»The Crime of Crimes«

The Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin (1900−1959) already began developing the concept genocide during World War Two to describe incidents of intentional mass murder with the aim of extinguishing a given ethnic, religious, or national group. This concept, which oscillates between legal and historical interpretations, has had a stellar career since its institutionalization through the United Nations’ Genocide Convention ratified in December 1948. Designed in the aftermath of the unprecedented crimes of the Holocaust as an instrument for the “prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide,” the concept quickly evolved into a rhetorically charged weapon during the Cold War and the era of decolonization. It would later also form the basis of an entire field of historical research. This seminar explores in detail the historical context surrounding the emergence of this concept (which was ambivalent from the outset) and illuminates it through Lemkin’s own experience and vision. On this basis, it discusses this concept’s entry into historical research and its impact on global discourses concerning the politics of history.

Literature: Philippe Sands, Rückkehr nach Lemberg. Über die Ursprünge von Genozid und Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. Eine persönliche Geschichte, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 2019 (Original: East West Street. On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, London 2016); Douglas Irvin Erickson, Raphael Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide, Philadelphia, PA 2016; Boris Barth, Genozid. Völkermord im 20. Jahrhundert. Geschichte – Theorien – Kontroversen, München 2006.