislation for the Transitional Period

3 Works on the Text of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Poland on Criminal Responsibility for War Crimes

3.1 Inter-ministerial Conferences on the 'Responsibility of Germans for Criminal Offences Committed in Occupied Territories'

3.2 Debate on the Text of the Decree in Section V for Criminal Procedure and Prisons and in the Plenary Meetings of the Legislative Works Commission

3.3 Debate on the Decree in the Plenary Meeting of the Legislative Works Commission on 29 May and 3 June 1942

3.4 Special Meeting of Section V of the Legislative Works Commission

3.5 Lex retro non agit? Debate on the Text of the Decree in the Plenary Meetings of the Council of Ministers ‒ July‒October 1942

3.6 Deliberations of the Legal-Political Committee of the National Council of the Republic of Poland and Redaction of the Final Text of the Decree

4 The Position of the Department of Justice of the Government Delegation for Poland, and Initiatives from Occupied Poland

4.1 Underground Courts and 'Civic Morality Code'

4.2 Draft Decree on the Punishment of Certain Criminal Offences Committed while under Enemy Invasion

5 The Three Decrees

6 Reception in the Legal and Academic Circles of the Émigrés

6.1 The Polish Lawyers' Association in the United Kingdom.

6.2 Polish Émigré Legal Associations outside of the United Kingdom

6.3 Selected Publications

Chapter 6 Cooperation between the Polish Government-in-Exile and the United Nations War Crimes Commission

1 The Works of the Cambridge Commission on Penal Development and Reconstruction and of the London International Assembly

2 The Establishment and Works of the United Nations War Crimes Commission

3 Cooperation between the Polish Government-in-Exile and the United Nations War Crimes Commission

4 Definition of War Crimes and Principles of Individual Liability

5 Characteristic of Polish Indictments

6 Evaluation of the Work of Litawski's Office

7 Towards Nuremberg

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Index of Subjects.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9789004759015

OCLC:

1603125754

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004759015 DOI