Die Suche nach einem passenden Begriff für die Gräueltaten der Nazis führte den Juristen und Humanisten Raphael Lemkin zur Prägung des Begriffs "Genozid" im Jahr 1943. Durch seine umfassenden Studien in Philosophie, Philologie und Recht sowie sein persönliches Engagement spielte Lemkin eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Entstehung der Genozidkonvention der Vereinten Nationen von 1948. Sein Leben und Werk beleuchten die Verbindung zwischen Sprache, Recht und dem Schutz der Menschheit vor unvorstellbarem Leid.
Raphael Lemkin Book order (chronological)
Raphaël Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish heritage, is renowned for coining the term 'genocide' and spearheading the Genocide Convention. He derived the word in 1943 or 1944 from the Greek 'genos' (family, tribe, or race) and the Latin '-cide' (killing). Between 1953 and 1957, Lemkin collaborated directly with government representatives, such as those from Egypt, to outlaw genocide within domestic penal codes. He also worked with a team of lawyers from Arab delegations at the United Nations to build a case for prosecuting French officials for genocide in Algeria.
"In this pathbreaking study Polish emigre Raphael Lemkin [1900-1959] coined the term "genocide" and defined it is a subject of international law. While the term has come to mean the extermination of a people, Lemkin used it to describe all programs that sought to increase "Aryan" birthrate while working to exterminate the social, cultural and economic independence of non-Germanic peoples.